France getting too expensive

[ValA.]

I've just been looking at our map - which is actually dated 2003 - but rural roads haven't changed that much, and there are probably even more by-passes now then there were then. Perhaps one of the most useful sections is the alternatives to the Rhone valley route. You go off at Vienne, on to the D538 which continues through Beaurepaire, Romans-sur-Isere, Chabeuil, Crest, then the D9 to Grignan, and eventually to Carpentras. We've followed the section to Chabeuil when we stayed at a site near there. The alternative is to cross the Rhone near Vienne and carry on down the west side of the Rhone (useful if you're going to the Ardeche/Gard areas of France).

The Bis maps don't offer an alternative to every single autoroute, but having used some of their suggestions you get used to following the 'ruler' principle (ie look for the straightest roads, in the same direction as the autoroute you want to follow - and then highlight that route - and ask if anyone's done it before - or be intrepid and just go for it).

We haven't yet made any real errors of judgement - though we did once get lost going around Aix on Provence, and ended up having to go through the small village at the top of a hill. The worst thing was that another van was following us, as we looked so confident that we knew what we were doing!

If you've a particular destination in mind (in France by the way, Bis only applies there) then I'll have a look at my map and see what the suggestions are.

 

[ValA.]

Ian - just to add the title of the map is 'Carte-Conseil Itineraires Bis' - and it would appear that it is an option on some French Sat Navs. When I did a search on Le Bon Coin, which is a French classified website, it came up with bumper stickers, and lots of Sat Nav systems! The first Sat Nav I looked at mentioned 'Itineraires Bis' in the attributes of the system.

I'm not sure whether French publishers do anything similar - but the one we have was given away at one of the Bison Fute information booths, which they used to have at some service areas, much like the RAC do here in Britain.

 

[Rioja]

Reading other peoples comments make me wonder if I went to the same country, however, we went in September when the holiday traffic has all but vanished. The majority of caravans are from either Holland or GB.

The one thing we decided though was that if we went again we wouldn't try to cover as much distance. We went from 1st September, arriving back !st October. I can remember exact mileages and the likes but we had 3 main stops in Provence, the Perigord and Calais area. To achieve this we needed overnight stiops on route to each one ie 6 days travelling. In addition we needed 2 days to get to Hull from home. In other words 8 days were spent travelling instead of holidaying. As for the routes

well here we are travelling south from Zeebruge

an hour or so later

Those busy villages don't half hold you up

This is the Macon region, vinyards on the left and evidence of traffic !!!!

We then joined the motorway south.

Driving from Provence north to the Perigord we took the A75 which is currently toll free except for the Milleu bridge as described by Val

Yes the motorway sections are brilliant

But there's nothing wrong with the free routes either

There you go. The proof is in the photo's. The only time we were held up in a proper jam was on the autoroute driving through Lyon. Probably lost an hour there !

 

[Rioja]

Shame it doesn't host the photo's . Damn !!!!!!

 

[Rioja]

Shame it doesn't host the photo's . Damn !!!!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16805436@N02/sets/72157613659422360/

This might !

 

[Rioja]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16805436@N02/sets/72157613659422360/

This might !

I think it does !

 

[ValA.]

Still, they're worth looking at - that's the sort of 'traffic jams' we've experienced too Rioja - I love the 'hold-up in the village one'! It looks like every other French village we've driven through, when you wonder 'where are all the French people?' If only driving in England was as pleasureable!

It's probably a different experience in the mad bad summer holiday month - but definitely worth cross-countrying if you're going anytime from January to mid-July, or mid-August to December!

 

[Rioja]

Did it work Val ?!

I dislike the fact you can't edit your posts here !

 

[ValA.]

Yes,I just copied the links and pasted them - and got your photographs up one by one! You can just taste the sunshine in some of them - lovely!

 

[Rioja]

Thanks Val. The photo's were not taken in quick succession but over a few days. I kept on telling my wife to take another as mile after mile of empty road unfolded in front of us.It was easy to do a steady 50-60mph, not much difference from the auto routes but more scenic and less mileage more often than not.

I admit I had 4 weeks to make the trip but to be honest, I wouldn't entertain going all the way to the south for less than three anyway.However, the further north you are the less likely to get hot sunshine. Before you know it you might as well stay in this country.

Maybe thats the answer. Free auto route to Cornwall,less journey time, no ferry costs and fuel 20% cheaper at the moment !

 

[ValA.]

True - but I think we'll stick to France, thanks - even with the poor exchange rate. Let everyone else go to Cornwall, so French roads will be even less crowded!

We've got our ferries booked anyway!