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We are going to Roses in Spain next year and will be driving via Rouen, what is the best route. Orleans-Millau-Beziers or Toulouse-Narbonne.

Are the toll costs about the same, any other things that i should know about.

We traveled the Millau route to Frontignan this year, the hill climbs i could have done without.

Quote: Originally posted by johnbow on 09/10/2008

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We are going to Roses in Spain next year and will be driving via Rouen, what is the best route. Orleans-Millau-Beziers or Toulouse-Narbonne.

Are the toll costs about the same, any other things that i should know about.

We traveled the Millau route to Frontignan this year, the hill climbs i could have done without.

 

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 John

Hi, we are going to Spain via Rouen , Chartres,Orleans ,Vierzon , Clermont Ferrand ,Millau , Perpignan and stopping at Camping Tropicana ,Alcossebre and the tolls work out at 110 euros according to Michelin Route Planner .

Are the hills on this route realy severe because if they are i may look for another way

 regards Neil

Johnbow, www.mappy.com suggests the route via Toulouse, at a cost of 68.30 in tolls (perhaps more for a motorhome), and a driving time of 12 hours 38 minutes!  Via Clermont Ferrand you'll pay 72.30 in tolls and drive for 13 hours 6 minutes, so if it were me I'd go via Toulouse.

Other John:  we tow the Clermont Ferrand route most years, and don't find it too bad.  We have a Ford Mondeo 2L turbo diesel and it manages the hills pretty well, without dropping down through too many gears.  We have noticed some of the bigger motorhomes struggling, as will towing with an underpowered car.  One year we had to drive a petrol-engine Mondeo as ours was in for investigation of problems with the air-conditioning unit - towing with the petrol engine (same size as our diesel) was a bit more hairy as it really struggled up the hills.  The highest point of the Clermont Ferrand route is slightly higher than the top of Snowdon!!!!

 Hi Neil,at its highest its 1100mtrs and some hills are steep, we had a 2.5 normal diesel motorhome and it was hard going down to 2nd gear in some parts, we have just changed our motorhome to a bessacarr e765 2.8 tdi. should be a lot better next year, but i do fancy the Toulouse route just wanted to know what other people think.

We did the coast road into Spain towing our dandy. Traffic was slow around Portbou and Colera and we were starting to overheat but we pulled off for a 1/2 hour break.  We did the motorway back, which was free flowing. I can't remember the tolls being expensive.

By the way, Cadaques was a nightmare! No parking and heaving with tourists!

 The highest point of the Clermont Ferrand route is slightly higher than the top of Snowdon!!!!

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 Oh yeah, I forgot about that bit too!

It seemed as if we were going up forever and it took ages to get down again.

I remember going along the flat unable to get into top gear in my 2.5td motorhome with the winds around Narbonne.Im doing a similiar route next year ,down to Valencia and fancy going via Milau and its famous bridge and maybe coming back via Toulusse.

Ive done both routes in a sports car (ahh those were the days!) and a motorhome they are very similiar and both pleasent enough routes.

We went to Roses this year and the worse place to drive through is Rouen. Every time we go there we get lost!   Apart from that we enjoyed the drive down and would not have missed driving through the Pyrenees, scenary magical. We stopped at Bourges and Millau on the way down. Great municiple site at Bourges and cheap just off the motorway.

Sue

We got some very good directions on this website on how to avoid the 'horrors of Rouen' and now have no problems.  Basically we take a slip road off to the right just after the Darnetal tunnel - up to the T junction, turn left at that T junction, then turn right alongside a lovely church, and then follow the river (which will be on your right), go through the traffic lights at Pont de L'Arche and back on to the non-toll road to Evreux.  It's easy once you know how.