Calais to the vendee

[GillC1]

Hi

Has anyone driven from calais to St jean des monts area? is it a long trek and how long did it take you?

thanks

 

[Lorrie1]

We did it last year with caravan in tow. We stopped over night near Le Mons, at Chateau De Chanteloup. This was a fairly long drive back to Calais for the return ferry. Ok on the way down. We used the new A16 motorway, even though it was a toll road. Nice road, very little traffic.

I would not do the drive all in one day, especialy if ou have children.

 

[ShadySadie]

St J-D-M is just over 400 miles from Calais and on French autoroute I would not descrbe it as a trek as it would be in UK traffic.

I would be leaving Calais area at around 7 am and stopping for lunch at Alencon for the children to have a break and then be in ST J-D-M by late afternoon to set up. 200 miles in 4 hours before lunch is quite easy on that route if your children are keen to get the journey over and done with.

I'm going to the south of France on Tuesday solo and should cover about six hundred miles with ease if not a little more.

 

[ThePlotter]

400 miles is ok if you are of the correct temprement and fresh with the van on you are looking with breaks at aeound 8 hours even on autoroutes so stopover may be good idea,600+ solo or towing is outright dangerous.

 

[Cockovan]

Hi Gill,

We are going to Royan in July, having been to La Rochelle 2 years ago. Both times we have used le Mans, as a stop over and would not consider doing the whole journey in one go. Even though our son is now 11 and well used to long journeys he would find it too far to go, never mind the rest of the family. We learned many years ago when touring abroad not to try to go too far in a day. We personally never consider much over 300 miles, so we split 400 into 2 journeys. When we have tried longer journeys it takes to much time for the driver to recover!

It's all down to personal opinion and experiences, these are ours!

Enjoy your holiday

Alan

 

[ShadySadie]

On Tuesday we had a lovely day out and went from Farnham to Belgium via Dover /Calais and then to Arras and back to Farnham.

Mileage was roughly 445 miles with me driving. A lovely day and My friends elderly dad loved his day out and was full of beans when we got home.

The route south from Calais is an easy drive that I have done solo and with husband and family many times, 200 plus miles is very very easy relaxed driving most of the time on French autoroutes and can be done in four hours with a caravan with ease followed by a break and then another four hours and a break for tea and then between two and four hours and stope for dinner and a nights stop over.

Plenty of people drive from Spain and Italy in a day. My children only ever wanted to get the trip over when they we young and my sisters girls are the same, we did just over 700 miles in a day at Easter with no stress or worries and no near misses and nor was I falling asleep. In fact we went out and had a lovely long dinner. I have a very long accident free record since I started driving on the road nearly forty years ago and Plotters remark is uncalled for and wrong.

We have callers to my office who do 400 miles a day and plenty of hours of work on top in this country. A long cruise down an autoroute in daylight is not dangerous and nor should it put a fit driver into a state of danger with reasonable breaks.

 

[Happy-Lappy]

I agree with Shady Sadie, this is why I use Toll Roads. You can cover further distance in less time and it's normally stress free driving. I normally stop every 3hrs or so and last year drove from Royan to Ben Assise (Nr Calais) in one go.

It all comes down to the individuals confidence whilst driving abroad,

best regards, Martin

 

[GillC1]

Thanks for all your replies, we will be leaving wales and travelling down to folkestone staying there overnight then getting the shuttle the next morning, then straight to St jean des monts.

My husband is a hgv driver so driving 8 hours won't be a problem to him.

thanks again

 

[MartinJ]

We did this route a few years ago and also stayed overnight at Chateau de Chanteloup. Its a very nice site and to be honest I wish we had stayed a few nights there to enjoy the area a bit more.

The mistake we made was driving to Dover direct (abt 4 hours) and then straight off the ferry and on to Chanteloup which made it feel a realy long slog. We should have driven to Dover the previous day and stayed overnight there. It didnt seem half as bad on the way back though doing the trip back to Calais after a good nights sleep.

It was baking hot on the way down too which didnt help.

If you have a couple of drivers and no kids constantly saying "are we there yet", with a bit of planning I would say you could get from calais to St John de Monts in a day ok.

Good luck, Martin.

 

[Philip_374349976]

We did this route a few years ago and also stayed overnight at Chateau de Chanteloup. Its a very nice site and to be honest I wish we had stayed a few nights there to enjoy the area a bit more.

The mistake we made was driving to Dover direct (abt 4 hours) and then straight off the ferry and on to Chanteloup which made it feel a realy long slog. We should have driven to Dover the previous day and stayed overnight there. It didnt seem half as bad on the way back though doing the trip back to Calais after a good nights sleep.

It was baking hot on the way down too which didnt help.

If you have a couple of drivers and no kids constantly saying "are we there yet", with a bit of planning I would say you could get from calais to St John de Monts in a day ok.

Good luck, Martin.

Hi every one

Just to say we have traveled to the south of france solo for the last couple of years we travel from the north west of England and take the ferry to calais and then we stop over night. We get an early start the next morning to travel the 750 mile trip. But we bought my son a DVD player for the car and we do not here a word out of him,well worth the money! we stop every 2 to 3hrs just to stretch our legs and the toll roads are fantastic with no stress at all. All I would say dont let the milage put you off because driving on French roads are not like driving in England

Phil

 

[MAM]

We travelled from Calais to Benodet in August last year, leaving Calais at around 11am and arriving at 9pm. We used toll roads most of the way and with three young children, it was a tough day, but at least we didn't have to have two days of travelling. On the way back e broke up the journey with a 'free' overnight stop at Mont St Michel and lots of other stops, travelling mainly on toll-free roads. This sort of journey is okay if you haven't got a time limit - we did an overnight in Calais and caught an early ferry - but with the quality of French toll-roads, it's sometimes better to have one long day that two easier days. As far as my children are concerned, it's the difference between one day and two days of travelling and the distance doesn't really come into it.

We're travelling to the Vendee in August - from Calais in one stint and then hope for a stop-over on the way back.

 

[GrahamSouthBrum]

When we travel to St.J.De M. we get the ferry from Poole to Cherbourg & find this a nice easy run on Auto routes with no tolls.

The ferry may be more expensive but with petrol & derv on the increase & the fall of the

 

[RichL812]

We did it last year with caravan in tow. We stopped over night near Le Mons, at Chateau De Chanteloup. This was a fairly long drive back to Calais for the return ferry. Ok on the way down. We used the new A16 motorway, even though it was a toll road. Nice road, very little traffic.

I would not do the drive all in one day, especialy if ou have children.

Hi

We are doing the same this year - Calais - Chanteloup Le Mans, Pin Parasol then Pin Parasol, Camping la Foret Rouen, calais

Can you remember how long it took you on each leg of the journey

Thanks