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Hi,

I'm travelling from Calais to the Vendee on Wednesday towing a caravan. Still havn't made up my mind whether, after Rouen,  I should take the toll motorway via Alencon, LeMans and Angers travelling in relative traffic-free comfort (I assume) but at a cost, or take the A84 via Caen and Rennes for no tolls but presumably a much busier and therefore more tiring and slower journey. I'm ok about slower but not sure I fancy the more tiring/stressful journey that you get surrounded by lots of lorries. I live near Dover so I intend to do the journey in one day.

For those of you out there that have travelled the A84:

• is it two or three carriageways?
• is it likely to be very busy midweek during the day?
• are there loads of juggernauts?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Vanman

Most autoroutes in France are two lane, the exception being very busy routes and near big towns. Looking at the map I would reckon that the A84 is two lanes. I don't think you need worry about being that busy on any day! That is part of the joy of driving in France. There will be lorries but I can't see that there will be an excessive amount and you will get plenty of chance to overtake. What you might want tp do is calculate how long the journeys using each route are. If the toll free one is much longer you might want to factor in the extra cost of fuel against the cost of tolls.

David

I have done the journey to Southern Brittany on both the A84 & the toll road to Le Mans.

The Toll Road was very quiet on the day we travelled down to Brittany (a Tuesday in August), and it is quite expensive. There weren't too many service areas, but this could have changed from 2006.

The A84 is two carriageway, and that can also be quiet, apart from on the Saturdays, when all the Brits/Dutch arrive & leave!

I can't remember lots of lorries, but it was a couple of years ago. I found the A84 to be a pretty route, and the countryside is rolling, so lots to keep a driver occupied. Certainly not flat & straight like some French roads.

We took the A84 home(Tuesday again!), just to save a bit of money. It worked out for us to be about 30-45 minutes longer, and slightly longer in distance to Calais.  

Around the cities can be troublesome according to other posts, but we didn't have any bother.

Unfortunately, I can't make a decision for you, it really is down to personal choice. Brand spanking new road & expense or not so new, and a longer journey.

Smudger

We were advised to use the toll road from Caen to Rouen.   We didn't and the old road takes you through narrow towns, which are very nice but a lot of hassle with the caravan.  Next time it will be the toll for that section

You just don't seem to get the same number of lorries in France, as we do over here.  I know they must be there somewhere, but no journey, even across country on busy days, seems to hit the same row or HGV's in convoy as we regularly have here on the A1 or M1 or the A65, near to us.

We travel toll-free in France, mostly, and don't find it stressful at all - but there are those who post on here who would never even consider it.  As Smudger says, it's personal choice - but whichever you choose, just enjoy the journey.

I think we are going to take the Le Mans route as we got stuck in such awful traffic running up to the Nantes ring road last year. It was a Saturday so very few lorries but Wednesday may have less holiday traffic. I do really like the route via Rennes, especially the bit between Caen and where you can see Mont St Michel. There are some very long hills to climb but it is all dual carriageway all the way. We've done it several times now though and fancy a bit of a change this year I think.

Susie