Aguilas-Calais Route choice? (1 Viewer)

zaskar

Free Member
Sep 25, 2007
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371
UK
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399
MH
5th Wheel
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30+
Ah well, all good things come to an end and today is pack up day ready for the long haul back to blighty after a wonderful 3 month winter down here.

Over 5 trips down here, we've always done the same route..............
Eurotunnel
West coast down to Biaritz
Irun
Pamplona
Zaragoza
Valencia
.......and then down the med coast to Aguilas.

Now, the only reason we do this route is that my folks used it for years with their twin axle caravan and always reconed it's the easiest route down here so we followed suit.
I would say that the pull up from Biaritz up the Pyrenees is a hell of a slog for a 3.7 tonne 5th wheel on a Nissan Navara (2.5TD)

We have a chap on site here with an elderly 38ft RV towing a car on trailer. Like me, he doesn't like pushing his engine and for that reason, recons his route (although longer & more in tolls) is a lot flatter for larger rigs.

His route is.................
Aguilas
Valencia
Perpignan
Narbonne
Carcassone
Toulouse
Limoge
Orlean
East ring around Paris on an N road
Amiens
Calais.

We've never done this route and are thinking of trying it tomorrow.
Anyone done both routes and can compare?

Thanks (I'll try and bring some sunshine back with me!)
 

funflair

LIFE MEMBER
Dec 11, 2013
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We have done both routes with our van which is close to 6t, the only way we vary your second route is that we don't usually do Paris as we are staying off tolls so we do a bit of cross country Chateauroux to Tours and then Rouen, its still not flat but its different(y) Brive la Gaillard is a good stop with plenty of space and services nice town and supermarkets in walking distance.

In truth I just put a start and finish point into the sat nav and say "no tolls" and then see where it takes us.

You might need to give it a bit more thought with the 5th wheeler.


Martin
 
Jul 21, 2015
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Lymm, UK
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Rollerteam Toleno r
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got to get back to scarborough for summer (one day sometimes in July sometimes august) We have spent fantastic time in south Spain..Ayamonte and Algarve area ..heading for Med via Cadiz Almeria and Tarragona then identical route through France. Turn right at Taddy then head towards the sea fret. roll on December and clear skies and wall to wall sunshine
 
OP
OP
zaskar

zaskar

Free Member
Sep 25, 2007
1,159
371
UK
Funster No
399
MH
5th Wheel
Exp
30+
Just got back to the UK and now sat on Chapel Lane CAMC site waiting for the NEC.
Thankfully a good run "home" and we had a go at part of the alternative route.
Rather than get to Valencia and turn left up past Segorba and across the plain to Zaragossa, we carried on up to Perpignan /Narbonne/Carcasson.
A much better route across the Pyrenees for a heavy 5ver, we were over before we knew it and the truck drivers were far less apparent and less frantic!
However, it has to be said that once we reached the Dordogne /Lot area, heading up for Limoge, the motorway was an absolute swine with multiple high revs for 40 mph hills. I think next time, we'll try cutting across west on the Toulouse - Bordeaux motorway and then coming up the West coast as normal. Never done that motorway before so advise welcome.
The part of the alternative route that we didn't do was around the East side of Paris. When we looked at the map, there was something like 40 slip roads around that section and knowing how bonkers French drivers are and how little simple things like braking distance means to them, we bottled out and instead we cut across to Tours, LeMan, Rouen and followed our normal route to Calais.
One mistake we did make was to listen to the advice of our very nice caravan owning neighbour on the site in Spain. He uses the D932 (?) from Abbeville to St Omer to avoid the motorway hills in the Pas de Calais.
BIG mistake, yes there are some very nice straights but by the time you've negotiated the villages, street furniture,and a couple of MAX revs for 30MPH max hills , you might as well just trundle up the motorway.

When the time comes that we stop Fulltiming, sell our beloved 5ver and down size to an Autosleeper Warwick XL, then we'll do the village / D road thing but for now, we want a quick and easy route down to Spain on our time off.
One thing that was nice about the journey back was that the only bit of snow we saw all the way home was a scattering on the side of the motorway at Barcelona. VERY pleasantly surprising given the news of snow down in Spain the week before we set off!
 

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