Heading to finale in September, early October.Anyone got any tips on time, day to set off.Also where best to overnight in France not far from whatever motorway we'll be on.We will be getting ferry dover to Calais,but not booked it yet.Ive done it before but mates did most of driving,so can't remember much.
Any advice appreciated.
Cheers
Can't help with specifics but the motorways in France are very easy driving pretty much any time of day. There's the odd bottleneck but not on that route I think, just don't go via Paris. I'd time it to make the UK section ok, that'll be the worst for traffic.
For accommodation we just use the big budget chains. Usually F1 or hotel BandB. They are right by the motorway at most big towns. Totally without frills, image a McDonald's hotel. Basically drive til late, stop and sleep, get up and carry on. There are some nicer towns and cities if you want to make a night of it but it does add significantly to the journey time.
All I can say is that Sheffield to Finale in one go is going to be savage. Hopefully you're sharing the driving.
Also tunnel is much preferable to the ferry. I've done both a handful of times and the tunnel has always been much faster with much less waiting around at either end, though I'm sure it's just as capable of going tits up.
If you get the tunnel you can get a deal (free subscription) for an Emovis tag. It makes the barriers pop up at the toll booths and saves you and your passenger from messing around with credit cards and looking for lost tickets.
We just pull over and sleep in Aires. Just look for the least sketchy ones and grab a few hours sleep. Better than driving around strange towns checking into hotels and stuff.
Can't really give you in depth advice on routes, we just plug in google maps and wing it.
We usually set off down to the tunnel around 5.00 pm with a view to getting a late train across. Drive down to Troyes through the night and stop off in the services for a few hours sleep. From their its just a drive through the day to arrive in Finale around tea time.
It's a means to achieving the end.
For the return we usually leave Sunday morning and drive all the way to the tunnel, again a late train and then drive back up to South Yorkshire through the night.
Still contemplating if we can do it this year without the Italian quarantine. Hopefully it will be lifted for mid September
Normally when I need to cross france, I drive down to Dover after work, get a late ferry and sleep in the hotel F1 in Calais. Then smash France out the next day. Finale from Calais would be rough without a spare driver though, maybe Lyon as a second stop if you're alone.
Have done it a couple of times. Most amusing way is via chamberry-tunnel de frejus-Aosta valley-Mondiva-Callizano and down through the mountains. But you’ll want to get there quickly so: Reims-Dijon-Lyon-Marseilles.
A6 can be either magnificently empty <ahem what>kph all the way or horrendously full.
Get a french toll tag: no cheaper at all but means you’re not queueing with the plebs or rifling for change. Bill also comes in a month later which might be handy.
Watch for Italian COVID restrictions. We’re currently, very firmly persona non grata.
As Tracey and nickjb said.
With the added warning that you can't leave your bike in or on a vehicle outside many of the budget hotels.
Never underestimate the benefit of the toll doofer if you’re driving alone in a right hand drive car in France….
HotFiat
Tunnel de frejus-Aosta valley
Were you driving your own tunnel making machinery that managed to link up the Frejus tunnel to the Aosta valley?
Mont Blanc tunnel is the Aosta link.
Frejus brings you out at Bardonnechia
Having done both, the Mont Blanc into Aosta option is far better. The exit from Frejus into Bardonnechia is a rather terrifying elevated road that's an absolute manic race track. The Italians are lunatic drivers.
Aosta to Milan and then south is a far less stressful experience
We did Notts to Finale a couple of years ago. Left at 4am, catch an early tunnel. Then drive to an F1 somewhere near Dijon. Bikes in the room. Then across to FJ tunnel.
Is the motorway open that goes South to the coast, I thought a bridge had come down in the floods
Done it a few times, from Lincoln rather than Sheffield but much the same.
Have overnighted near Djion, just slept in the van and felt perfectly safe. Frejus tunnel is pricey but I think the easiest option. I take the scenic route from there down through Pinerollo towards Genoa, take a road bike and mess about there for a day or so.
I also find ferries to Dunkirk have better schedules and are cheaper than Calais.
Buy your food and fuel before you get into the Alps, everything is expensive there.
Italian drivers are mental but their lane discipline on motorways is far better than over here, no middle lane hoggersl ike we have.
Going to Aosta skiing We did France into Switzerland through the Jura to break up the motorway a bit then it’s then the Grt St Bernard tunnel into Aosta. Takes longer but an interesting route.
I see some people have mentioned Dijon, we stopped in Dijon when doing Devon to Morzine, there was an estate with several budget hotels on it and a few restaurants and fast food places all within walking distance.
We stayed in the B&B hotel which was self check in which gave you a code and worked well for us in the early hours of the morning. It was B&B hotel Hotel Dijon Marsannay.
https://www.gouvernement.fr/en/coronavirus-covid-19
"From early August, you will also need to present a pass in bars, restaurants, malls, hospitals (except if you are admitted for urgent care), retirement homes, residential care homes, and for long-distance travel by plane, train or coach. For campsites, and other holiday accommodation you will need to present a pass once, on arrival."
Be careful if you follow google maps for crossing Paris and you have bikes on the roof, it takes you via a tunnel that is only 2m high, it almost ruined our trip...
Be careful if you follow google maps for crossing Paris and you have bikes on the roof, it takes you via a tunnel that is only 2m high, it almost ruined our trip…
Just don't go via Paris at all. Take the route via Saint Quentin, Reims and Troyes if you are coming from Calais
Loads of help here so cheers,and when we do go I'll take a look at this thread!!
Reckon we might have to put it on hold again though,as I didn't realize that UK citizens have to quarantine in Italy.(I may have this wrong and hope so).👍
Just don’t go via Paris at all. Take the route via Saint Quentin, Reims and Troyes if you are coming from Calais
+1 to this
If you're after a bed for the night the Ibis hotels are good value and often have a locked underground carpark that is secure if you have bikes on a towball rack.
If you come off the autoroute for a hotel stop, then make sure you fill up in the town as it's much cheaper than at services. They have odd self-serve card pumps at most hypermarche.
+1 too for the toll doofer