We saved enough to pay for our fuel!! (1 Viewer)

savantuk

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Jul 3, 2009
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Just been looking at our holiday log this year - 5000 miles, Scot's borders to Barcelona and return.

Importantly, we made a decision to stay OFF the Autoroutes to save money, and looking at last years figures, for a similar journey using Autoroutes all the way, four things were patently obvious:

1. We saved enough in not paying tolls, to just about cover our fuel costs for the entire trip.

2. Journey times were not significantly longer.

3. There are an awful lot of unnecessary roundabouts in France.

4. Breakast/lunch cost a lot less at roadside boulangerie than they do at Autoroute restaurants.

We also enjoyed the trip much more, seeing parts of France which had previously been passed at speed on the Autoroutes.

All in all, the experiment was a great success, and I would recommend trying it to anybody who is planning any long trips in France.
 

Jim

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Jul 19, 2007
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Sometimes when making a dash for the sun of Spain, we are guilty of staying on the peage/autoroutes. But I agree with you, off the autoroutes, the road system is very good, there is a lot to see and very little traffic to get in your way and it makes for a very enjoyable tour.

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wasp

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Dec 21, 2008
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We don`t use the peages and autoroutes cos we`re never in a hurry and like you say there is so much to see:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:
 

dshague

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Aug 22, 2007
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got to agree with you cost of auto route will pay for your travel to spain.
went down on auto route this year came back the slow way the scenery is far better
can go in to small towns if you wish and stop on there aires .love it cant wait for next time
 
Aug 1, 2007
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there are too many unnecessary roundabouts but, that is far better than too many unnecessary traffic lights

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pappajohn

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Aug 26, 2007
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agreed.....we stayed off the peage roads until we got to claremont ferrand then the 75 is free.

except the millau bridge toll and that was worth every cent of the 6euros:thumb:
 

hilldweller

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Dec 5, 2008
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there are too many unnecessary roundabouts but, that is far better than too many unnecessary traffic lights

Can't beat la vice anglaise - roundabouts *with* traffic lights. What a way to advertise that you've no idea how to plan a junction.
 

MicknPat

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Dec 16, 2007
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We are off for a long stay at Javea in Spain and are considering which route to take.

The FULL road route Stafford - Dover- Calais- Javea is 1336 miles.

Alternative route, Stafford - Portsmouth - :helptitanic:Santander - Javea is 708 miles.

Mick

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6pm Cowboy

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We are off for a long stay at Javea in Spain and are considering which route to take.

The FULL road route Stafford - Dover- Calais- Javea is 1336 miles.

Alternative route, Stafford - Portsmouth - :helptitanic:Santander - Javea is 708 miles.

Mick

I can think of three questions to ask.
1... What is the ferry cost compared to the fuel cost ?
2... How much of a hurry are you in ?
3... What do you prefer to look at. Sea or France ?
 

peter marshall

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Mar 5, 2009
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Hi Doug
I know what you mean about road tolls they do add up, and the road system is good for getting about without using the Auto-routes, We did some of each last year and this as we had a trailer and smart car in tow so sometimes it was more useful to get along on the Auto-routes, but next year we will not be taking the car so can be a bit more adventurous on route, P's I hope the silver screens came in handy, and you found them to be what you wanted. Happy trails Pete:thumb::thumb:
 

lebesset

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May 31, 2009
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€6 for the millau viaduct ?, got to do it once , I agree
but there is a nice little aire near the gendarmerie in millau , although I only live just north of there I usually stop the night , shop up in the morning , then go home

so it's down through the town for me , no more traffic jams since the viaduct opened :Smile:

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davetthedon

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Mar 25, 2009
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agreed.....we stayed off the peage roads until we got to claremont ferrand then the 75 is free.

except the millau bridge toll and that was worth every cent of the 6euros:thumb:
How did you get away with 6 euro's? When we last went through there we had an almighty row with the girl on the kiosk, and her supervisor, because we were told our Autotrail Chieftain was a commercial class 3 (i think) maybe class 4 because of a. the length, b. the height and c. the number of axles. The other tolls were charging us class 2. I think they wanted about £30 to cross the Millau. In the end we convinced them we were a campervan not a goods vehicle and they relented but it was still about £15. :Angry:

Oh by the way, I think the french probably have so many roundabouts because of two reasons:
1. They are a totally new concept to them, lets face it it hasn't been that long since you had to give way to anything coming at you from the right, unnerving when you're doing 70mph on a country road and a tractor or a 2CV pulls out on you.
and
2. They see them as art forms, when in Britain did you last see a "Chelsea Flower Show" quality roundabout in this fair land? They even put concrete cows on 'em a la Milton Keynes.
Oh and by the way, we printed the first series of Roundabouts of Redditch etc for this company when they couldn't cope with demand http://www.roundaboutsofbritain.com/ so I do have a bit of knowledge re-the roundabout.
 
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Aug 1, 2007
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2. They see them as art forms, when in Britain did you last see a "Chelsea Flower Show" quality roundabout in this fair land? They even put concrete cows on 'em a la Milton Keynes.
Oh and by the way, we printed the first series of Roundabouts of Redditch etc for this company when they couldn't cope with demand Round-a-Bouts of Great Britain so I do have a bit of knowledge re-the roundabout.

in the North East most are decorated in some way, flowers, sculptures, adverts, spitfires, etc
 
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savantuk

savantuk

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Hi Doug
I know what you mean about road tolls they do add up, and the road system is good for getting about without using the Auto-routes, We did some of each last year and this as we had a trailer and smart car in tow so sometimes it was more useful to get along on the Auto-routes, but next year we will not be taking the car so can be a bit more adventurous on route, P's I hope the silver screens came in handy, and you found them to be what you wanted. Happy trails Pete:thumb::thumb:

Hi Peter,

I'm very happy to say that we didn't use the screens once!!

We left home on the 19th September, and the sun was shining. It didn't stop shining for the next 5 weeks, indeed, it didn't even rain once. We had 25 degrees in Calais on day one, similar temperatures in most locations on the way down, a high of 30 in Perpignan, and 29 in Avignon. Barcelona was 28, and even at Calais on the way home, it was 21.

Probably the best weather we have ever had in France, and it wasn't even summer:Cool:

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MicknPat

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Dec 16, 2007
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I can think of three questions to ask.
1... What is the ferry cost compared to the fuel cost ?
2... How much of a hurry are you in ?
3... What do you prefer to look at. Sea or France ?

Graham. 1. Got 'rough' price off Brittany Site (only quote up to 9m length ours is 12m) with 6m trailer ours is 4½ so swings and roundabouts, plus cabin £466. Oh the RV does about 9mpg. :Sad:

2.No hurry at all.

3.Been promising the wife a cruise for years.:roflmto:

At the time I didn't have a date to work with now looking to be 6th Sept 2010.

Mick
 
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Oct 12, 2008
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Oh by the way, I think the french probably have so many roundabouts because of two reasons:
1. They are a totally new concept to them, lets face it it hasn't been that long since you had to give way to anything coming at you from the right, unnerving when you're doing 70mph on a country road and a tractor or a 2CV pulls out on you.
and
2. They see them as art forms, when in Britain did you last see a "Chelsea Flower Show" quality roundabout in this fair land? They even put concrete cows on 'em a la Milton Keynes.
Oh and by the way, we printed the first series of Roundabouts of Redditch etc for this company when they couldn't cope with demand Round-a-Bouts of Great Britain so I do have a bit of knowledge re-the roundabout.


1)and 2) I quite agree on these points BUT there's another reason why there are so many: French are well known to be mad drivers, they are not well behaving as soon as they have a wheel in their hands and so roundabouts are there to cut down the speed (don't know if it makes any sense:Blush:)In little towns which are on the way to the sea for example there are making more and more roudabouts to protect the population from accidents, because when it's summer holidays there's so much traffic, it's really risky to just .... walk


Amicalement


Frankie:Smile:

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bevo

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Nov 15, 2008
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road tolls

just come back from pineda in spain, was a bit apprehensive about the route, but it was exellent a75 lovelly road with some breathtaking views (millau included) then the n9 to n7 then onto a77 off at gien and a lovelly route on the d154 up to CHARTRES.
from there up to rouen and the a28 up to the n101 and finally the a16.
some lovelly places along this route
ORCET campsite lovelly
CHARTRES campsite shite
will be going back this way in jaruary as i think it's great
 

lebesset

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May 31, 2009
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the first time we went up the A75 was more then 20 years ago , the millau viaduct wasn't there then ; come to think of it the A75 wasn't there then , it was the N9 in those days

took us a month to get from the coast to clermont ferrand
mind you , we did buy a house on the way !
 

lebesset

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May 31, 2009
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to be only class2 you need to be
under 3.5 tonnes
only 2 axles
under 3 metres in height [ under 2 metres class 1 ]

what sort of vehicle you are isn't relevant

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MicknPat

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Dec 16, 2007
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France via the 'N' roads is great until you come across one of their diversions and you find yourself traveling through a small village or town with the narrowest streets you can imagine.

Mick
 
Apr 29, 2009
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agreed.....we stayed off the peage roads until we got to claremont ferrand then the 75 is free.

except the millau bridge toll and that was worth every cent of the 6euros:thumb:

How did you get away with 6euros cost me 9.50 in April coming back from Spain must have been done!!:Doh:
 

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