Hi gaz and welcome to HT!

While you are waiting for specific replies you may wish to read THIS TOPIC on driving in France which may have some useful information.

luci

Hi gaz

To reply to a post, click on Post Reply in the bottom right hand corner. You clicked on Report a Post.

luci

yeh sorry

please anyone

Patience gaz! It's Sunday night and not usually the busiest time on the boards... Give it a couple of days at least.

Wasn't there any useful information in that link I gave you?

luci

We drove Glasgow to Portsmouth and then Caen to Chateau Des Ormes last summer. I have a Toyota Corolla and for 4 of us (me, hubby and 2 kids aged 3 and 6) we needed a roofbox. The little one is still in a 9 month to 4 year car seat so we had her footwell for bags but we still needed to box on top too and looking round the site most people with similar sized cars (and many bigger) had boxes. Think ahead as to whether you might need a box as there are bargains to be had. The Roof Box Company often has nearly new boxes and roofbars for sale at very good prices (I bought returned bars from them last year when I bought the Corolla and they had obviously never been used).
If you've driven the Edinburgh City By-Pass and the M8 in rush hour, driving in France will be a dawdle! Your problem will be the M6. We have been driving to France since 2001 and last year was the first time since 2002 we had headed for the Channel ports (we usually go Rosyth to Zeebrugge). I would strongly recommend you use the M6 Toll as it completely cuts out the hassles of Birmingham. We have always found the AA website to be very accurate for directions and their timings have always almost been spot-on whenever we have used them for UK or Europe apart from for some reason when we have used them to get back to Zeebrugge (we've never travelled back to Zeebrugge from our original destination so can't just reverse the directions).

Make sure your car insurance covers you for France (most will only cover you third party as part of the standard cover but you should be able to upgrade for a small fee - Norwich Union charges me £30 a year) and for your own peace of mind you must get European Breakdown Cover such as AA 5 Star (your insurance company may be able to give you this cheaper - Norwich Union has always worked out cheaper for me as an insurance extra) as if you are unlucky enough to have an accident you need to be able to get you and/or your car returned to the UK.

We loved Chateau Des Ormes despite 2007's miserable weather. Who are you travelling with? I'm guessing you have kids with you. How old are they?

thanks for that great info elaine ,its me the wife and 3 kids ,16,13 and 11.
cheers

Hi!

Well I'm sure that you have all you need to cope with the challenge of the drive south to Poole. I would suggest that you look at the websites Mappy or viamichelin for routes and driving times. The trick is to make the drive part of the holiday. Perhaps you should plan on some nice overnights on the way down - for example in the New Forest, or a day at Alton Towers or something similar - to break up the journey. The trick is to make it as stressfree as possible, and motorway driving can be very tiring so you need to allow coffee breaks, and nice meals en route, with some good cassettes or CDs to give you a break from the radio.

As regards prices in France, it' s rather hard to give you absolute prices because things can change especially in tourist areas. As a rule of thumb in a café, especially on an outside terrace, a coke will cost less than 3€, an espresso less than 2€, a cappuchino or large cup of coffee with milk under 3.50€. A set meal would be about 12-15€ and a Mc Donalds 'meal' about 8€ or less. Obviously if you buy your cokes in a supermarket in large bottles of 1.5l the price comes down dramatically!

Hope this helps for a starter - and Bonnes Vacances to you and your family.

PS If you are going down the M6, I found Tebay services to be exceptional for sticky cakes, good meals, clean loos and a relaxing setting watching the ducks on the pond!

thanks Alsacienne
we are going to stay in a hotel (travel lodge) probly somewhere close to poole then get an early fast ferry.

Hi,

Driving in France is easy. Do do some searches on the internet. in towns the give way to traffic from the right keeps you on you toes. the drive alive web site is good do a google. (driving in france) don't puch your self too much on day 1 in france. get used to driving on the right we try to do no more than 2 hours.

Via michelin route planner is great as it gives you the tolls for the motorways.

If you can afford it invest in a decent sat nav. One you can pre load itinery journeys. I have tom tom. get the maps of europe not just major roads.

Holiday inn express in poole is good as you get continental breakfast includeded in the price. £50 for room for a night. not sure what time they start breakfast service.

As for meals etc in france advice above has is right. it is cheaper to eat inside than on the terrace in a lot of cases. Cheap lunches are simple a baguette and some cheese ham salad etc from the supermarket. we pack a few picnic bits. plastic plates wetones platic glasses a knife etc.

As others have said treat the drive as part of the journey. we always leave early in the morning and restrict our selves to 5 hrs ish a day and then we spend time around where we stay for the night.

Logis de france hotels can also be good in addition to the Ibis, B&B chain, ETAP Suite hotels etc.

hope it helps

Adrian

thank adrian
superb info

I have had my Tom Tom for about 3 or 4 years (Go 700) I would be grateful if you could explain about the itineraries, I have only ever used it around town and in the US. We are driving to France this year and would be grateful for some info. Also does anyone know the cost of petrol out there, I assumed it would be cheaper than the UK but someone told me its more expensive.

We found petrol on the whole about the same price, supermarket filling stations are the cheapest and motorway service areas the most expensive.

Patka

Petrol used to be quite a bit cheaper in France but it has crept up over the last few years and last year we found it to be much the same price as we pay here. Given the current Euro exchange rate, it will work out more expensive at the moment.

Firstly can I second the recommendation for Tebay services in the Lake district. Especially the bacon sandwiches.

As a general rule driving in France is easier than driving in the UK provided you lake care and concentrate. Road signing is very good on the motorways and main roads (N roads). It can be a bit problematic in towns I have found. Make sure you have all the bits and bobs for the car (see the relevent thread on this site). Petrol stations take British credit cards in the garage shop but you cannot pay at the pumps with one. Petrol stations often close on Sundays or switch to pay at pump only.

Enjoy yourself.

Can anyone point me the direction of a site that will list the tolls and cost etc for the route to our holiday destination (Paizay Le Tort).

Thanks

Hi Kazd. working a bit blind here, as have never been. Is this of any help ? http://www.cfit.gov.uk/docs/2001/scot0122/scot0122/ab.htm

Kath HT Admin

kazd tryhttp://www.viamichelin.fr. Bonne Route!

Thank you for your replies, have tried the Michelin site and its superb. Just what I wanted.