To Spain without tolls (1 Viewer)

funflair

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Well we aren't there yet BUT, we got off the ferry at Zeebrugge and set Co-pilot for our first stop which is usually at Marboue just over 300 miles from the ferry, my profile is set to avoid tolls if possible so we thought we would just see where it took us. Usually we stay on the coast road past Calais A16 and A28 to Rouen and then N154 to join the N10 at Chatres, this costs about Euro 28 in tolls for a class 3 beast like ours.

We headed towards Brugge and then cut off a little corner that TomTom never did for us, we picked up the coast road for a while and then "she" aren't they all she's, said turn onto the D300 towards St Omer well that was certainly new to us, it's not as fast as the motorway as apart from anything there are a lot of roundabouts, but it does cut off the corner off and it was a pleasant drive, we joined the A28 just after Abbeville when again it was toll free, straight through Rouen and past the cows on the roundabout and then another little detour to save a few Euros and then back on our usual route.

Was it worth it? Well it was pleasant enough, it was a bit different, a bit shorter and we saved 28 Euros, oh and it took the same time as last year which was 8 hours.

The next challenge is to see what it does about the couple of Euro tolls around Tours and then avoid the "rip off" around Bordeaux, Too be continued.

Martin
 

moulin 87

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The D300 is a good alternative to the A26, easy from Dunkirk as well.

There is always a trade off with tolls, Tours it may be easier to pay the small toll than fight your way through, depending on the time of day...Bordeaux ring road is free but trying to avoid tolls from North of Bayonne perhaps from Jnct 8 of the A63 is counter productive as the non toll alternative is very built up....
 
Feb 24, 2013
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I didn't think you paid to get round Bordeaux but you definitely get your pocket dipped getting from there to the border at Irun, the new bit at least, you can still get a long way without paying

I have read but cant find it now that if you come off at one of the junctions on the new motorway and return on the next in a mile or so you save a chunk of money

I have decided we will be going over the mountains next time, (weather / time of year dependent I guess), the new motorway follows the line of the old road so there really is no simple alternative without going miles round, so you might as well totally reroute :)

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canopus

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If you do have to go on the unmanned toll roads be sure to press the intercom at the toll and let them know you are a 'camping car'.
 
Feb 24, 2013
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If you do have to go on the unmanned toll roads be sure to press the intercom at the toll and let them know you are a 'camping car'.

that was the section that we did just that last year and got reduced from class 3 to 2, but have since been told that we really are class 3, but I think it halved the tolls (y)
 
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funflair

funflair

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Day two.

We are at Nersac just South of Angouleme, I thought we would be paying to get through Tours as the route on CoPilot looked very much like what we did last year and paid the small toll, I set a "no tolls" route into TomTom as well and it would have taken us through the houses and we could still be there for all I know, with CoPilot we joined the motorway at junction 20 and came off at 22 which is the bit through the centre and over the rivers we then followed the D910 to and around Poitiers and it eventually became the N10 which was decent dual carriageway for about 70 miles, the D910 especially around Poitiers has far too many roundabouts and traffic light and did become a PIT bum, I do like going through all the villages though. To sum up, 200 miles with two stops in 6 hours.

So far not paid a cent so we will see what tomorrow brings around Bordeaux.

Martin

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Feb 3, 2013
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Two possible options from Bordeaux...

South of Bordeaux come off A63 at J18 and do a dog leg coming back on to A63 at J17 (poss ons at Pissos behind church)
Then carry on down A63 and come off at J12, down D947 to Dax, then join D824/D810 (good ons at St Pierre de Dax) then back onto A63 at J7

Or...

South of Bordeaux, come off the A 63 at J18 then follow the D834 down to Mont de Marsan then D824/D810 along past Dax and back onto A63 at J7.

Either way should save you about €15/€16 in tolls (class 2). Tolled from there to Spanish border but worth paying on that stretch.

We've tried the 1st option and it worked well if you're in no hurry, probably going to try the 2nd one this year.

Pete
 
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funflair

funflair

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If you do have to go on the unmanned toll roads be sure to press the intercom at the toll and let them know you are a 'camping car'.

Hi Ken

Tried that on the Bordeaux tolls and got the fright of my life when two "yellow jackets" came out of the booth armed with a tape measure, the first time she knocked it down to class 2 but the second toll they said "giant" and made us pay but the tolls appeared to be on emission class rather than weight and if we wanted to argue we had to get all our paperwork out. What we objected to was the fact that a car was Euro 3.50 class 2 was Euro 5.60 and they wanted Euro 14.40 off us, and I think there are three of those booths.

Martin

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Xabia

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Been reading your thread with interest Martin. I have always stuck to the motorway to Tours and sometimes gone via Nersac to Bordeaux. My question is, what is the route like from Rouen to Tours via Evreux and Chartres. Is there much dual carriageway and is it advisable to travel on Sunday when the lorries are off the road.

Mike
 
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funflair

funflair

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Hello Martin

Are you also finding free aires? Presuming you are on a aire tonight :)

we can turn this into a full travel report yet (y)
Yes David, first night Marboue and tonight Nersac which has free electric as well but I think that is a bit too generous so I will use my batteries as we now have 4(y)

If we get to San Sebastián tomorrow night we pay at the one near the university.

Martin

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moulin 87

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Nersac to south of Bordeaux is free and easy, there are two options around Bordeaux, we take the N230 option as we find it less congested than the Merignac option past the airport. The tolls start at junct 19? I think but after junct 8 if you ignore the motorway, the traffic, roundabouts, etc you'll think your journey around Poitiers a pleasure......
 
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funflair

funflair

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Been reading your thread with interest Martin. I have always stuck to the motorway to Tours and sometimes gone via Nersac to Bordeaux. My question is, what is the route like from Rouen to Tours via Evreux and Chartres. Is there much dual carriageway and is it advisable to travel on Sunday when the lorries are off the road.

Mike
Hi Mike

No not much dual carriageway but it's OK and not too busy, we did it Monday this time and no problems just do about 50 to 55 and go with the flow, we have always used this route even in our caravan days.

Martin
 
Feb 24, 2013
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Hello Martin

How was the aire at Nersac? that is more or less our location for night three in two weeks, we stayed at Chasseneuif - sur - Bonnieure a few miles above Angouleme, that was OK, but nowhere decent to eat, but right next to supermarket if we hadn't arrived too late (y)
 
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funflair

funflair

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:WelcomeFlag: Welcome to Spain, we have arrived at San Sebastián.


In tolls we have paid exactly nothing, zilch,nada, nowt, ZERO.

OK a little bit would not have hurt but has been interesting going without. We are 8.5 metres and nearly 6 tons and have not had any problems.

Today was the stretch from Nersac which is close to Angouleme so we started on the N10/A10 and the the A63 which is a good motorway but has a toll after junction 18 so we had a little detour along the D834 through Moustey and then right at Pissos and joined the motorway at junction 17, these two villages were very pretty and would make a nice coffee stop. The A63 is a good motorway but borrrrriing so coming off now and again is a relief.
We then came off again at junction 12 and followed the D824/D810 through Dax and then Bayonne, Biarritz and St Jean de Luz before arriving at San Sebastián.

230 miles in 7 hours with a stop for gas and one for lunch, nice drive but again the last 40 miles are pretty slow.

The temperature was 21 degrees this afternoon and the diesel in Spain is 77.9 cents per litre.

With the money we have saved we have just paid €3.25 on the Aire in San Sebastián.

Martin
 

Emmit

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Hi Martin,

We did that little bit (Dax to the border) last year on our way to Hondarriaba.
Even this Tyke wouldn't do that again. I'd put my hand in my pocket, stretch riiiggggghhhhhhhht down to the bottom (somewhere near my ankles:D:D:D) and very grudgingly pay up.
I know french fuel is cheap but the alternative is so urban with loads of traffic and squillions of lights etc, I don't think the difference in cost is worth it.
Even SWMBO agreed with me on this one (So it must be true(y))

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:WelcomeFlag: Welcome to Spain, we have arrived at San Sebastián.


In tolls we have paid exactly nothing, zilch,nada, nowt, ZERO.

OK a little bit would not have hurt but has been interesting going without. We are 8.5 metres and nearly 6 tons and have not had any problems.

Today was the stretch from Nersac which is close to Angouleme so we started on the N10/A10 and the the A63 which is a good motorway but has a toll after junction 18 so we had a little detour along the D834 through Moustey and then right at Pissos and joined the motorway at junction 17, these two villages were very pretty and would make a nice coffee stop. The A63 is a good motorway but borrrrriing so coming off now and again is a relief.
We then came off again at junction 12 and followed the D824/D810 through Dax and then Bayonne, Biarritz and St Jean de Luz before arriving at San Sebastián.

230 miles in 7 hours with a stop for gas and one for lunch, nice drive but again the last 40 miles are pretty slow.

The temperature was 21 degrees this afternoon and the diesel in Spain is 77.9 cents per litre.

With the money we have saved we have just paid €3.25 on the Aire in San Sebastián.

Martin
Just think how much nicer the drive would have been if you hadn't been such a tight wad and paid up for a few tolls.:whistle:
 
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funflair

funflair

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Hi Martin,

We did that little bit (Dax to the border) last year on our way to Hondarriaba.
Even this Tyke wouldn't do that again. I'd put my hand in my pocket, stretch riiiggggghhhhhhhht down to the bottom (somewhere near my ankles:D:D:D) and very grudgingly pay up.
I know french fuel is cheap but the alternative is so urban with loads of traffic and squillions of lights etc, I don't think the difference in cost is worth it.
Even SWMBO agreed with me on this one (So it must be true(y))
I enjoyed it for some of the nice views, and it has been a lovely day but I might not choose to do it every time as it could get a bit tedious.

Martin
 
Feb 3, 2013
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Hi Martin,

That route is virtually wot I said in post #8 of this thread except for coming back onto the A63 at J7 , you might have missed it. :)

Pete

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funflair

funflair

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Just think how much nicer the drive would have been if you hadn't been such a tight wad and paid up for a few tolls.:whistle:
Your avatar says North Yorkshire but you don't sound like a true Yorkshireman, some bit would be worth paying but others not being over 3 metres we get screwed on some of them, Poitiers was a bit of a pain and the last bit today but the rest I would do again.

Anyway I get bored on motorways at 53 mph sat with the wagons.

Martin
 
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funflair

funflair

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Hi Martin,

That route is virtually wot I said in post #8 of this thread except for coming back onto the A63 at J7 , you might have missed it. :)

Pete
Hi Pete

You are right it would have been better to get back onto the motorway at junction 7 but I said we were going to do it "no tolls" so failure was not an option:LOL:

We did the A63 last year and paid the tolls but we were €14.40 each time at class 3 where class 2 was about €5.60, it was just the difference that got to me.

Martin
 
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funflair

funflair

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Well it becoming a bit of a habit now, filled the tank with "free diesel" from the money we saved over three days and then set the sat nav NO TOLLS for Palencia on the way to Salamanca. David @DavidG58 thought that this might be an interesting twisty old road and we should try it and report back, well if that's what you want you would be seriously dissapointed as these back roads are better than our A1.

We left San Sebastián on the A15 soon to become the N1 after 40 or 50 miles we started to climb quite steep 5th gear with a full head of steam, suddenly dual carriageway came down to a 30kph limit and there was a tight left/right switchback and we climbed over the top of the carriageway going the other way, they have obviously dualed this road by building one completely new carriageway.

The road then becomes A1/E5 but it all the same thing, the first 50 miles or so has lots of fuel station and many of these do gas there is then a bit of a gap and we fuelled at 100 miles (just before the light came on David). At Miranda the AP1 is toll road so we ducked off onto the N1 again this is a single carriageway but very good surface and easy for us to set the cruise control at our normal motorway 53 mph.

After Burgos it's back to dual carriageway A62, we decided that 190 miles was enough today and headed for the Aire at Palencia which was dead easy to find and has about 20 free spaces, the town is supposed to be interesting so if it stops raining we will have a look.

Martin

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funflair

funflair

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We decided to have a day off in Palencia, so have had a wander around the town today, lots of churches and a large and quite impressive cathedral €5 each to have a look around, an interesting museum of the area €1 each now that was a bargain.

A small beer a white wine and tapas €2.80 2 coffees and tapas €2.60 how do they do it!

Anyway it's a nice enough place to waste a day and a handy stopover about 200 miles from Santander or the border at San Sebastián, about 23 vans in here tonight.

We are heading for Salamanca tomorrow.

Martin
 
Feb 24, 2013
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we really don't understand Tapas, not only can it not make sense financially, it is often served where they also do food, after a couple of beers with tapas who could then eat a meal? (y)

we also don't like octopus, a commonly served tapas in some parts

thanks for the updates Martin
 
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funflair

funflair

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To be honest we don't understand it either, when we called in for coffee they had some big pieces of tortilla which you would pay for, we decided it didn't go with cafe con leche so would call in later and have it with a beer, when we got back they hadn't sold them so they took them back to the kitchen cut then into smaller pieces put them on a bit of bread and gave them away! We sat and watched as they took stuff away from the display cabinet and brought it back cut smaller to give away, anyway that was lunch done.

The other thing I don't understand is that we both have had French lessons but still failed to get a Vin Blanc in France, yet in Spain we just mumble uno cerveza uno vino blanco por favor and we get exactly what we want and lunch thrown in for nowt.

I think we are starting to like Spain.

Martin

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funflair

funflair

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Woke up this morning to thick fog and 2 degrees, seemed like a good day to move on.

After 100 miles of really good dual carriageway A62 we were in Salamanca and another free Aire.

The sun was out by lunch time and it was up to 10 degrees so we sat out in the main square for a beer and a sandwich before hitting the sights and WOW what a place.

image.jpg The main square

image.jpg Inside cathedral
image.jpg Dome of cathedral

Sorry but these really don't do it justice €4.75 with an English audio guide is OK in my book, got to do the university towers tomorrow and the museum of automobiles as well the museum of art nouveau.

Busy busy.

If you are driving this way to Morocco or Portugal don't miss Salamanca.

Martin
 
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Hi Ken

Tried that on the Bordeaux tolls and got the fright of my life when two "yellow jackets" came out of the booth armed with a tape measure, the first time she knocked it down to class 2 but the second toll they said "giant" and made us pay but the tolls appeared to be on emission class rather than weight and if we wanted to argue we had to get all our paperwork out. What we objected to was the fact that a car was Euro 3.50 class 2 was Euro 5.60 and they wanted Euro 14.40 off us, and I think there are three of those booths.

Martin
Alt Gr + 4 buttons give you the € sign. BTW you got Scottish blood or are the tolls that bad?
 
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After 100 miles of really good dual carriageway A62 we were in Salamanca and another free Aire.

The sun was out by lunch time and it was up to 10 degrees so we sat out in the main square for a beer and a sandwich before hitting the sights and WOW what a place.

Hi again Martin, be interested to know which aire you are staying at, last time we used a carpark to overnight next to an old church near to the main bridge, a bit noisy and mixed parking but ok for a short overnight stop. 40.95471 -5.66809

We loved Salamanca too, its a great place, keep an eye out for all the 'lovelocks' attached to the railings as you walk over the main bridge.

Pete

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