Black saturday? (1 Viewer)

[adriacoral]

Can anyone tell me am i right in thinking that black saturday in france is july 28th?
Black saturday..as in the worst day ever to travel in france as their holidays begin!

 

[bigmillie]

Can anyone tell me am i right in thinking that black saturday in france is july 28th?
Black saturday..as in the worst day ever to travel in france as their holidays begin!

I think its just gone 07/07/2012

Holiday departures: 309 kms from plugs in France in mid-day
AFP - 07.07.2012, 12:50 | Last updated: 07.07.2012, 12:55

Traffic jam on a highway south of France
© AFP / File
Author: AFP
Large caps have formed on the roads of France Saturday, day marking the beginning of school holidays and classified red in the direction of departure, the National Traffic Information (CNIR) registering at midday about 309 kilometers slowdowns.

All day, traffic will be dense on most major routes to the south or coastal regions of the country. The first French holidaymakers will add the Belgians or the Dutch, for whom the school holidays have also begun.

Bison Smart provides that Saturday will be the toughest day of the weekend on the roads.

As for departures by train, SNCF announced until this weekend more than 1.2 million passengers on more than 2,000 500 Intercity and TGV throughout the Hexagon, the Gare de Lyon in Paris is expected to the busiest with 300,000 passengers between Friday and Sunday.

In the morning, the main problems on the roads were located in the Paris region and in the Rhone Valley, heading south, but also on the A9 motorway towards Spain and on the A10 towards the beaches of Atlantic.

In the Paris region, CNIR accounted for approximately 60 km difficulties, particularly on the A86 motorway between Creteil and Fresnes, on A6B towards the A6, but also on the A4 towards Strasbourg.

In the Rhone Valley, the Regional Traffic Information Rhone-Alpes Auvergne (PIRC) said we were still half-day "in the ascending phase of the traffic problems."

According to PIRC, the travel time between Lyon and Orange was two hours and fifty minutes instead of one hour and fifty minutes in normal times.

The PIRC reported about 60 miles of bottlenecks and delays accumulated between Lyon and Valence, on "Highway of the Sun", which roughly between 25 and Feyzin turnpike Reventin.

Another challenge on the A7 motorway, slowdowns of about 30 kms north of Valencia.

North of Lyon, crossing the turnpike Villlefranche-sur-Saone was delicate, with a slowdown of about 10 kms, while traffic was slow before the Fourvière tunnel in Lyon on 4 kms.

In the Alps, the waiting time for passage of the Mont Blanc tunnel was estimated at 60 minutes.

Eastbound traffic from Spain, on the A9, between Orange and Perpignan, was as difficult. The PIRC recorded including 12 kms from slowdown north of Perpignan and 11 east of Montpellier.

On the A10 motorway (Paris-Bordeaux), the difficulties were concentrated up to Saintes and Tours, respectively 8 kms and 7 kms from slowdown.

On the A1 motorway, traffic in a north-south, 13 km from plugs were reported before the toll of Chamant, in oiose, near Senlis.

 

[ukbill]

not gone last saturday in july i got caught in it last year lol

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[Chris]

The traffic will be pretty heavy all the time now until the end of August but especially at weekends.

We leave for the Costa Brava on the 4th August and to try to avoid queues we are adopting a 4 stop strategy going down. Leave at 7 am each morning and looking to be parked up by noon. We have 4 municipal sites booked about 200 miles apart. Our last stop is just outside Perpignan leaving us a trip of about 95 miles the next day so again will leave about 7 to hopefully miss the traffic to the coast.

Even if it doesn't work it will allow us to see and enjoy a bit more of France than usual.

We have also got one of those automatic things for the Peage.

 

[ukbill]

the auto peage sensor is great last year when i got caught in the lemins get away i could jump the toll queue and saved me loads of time
1 thing i wont do again is take the non toll round from Boulogne to abbeville only road i would take the toll route have fun dont forget me stick of rock lol

 

[slobadoberbob]

not good from now to September

France is a bad place for traffic from last weekend until September...


Bob

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[Taran_Las]

The traffic will be pretty heavy all the time now until the end of August but especially at weekends.

We leave for the Costa Brava on the 4th August and to try to avoid queues we are adopting a 4 stop strategy going down. Leave at 7 am each morning and looking to be parked up by noon. We have 4 municipal sites booked about 200 miles apart. Our last stop is just outside Perpignan leaving us a trip of about 95 miles the next day so again will leave about 7 to hopefully miss the traffic to the coast.

Even if it doesn't work it will allow us to see and enjoy a bit more of France than usual.

We have also got one of those automatic things for the Peage.

Out of curiosity what route will you be taking? (I hope you don't mind me being so nosy

 

[Chris]

Out of curiosity what route will you be taking? (I hope you don't mind me being so nosy

We usually go via Rouen, Toulouse and then Perpignan and over the border. As we have more time to travel the route is slightly different this time but all the details are at home. I will post again tonight.:thumb:

Since the first time I avoid Paris - like the plague

 

[Chris]

I know one of our stops is in Sarlat in the Dordogne. I think thats our third stop

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[Chris]

Our stops are Les Andelys, Chaerteroux, Sarlat and Lezignan - Corbieres.

Our route will be the quickest one between them:thumb:

 

[ukbill]

Campsite Hortus le Jardin de Sully
if you stop there treacle look for part of my awning thats where i broke it lol
but seriously its a good camp for a stopover or stay in the small town overlooking the Loire
the small town is a must see have fun and happy travelling
Campsite Hortus le Jardin de Sully

 

[MHVirgins]

We're planning to spend the whole of September in Brittany, I presume it will have quietened down by that time and we will have the whole place to ourselves, nobody else on the roads etc............ Maybe the sun will have decided to show it's face by then as well

But just noticed that the ferry fares seem to have been hiked up over the past week or so, wonder why? LD Lines fare from Portsmouth to Le Havre was showing £270 and it's now up at £331 return If we book through the CC it will be £314, but still a bit of an increase, you would have thought they might have come down a little because the main holidays are past by then:Sad:

The tunnel route isn't an option for us because we're stopping at Portsmouth for a couple of days before going across to France.
Bill:Sad:

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[MHVirgins]

Can anyone tell me am i right in thinking that black saturday in france is july 28th?
Black saturday..as in the worst day ever to travel in france as their holidays begin!

I always thought that the French took their holidays from the end of August. It's a very long time since we've been to France, but I can remember some locals telling us this way back then.

Bill