driving to spain

[aguiness]

hello my wife and i will be travelling down to spain from calais later this year last week in august.
i am trying to work out the best route , we to tow a caravan.
i initially thought about the long way round calais reims lyon etc
but i have read the straight way is quicker over the millau bridge, but i have heard the route is very hilly.
i have also been looking at the calais rouen toulouse route also.

has anybody any advise as to the best route to take.
any advise is most welcome.

 

[ValA.]

We have a caravan weighing 1350 mtplm, and tow with a diesel Mondeo estate. We have no problems at all with the Millau route. However, one year our own car was out of action, and Ford loaned us a petrol towcar but this didn't cope as well with the hills.

It is a hilly route, but the hills are long uphills and downhills rather than steep climbs. If you drive sensibly and take a 'run' at the hills you can see coming you should have no problems provided your car has good torque.

It's a fantastic route, though, particularly when you get south of Clermont Ferrand.

Here's a link to the route we usually use, with overnight stops along the way, depending on where you want to overnight:

1. Calais/Dunkerque to the Languedoc or Dordogne.
2. Avoiding central Rouen
3. Avoiding central Rouen with added pictures

We've also done the Toulouse route, using cross-country from Toulouse south, via Ax les Thermes, Bourge Madame, and then Berga and Menresa to Tarragona, but this definitely has steeper hills and arrower roads. It's more useful for the Costa Dorada - but you don't say where you're heading in Spain.

 

[aguiness]

great thanks
we are going the last week in august
i think we will go down one way and come back the other, that way we'll see more of the country
we'll go down the toulouse way and return the millau road
thanks for the advise

 

[ValA.]

Just a suggestion, but from experience I would do it the other way round! When you get south of Millau near Le Caylar there is a tunnel, and a spectacular view from the tunnel, on a clear day almost all the way down to the Med. It's worth going south that way, just for the view, and I also think you get a better perspective across the Millau viaduct driving south. The route down to the Med from Milau is the steepest section - and if you're coming back up that way it can be a bit off-putting at the start of the road, as you then think the whole way is going to be like that. Going south it's the last hill and also the steepest!
Then when you come back you can do the gentler hills of the Toulose route on your way home but I'd also then go via the normal autoroute (Perpignan/Carcassonne/Toulouse) rather than cross-country via Manresa and Berga as into September you can get snow in the Pyrenees! Admittedly not much, but could be sufficient to cause towing problems on newly covered roads!

 

[Percy1]

last year we went via Rouen - Orleans - Clermont Ferrand - Millau. I agree its gets hilly in the mid pyrennes. We had stop overs at

http://www.campingdesologne.co/
http://www.camping-calquieres.com/camping-severac-le-chateau.html.
we returned via Toulouse - Limoges -Tours - Le mans and ferry from Caen.

REgards

Ian

 

[RayS]

Millau bridge visitors centres well worth a visit. Several good campsites in Milleau - I liked the 'Three Rivers' site for easy access and riverside situation