Route Barrée warning

[Canalsman]

All who visit France will be familiar with the dreaded yellow Route Barrée sign!

I encountered one yesterday where a road near Gruissan was closed due to flooding.

A large detour would have been required so after ascertaining the water had receded such that the water was only about two inches deep I decided to proceed.

All was well till round the corner I, and others, were stopped by the gendarmerie!

The local drivers were being fined. The gendarme who approached me merely checked my driving licence.

Perhaps it's too complicated to fine a foreign driver...

 

[TeamRienza]

The upside to french roadworks I find, is that diversions are usually well signposted throughout the whole of the diversion. Helpful since satnavs often cannot compute the amended route.

At home I find that having diverted you, often little or no alternative route is signed.

Anyway, sounds like you were fortunate, it is akin to the gendarme loitering near stop signs.

Davy

 

[barryd]

The dreaded Route Barree was a thing of the past last year. Never came across one as I used Google Maps as the sat nav. Presumably up to date enough to work around them.

 

[trevskoda]

The dreaded Route Barree was a thing of the past last year. Never came across one as I used Google Maps as the sat nav. Presumably up to date enough to work around them.

And there are listening to you mucky conversations.

 

[Jo001]

We've several times found the gendarmes to be incredibly helpful when they are at route barrée points. They've given us very clear directions to find alternative routes. In contrast, in Spain, at roundabouts and junctions, we ended up looking for where lorries were coming from because we reckoned there was a good chance they were being diverted from the other end of the blocked roads. The logic made sense to me anyway.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

We drove into a forest last year in France, and there were 6 of them (Gendarmes) in camo gear, supposedly looking for migrants. They saw us and came over, clocked the UK reg, and spoke in decent English. I said to one, "It's not working, "??????" I said I can still see you, he translated to the others, and they fell about.

 

[alcam]

The upside to french roadworks I find, is that diversions are usually well signposted throughout the whole of the diversion. Helpful since satnavs often cannot compute the amended route.

At home I find that having diverted you, often little or no alternative route is signed.

Anyway, sounds like you were fortunate, it is akin to the gendarme loitering near stop signs.

Davy

You really surprise me . In my experience the very opposite applies in France .
Think for road signs in general we are over informed in the UK . EU only necessary signs shown

 

[barryd]

Always had good experiences with the French rozzers. You sometimes get stopped on the bike. Usually they can't be arsed once they find out you are British but always pleasant. We got stopped and told off for not wearing gloves last year. I say told off. They were quite charming about it.

 

[Jo001]

One of the best experiences of police relations we had was at Noirmoutier.

The aire, which had previously been huge and casual, had been taken over by Camping Car Parks. We arrived and there were no places, but about 60 vans (including us) stopped over in the old aire adjacent. Next morning, a gendarme knocked on the door. Her first question was whether we'd rather speak English or French (my French is okay, I don't know if that helped).

She said we shouldn't have stayed overnight, but no problem. There would be no penalty or fine. We should spend the day, enjoy the town and the facilities. But, don't stay a second night please.

Refreshing, or what?

 

[Wooie1958]

Reminds me of our first ever trip to France in our motorhome many many many many years back

Came out of the port on the N216 then joined the A16 westwards towards Boulonge-sur-Mer for our first nights stop at Le Portel ready for the street market the following morning

This is great we both said, plenty of traffic but free flowing which eased a lot after passing the Le Shuttle area.

Sat Nav warned us that we were approaching our exit junction then to our utter shock the junction was closed and " Route Barrée " was displayed.

Bullocks or something similar was my choice of words but no fear Sat Nav will re-route which it did quickly and directed us off at the next junction and then immediately back onto the A16 eastbound so back the way we came and tried to exit us at the same junction which was also closed

Being a seasoned HGV driver automatically kicked in and we came off at the next junction whilst i checked the map for a alternative route.

We did get there and had a great first night then enjoyed the market the following morning.

We continued to use the Sat Nav for the rest of our many years touring France which worked brilliantly with only a couple of minor hiccups but i put that down to the French being foreigners and not really knowing the proper way to do things.

 

[Rumour]

We came across a Route Barree last September in a small village. We followed the diversion arrows (just and arrow on a square yellow sign) and turned a corner only to be met by about ten Gendarmes brandishing guns! The one nearest us motioned for us to stop (they were in the road, so keeping momentum was not an option). He walked to the van, came round to my side and I wound down the window. In perfect English he said something along the lines of: So sorry to hold you up. If you can just wait here, we have someone to arrest and I would hate you to be caught in the crossfire! He then smiled and walked back to his position. There were no gun shots fired, but we did see a scrawny looking guy dragged out and bundled into a vehicle. The guy who spoke to us came back and said thanks and we could continue on our way and to have a lovely holiday.

 

[marchie]

Reminds me of our first ever trip to France in our motorhome many many many many years back

Came out of the port on the N216 then joined the A16 westwards towards Boulonge-sur-Mer for our first nights stop at Le Portel ready for the street market the following morning

This is great we both said, plenty of traffic but free flowing which eased a lot after passing the Le Shuttle area.

Sat Nav warned us that we were approaching our exit junction then to our utter shock the junction was closed and " Route Barrée " was displayed.

Bullocks or something similar was my choice of words but no fear Sat Nav will re-route which it did quickly and directed us off at the next junction and then immediately back onto the A16 eastbound so back the way we came and tried to exit us at the same junction which was also closed

Being a seasoned HGV driver automatically kicked in and we came off at the next junction whilst i checked the map for a alternative route.

We did get there and had a great first night then enjoyed the market the following morning.

We continued to use the Sat Nav for the rest of our many years touring France which worked brilliantly with only a couple of minor hiccups but i put that down to the French being foreigners and not really knowing the proper way to do things.

My first trip to France was in 1976, way before satnavs. We wrote to the AA and obtained maps of the intended places to visit which were then highlighted on the paper map. Arrived in Dover, drove to the Western Docks to the Townsend Thoresen warehouse to collect the 2 man bivouac we had hired for 2 weeks, then onto the boat. £170 cash in French Francs at 8.96 FFR, supplemented by the underseat framework store of tinned Sainsburys mince and potatoes. Loire Valley on 1/2 a knotted shoestring ...

Steve

 

[YeoBlade]

My first trip to France was in 1976, way before satnavs. We wrote to the AA and obtained maps of the intended places to visit which were then highlighted on the paper map. Arrived in Dover, drove to the Western Docks to the Townsend Thoresen warehouse to collect the 2 man bivouac we had hired for 2 weeks, then onto the boat. £170 cash in French Francs at 8.96 FFR, supplemented by the underseat framework store of tinned Sainsburys mince and potatoes. Loire Valley on 1/2 a knotted shoestring ...

Steve

That's so similar to my first driving visit, AA route planning with flip rote maps, we hired a caravan which was picked up in Dover, over on Townsend Thorsen and drive down to Venice finally, changing money en route, Fr. B, DE, CH, I, A using our leftover change for fuel at the border. And there were loads of french cafes/truck stops for a decent meal (Unlike now)

 

[TJBi]

We came across a Route Barree last September in a small village. We followed the diversion arrows (just and arrow on a square yellow sign) and turned a corner only to be met by about ten Gendarmes brandishing guns! The one nearest us motioned for us to stop (they were in the road, so keeping momentum was not an option). He walked to the van, came round to my side and I wound down the window. In perfect English he said something along the lines of: So sorry to hold you up. If you can just wait here, we have someone to arrest and I would hate you to be caught in the crossfire! He then smiled and walked back to his position. There were no gun shots fired, but we did see a scrawny looking guy dragged out and bundled into a vehicle. The guy who spoke to us came back and said thanks and we could continue on our way and to have a lovely holiday.

If a gun-brandishing gendarme motioned for me to stop, I would think it advisable to do so, even if he and his colleagues were not blocking the road!

 

[Sharon the Cat]

Always had good experiences with the French rozzers. You sometimes get stopped on the bike. Usually they can't be arsed once they find out you are British but always pleasant. We got stopped and told off for not wearing gloves last year. I say told off. They were quite charming about it.

I am surprised you would take that risk. You can damage many parts of your body and adapt to the injuries, but damage your hands and/or fingers and you might find every day life very difficult and using a keyboard or guitar strings could be severely impacted. It doesn't take much speed to scrape off your flesh/tendons/bones on tarmac. I am sure that there are a few of us on here who have walked/limped away from a totalled bike. A pair of gloves aren't going to ruin your street cred. Please wear them.

 

[barryd]

I am surprised you would take that risk. You can damage many parts of your body and adapt to the injuries, but damage your hands and/or fingers and you might find every day life very difficult and using a keyboard or guitar strings could be severely impacted. It doesn't take much speed to scrape off your flesh/tendons/bones on tarmac. I am sure that there are a few of us on here who have walked/limped away from a totalled bike. A pair of gloves aren't going to ruin your street cred. Please wear them.

Yes I know you are right but we were only popping down the the lake from the van up in the Jura mountains on a warm day. No different to cycling there I guess. We generally do wear them to be fair and made a point of doing so after that.