Looking for a change of route South through France. Some ideas please. (1 Viewer)

[Madmag]

We invariably go the same way down from Caen to Southern Spain so I am looking for a change. We will be travelling through October in 7.5m Motorhome, don't mind using sites or Aires.
I was looking at something like: Tours then A85 to Vierzon, A20 to Toulouse, A61 to Carcasson Then down to Perpignon and along the coast to Andalucia.
Has anyone done this route? Any problems or places to avoid or even a suggestion of a better route. We have about 4 weeks for the journey. I have looked at some of the previous threads but most of these tend to be further East or not a lot different from our usual route.Thanks

 

[TerryL]

Judging from the route you usually use autoroutes? If that's the case IMO there seems little point in extending your journey. We almost never use the motorway system, much preferring the N & D roads, taking our time and stopping off whenever we see somewhere we fancy, or even if we've had enough driving for that day. Yes it takes longer but we have found some nice little spots, usually aires, in some out-of-the-way places.

I can't offhand recommend anywhere in particular - I'm sure there will be plenty of ideas shortly - but I like your proposal to go via Perpignan then follow the coast. Why not go your suggested way but stay off the motorways and just explore - depends of course on how quickly you want to get to Spain.

Edit: you may find quite a lot of campsites closed in France in October.

 

[MR. FUSION]

We invariably go the same way down from Caen to Southern Spain so I am looking for a change. We will be travelling through October in 7.5m Motorhome, don't mind using sites or Aires.
I was looking at something like: Tours then A85 to Vierzon, A20 to Toulouse, A61 to Carcasson Then down to Perpignon and along the coast to Andalucia.
Has anyone done this route? Any problems or places to avoid or even a suggestion of a better route. We have about 4 weeks for the journey. I have looked at some of the previous threads but most of these tend to be further East or not a lot different from our usual route.Thanks

I did something like this route in 2014 and the main A61 had either a long main road diversion on to Carcassonne or the short back route for up to 3.5 tons.......I took the back route amid some French wagging fingers and made it fine but that was in my Elldis 115 which was quite short. I am sure that has all been finished now. Carcassonne? Mediaeval Disneyland for real but Ryanair fly from there so good if you need to drop off or pick up a passenger.

Now if you are in that area you must absolutely also do this which is 50 km from Perpignan ( big car park suitable for MH's at the main station) some Aires and plenty of local campsites
https://about-france.com/tourism/yellow-train-pyrenees.htm#route

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[PhilandMena]

Have a look at this.
https://about-france.com/tourism/no-tolls-routes.htm
or this
https://about-france.com/tourism/med-avoiding-tolls.htm
and this
https://about-spain.net/travel/no-tolls.htm

or! do it yourself with this.
https://www.viamichelin.co.uk/

Safe Travels

 

[Allanm]

I feel bad after seeing people being able to quote their routes south, we have been there a few times but the only bits I remember was spending a couple of nights at Parc Verger, a couple of nights on the banks of the River Lot and two days in Carcassonne.
If your taking 4 weeks to travel there, take the back roads and see some scenery.
Last time we drove there was in our 7.5 metre van, mostly through small villages vineyards and farms, no one even noticed us.

 

[Madmag]

Judging from the route you usually use autoroutes? If that's the case IMO there seems little point in extending your journey. We almost never use the motorway system, much preferring the N & D roads, taking our time and stopping off whenever we see somewhere we fancy, or even if we've had enough driving for that day. Yes it takes longer but we have found some nice little spots, usually aires, in some out-of-the-way places.

We have tended to use larger routes previously, particularly when we were 'tuggers' but the idea of changing the route was also to change the type of roads we use as well. We did do some variation on our way home earlier this year and found the inland roads very quiet and easy to drive so trying to do more of this. I know a lot of French campsites are closed in October so really I think I need advice as to if plenty of Aires are available. I have All the Aires books but mainly use Campercontact.

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