FAO Val A or Evans of Sprott - Calais to Spain

[MikeA]

Hi both,

Damn the search facility on this forum. I have a clear (well as clear as my addled brain gets) recollection that last Autumn you were agreeing on a good route from Calais to Spain, via Perpignon that avoided Paris and some autoroute tolls. Was I dreaming? If not would you mind letting me know the route or pointing at the previous post.

Thanks

Mike A

 

[MowCopKen]

Mike

in case you were dreaming, this site may help you plot your route and miss autoroute tolls: http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/viamichelin/gbr/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm?ck=OK

Regards

Ken

 

[ValA.]

I think this may be the thread you meant - http://www.practicalcaravan.com/newforums/fm_messages.asp?FO=7&FM=424811 but it doesn't go down as far as Perpignan. We've done that section without paying tolls too, but some parts of it are a bit of a pain.

If you want more details of the route - and how to go around Rouen then post again. It's definitely a good road, though - with a variety of scenery to keep you interested all the way.

 

[EvansofSprot]

Thanks Val - I've no need to search for it now.

This is most of my chunk:

"Don't go through Paris!

Returning from Perpignon area some years ago, I came up the free and spectacular autoroute through Millau, Clermont Ferrand, Limoges, Tours and then Le Mans.

A much better route than the easterly one you proposed!"

 

[MikeA]

Thanks both. That was the one Val - "We do Calais, Abbeville, Rouen, Orleans, then across to Cosne-sur-Loire, Nevers, Moulins, then Clermont Ferrand and down to Millau."

I know it doesn't get me all the way, but it covers the part of the run with which I was having problems on ViaMichelin. I always find ViaMichelin a useful site but every time I use it there is a new quirk that is irritating. Last year, planning a trip into Italy it would show a perfectly sound route on-screen but every time I tried to print, it the pages covering Switzerland were totally blank. This year it insists on diverting me through Paris, even when I force it to give me a route via Rouen! For some reason even though I give it preferences such as "Recommended" route and distance in Miles it reverts to "Shortest" and kilometres when it gives me the route. I wonder if it doesn't like my Firefox Mozilla browser.

Thanks for the offer about Rouen, but not needed as I had actually selected Rouen as the first stopover point. (This particular trip is without the van - a rare event for us.)

I'm not totally averse to the tolls, particularly when I am trying to make good progress, but am always interested in the alternative if we have a bit more time or if the N roads are almost as good.

Thanks

Mike A

 

[angela_5125767]

If you are going to spain by car I think the cheaper option is Portsmouth - Bilbao We leave ferry and can be at La Manga in 9 hours or less. Brittany are doing a new route this years once a week from Portsmouth to Santander in 24 hours.

Angie

 

[MikeA]

Hi Angela,

In May we are driving down to the Costa Brava with family filling the car and we want to enjoy the journey through France as our relations have never been there. The Eurotunnel Crossing is practically free as it is covered by Tesco vouchers.

Later in the year we are crossing Portsmouth - Caen with Brittany Ferries and heading to Cantabria and the Basque country. Then we are coming home on the Santander - Portsmouth crossing of the Bay of Biscay. Not sure about the comparative costs - the long crossing seems very expensive, but I confess that I am a bit torn as I love the boat journeys almost as much as I love meandering through France.

Cheers

Mike A

 

[Gafferbill]

Tolls to Spain = 50.80 euros

Tunnel - Rouen - Evreux - Dreux - Chartres - Chateaudun - N10 -Biarritz - Pamplona - Zaragoza - Costa Brava

 

[Gafferbill]

Tolls to Spain = 50.80 euros

Tunnel - Rouen - Evreux - Dreux - Chartres - Chateaudun - N10 -Biarritz - Pamplona - Zaragoza - Costa Brava

Just to add, tolls were for route stated last month wilst towing a caravan

 

[ValA.]

To get to the Costa Brava it would make much more sense to take the straightforward route, crossing the border into Spain at Le Perthus, near to Perpignan. The route Gafferbill suggested crosses France to the west coast and then crosses back east to the Costa Brava in Spain.

 

[Gafferbill]

Val A....Just done the trip last month.

The route I gave above is about 100 miles further than yours.

I came back my route and went yours.

You pays yer money and takes yer choice!

 

[ValA.]

From mappy.com, selecting Evreux, Chateaudun, Biarritz, Pamplona and Zaragosa (your way) as 'stages' on the route to Roses (Costa Brava) it calculates a route of 1096 miles.

Selecting Evreux, Clermont Ferrand, Millau, Le Perthus (my way) and Roses is just 770 miles - so more than three hundred miles extra your way.

I can imagine that your route would be nice if you were touring, and wanted scenery, but if you just wanted to get to Spain quickly then it really doesn't seem a sensible option.

 

[Gafferbill]

Mike A posted he was taking family who wanted to see France.

Val A had already sugested the shortest route.

I posted an alternative route to see more of France using distances to Barcelona from Calais as an alternative to repeating the route on the return.

For information...... once you get South of Valencia, on the coastal route, the distances of the two routes become equal from Calais.

PS

I was shocked by the huge destruction of the Pine Trees in the Landes due to the recent storm.

The wind speed must have been huge. I would not like to have been in the area with my caravan.

 

[EvansofSprot]

Mike A posted he was taking family who wanted to see France.

Val A had already sugested the shortest route.

I posted an alternative route to see more of France using distances to Barcelona from Calais as an alternative to repeating the route on the return.

For information...... once you get South of Valencia, on the coastal route, the distances of the two routes become equal from Calais.

PS

I was shocked by the huge destruction of the Pine Trees in the Landes due to the recent storm.

The wind speed must have been huge. I would not like to have been in the area with my caravan.

I saw the results of the last big storm in that area some years ago - horrendous.

The only beneficiaries from that were the timber merchants near the Rhone at Avignon.