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Topic: French newby

RICKARDOS

12/7/2015 at 8:02am
Location: Deeside North Wales
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We are shortly to embark on our first trip with our caravan to France, I have driven over there a few times with no problem any advice as its our first time would be great to read our route crosses from Portsmouth to Caen, then down towards the Vendee. Not so much nervous as apprehensive of the unknown suppose that's part of the holiday.

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oxter

12/7/2015 at 9:53am
Location: NE Scotland
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Hairywol

12/7/2015 at 10:40am
Location: Teesside
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Toll roads are expensive, but my advice would be to grin and pay up. Much easier, especially when towing.

If your combo gross weight is over 3.5 tonnes you are restricted to 56mph on motorways, not 60 as in the UK. However if it is less than this you can tow at 81mph! (which I wouldn't really recommend).

The French are getting very hot on speeding, especially with Brits who they consider take the pee with speed limits. While you are unlikely to get done for going over 81mph be careful if you are restricted to 56. Fines are on-the-spot and if the French rozzers find your paperwork lacking or your satnav set to detect speed cameras, you will be in a shedload of trouble with fines of EU 1,500.

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Crach

12/7/2015 at 12:01pm
Location: France
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Don't get carried away that the French police are after you, they are not...just drive sensibly and you'll never see a gendarme unless the ports are blockaded!!!

As for the sat nav, mine is permanently switched on purely to remind me of the cameras...

Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!

Val A

12/7/2015 at 12:14pm
Location: West - North Yorkshire
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Quote: Originally posted by Crach on 12/7/2015Don't get carried away that the French police are after you, they are not...just drive sensibly and you'll never see a gendarme unless the ports are blockaded!!!

As for the sat nav, mine is permanently switched on purely to remind me of the cameras...

Yes, in thirty five years of French holidays we have been stopped only once by the police - when they were holding up traffic so that the vignerons of the Languedoc could hand out a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine, free, to each car!!

You will find towing in France is easier -- the roads are generally better surfaced and there is less traffic. There are also more caravan friendly places to stop for picnics, both on the autoroutes, and alongside the main roads - usually well signposted with picnic table symbols. Get fuel when your caravan is unhitched, some fuel stations (especially supermarkets where fuel is cheaper) have quite tight access to and from the pumps.

There are plenty of campsites for overnight stops, should your journey need one. Just get a good campsite guide such as Le Guide Officiel Camping and Caravanning, and you'll be fine.

Watch out in small towns for Priorite a Droit signs - probably as good an explanation as you'll get here:
Priorite a Droit

Do watch out for 'Stop' signs at road junctions, and make sure you actually come to a stop. Also keep an eye out for oncoming drivers flashing you - it generally means hazard ahead - and this is often police waiting to catch the unwary at a Stop sign, or with speed cameras.

Kelper

12/7/2015 at 2:14pm
Location: Northern Ireland
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Quote: Originally posted by Hairywol on 12/7/2015

The French are getting very hot on speeding, especially with Brits who they consider take the pee with speed limits. While you are unlikely to get done for going over 81mph be careful if you are restricted to 56. Fines are on-the-spot and if the French rozzers find your paperwork lacking or your satnav set to detect speed cameras, you will be in a shedload of trouble with fines of EU 1,500.

Hate to tell you how many french cars have zipped passed me in the last couple of weeks .... way over the speed limits. I think they are taking the pee far more than GB drivers!

themarstonscooper

12/7/2015 at 2:39pm
Location: Cheshire
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Yes agree with Val Stop signs they are known to wait at and the French are far more obvious flashing lights its a hazard or more likely a mobile radar ...Watch for the cameras on the motorway they are smaller but dont worry as there is no reciprocal arrangements yet so your unlikely fond anything in the post when home

I am there frequently and there is even less concern for the speed limits in France than in the UK id say and certainly less enforced if your at 60 towing or 65 you will likely be fine and enough time to just slow down when you spot one of them. Its the small villages they are usually hiding in. We had one in the village of Lucenay last week when I drove from the airport near Lyon to a house I stay at. He was sat on the corner of the road I had to turn down to get on the drive which meant he had to move as its a one car road. He came back 10 minutes later so I went out again just to shift them again.

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Mark

Uttoxeter (Race days)
Le Serignan Plage (clothed one) August and Scheveningen on way back

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Grandad Kenny

12/7/2015 at 3:42pm
Location: Essex
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Hi there,
I've just got back from Perpignan and never touched a toll road once. Major A roads follow the motorways criss crossing them all the way and it is easy to pootle along at 90kmh and find lots of local things to see and sites to use. I avoid toll roads due to the cost, it can add hundreds to the cost of an holiday, plan a route, write it down and go for it.

lizex

12/7/2015 at 5:13pm
Location: None Entered
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Quote: Originally posted by Val A on 12/7/2015

Yes, in thirty five years of French holidays we have been stopped only once by the police - when they were holding up traffic so that the vignerons of the Languedoc could hand out a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine, free, to each car!!

You lead a charmed life, don't you!

Wendy106

12/7/2015 at 6:43pm
Location: West Midlands
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Good to hear that Grandad Kenny. We're going for the first time at the end of August and want to avoid tolls, would rather spend our hard earned on food and drink and enjoyable stuff. I've found the Via Michelin app (free to download) very useful. You can plan a route, tell it to avoid tolls, and that you're towing a caravan, and it works it out in about 10 seconds flat, including the time it will take and the cost of fuel.

fleck2

12/7/2015 at 7:19pm
Location: Derbyshire
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We avoid the tolls too, total rip off and unless you travel at 80mph there will be little difference in arrival time. You can tell the Sat nav to avoid tolls and our TomTom is pretty good at it.
Also Google maps navigation is very good and the maps are very up to date.

Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!

Kelper

12/7/2015 at 10:41pm
Location: Northern Ireland
Outfit: Sterckeman Alize Concept CP480

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We use tolls at times ... when doing long legs between sites ... we do travel at around 120-125 kph, so do make it in quite a shorter time than if we had gone non-toll ... also use a Liber-T tag, which speeds things up a bit more (at worst), and a lot more (at best).
Though there's no doubt that many of the villages you pass through are fun or beautiful ... the accumulation of roundabouts and continuous slowing down for 70/50/30 signs does add a lot of time.
There are some extremely good free motorways; and some excellent N routes e.g. a lot of the N10, which allows you to drive between 110 and 90 fairly consistently, depending on lorry volume.
I don't find the peages a rip off .... sometimes they have given us a rapid route through to our destination, rather than spending much longer in a car.
But .... chaque un son gout!

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