Toll free roads to the Med.

[paul_5132583]

I have travelled down to the South of France and the Costa Brava, many times, whether solo or towing,and have always used the tolls roads, for convience and fairly easy familiar terrain.

I have now researched non toll roads and their subsequent cost savings, has anyone experience of the terrian, are they really suitable for hauling a caravan,for example do you encounter steep inclines, congestion through villages,confusing directions,etc?

On using a french autoroute planner, the estimated cost would appear to be in excess of 90 euros each way, which is more expensive than the fuel used.

Would appreciate any advice.

Regards Paul.

 

[emmerson2]

Paul, in my experience, you have nothing to fear in using non-toll roads. You also gain a lot, because you drive through towns and villages that you wouldn't normally see.It may take an hour or two longer (or days, if like us, you stop when something catches your eye)but it makes for a much pleasanter journey. After all, we had no choice before they built the motor ways, did we?

 

[emmitdb]

Paul,

Whilst I agree with Emmerson that you have nothing to fear from using non tolls, can I suggest that once you have decided on your route, should you find yourself bound for a large town or city, it may be worth using a nearby toll road as you will find that the sheer volume of traffic lights, roundabouts etc. will reduce your average speed to a crawl and do nothing for your clutch and associated vehicle systems. As a result your fuel economy will disappear to almost nil. It may be worth paying (if at all) the small sum to use the toll road.

I cite as an example Poiters. The N10 is great to the north and south but it will take you forever to negotiate the town unless you perfom the transit well out of 'normal' times.

 

[NickinFrance]

It depends what the objective of the holiday is, if can spare the time & want to look about the journey, take the main roads. If you want to be spend as much time at your destination as possible take the autoroutes.

90 _ is a tank of diesel on our tow vehicle & the extra fuel consumption on a trip from the channel ports to the Med would easily eat (drink) that.

Personally, I much prefer to get where I am going as quickly & stress free as possible , so would take the autoroutes.

 

[ValA.]

We're non-toll road users, with a caravan, and have now done the road to the Mediterranean many times, almost toll-free. Generally we might pay for a small stretch in the North (in order to use the service area), perhaps a stretch around Orleans, and the Millau viaduct if we're not staying the night in Millau.

We go Calais, Abbeville, Rouen, Chartres, Orleans, Gien, Cosne sur Loire, Nevers, Moulins, Gannat, Clermont Ferrand, Millau, Montpellier, Mediterranean - we've done it that way lots of times (even before the A75 was finished - but it took a lot longer in those days!).

We enjoy travelling on the N roads, and don't find that it slows us down that much, towing. If you're on the autoroute solo then you can probably do 80 - 85 mph - with a caravan you can realistically only do 60 - and we can do nearly that on the N roads. The toll with a caravan would be around 40 euros from Orleans to Clermont Ferrand and the same for the return journey - and for us that's quite a saving. Plus, we also save on fuel as we can buy in supermarkets rather than the expensive service areas on the autoroute. 80 euros plus saved in tolls and 20 cents a litre saved on fuel (currently 1.11 at the Super U in Millau and 1.31 at the Aire d'Aveyron on the autoroute at Severac le Chateau) buys us several meals out or loads of bottles of Vins de Pays d'Oc at 99 cents (joke icon, winking thingy!!!)

We can still manage Abbeville to the Mediterranean with just one overnight stop en-route, around Nevers usually - although sometimes we've been known to stay on our chosen stopover site for much longer if we find somewhere we like and we often stop over in Millau or the Tarn Gorge for an extended period before heading off down to the Mediterranean.

Generally we're not in a hurry to get anywhere in particular, don't have children to take into consideration, and enjoy the travelling as part of our holiday rather than just 'a way to get there'.

 

[paul_5132583]

Thank you for your responses.

Regards Paul.