Rouen underpass eats another British motorhome

mickyc said:
I don't mind Rouen TBH, but I detest the ring road around Bordeaux.

I always seem to hit it in rush hour, and find the best strategy is to stick to the middle lane. The lorries entering from the right into busy traffic (whether there is room or not) don't do my nerves any good at all. :oops:
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you forgot the 'filtering' motorbikes cruising between 80 & a 100.:oops:
 
Got a cold sweat when I saw this. Only ever driven through in a car, and that was bad enough. My mate ended up there on a pedestrianised shopping precinct with a caravan!
 
This has just reminded me when I went to Bristol to collect something from Ikea.

There was a Landrover 110 with a very bent and squashed leading edge at the entrance to the under ground car park.

That also has chains hanging down 😳
 
thebriars said:
.... or miss the child running out into the road.
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Slightly different, I think. If you are distracted, then you narrow your attention. Moving things get it first, signs last. Of course, one should always have ones full attention on the road, but as we live in the real world, that can’t happen.
 
Thing is with these rouen tunnels, although folks can put photos on of signs before them, they definitely aren't all signed like that, and if you are looking at going straight on at the next junction either by sat nav or map and just looking at the signs and lanes you get pushed into them, and the dangly things don't appear till you are down the sliproad.
Been there done that, it's easy once you know, but some will go without ever hearing about them then they just appear from nowhere.
It's ok saying there are signs, but if you are following an artic, and looking where you are going, along a four lane road, you are not expecting a 2mt tunnel to jump out at you.
 
Sat at a McDo yesterday in NL and heard an almighty crunch...... looked across and saw a small luton type MoHo go through the drive through, minus his sunroof and aerial..... which were now on the floor. It was signed at 2.4m but he was clearly a tad higher, well not any more. The worse bit was as he'd passed the height restriction barrier he now had to navigate through the drive through narrow lanes and low height bits:oops: i breathed in until i saw him reappear at the end of the drive through bit.....

There must have been about 20cm tolerance between the height restrictor and the actual low height itself which was comforting at least.

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Tuggers get it wrong as well. This was in Agde.

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This was at Agde
 
We turned onto a single way metal bridge with superstructure over the Garonne, which had what turned out to be a width restriction, but didn't have time to digest was it width or height, so chickened out of it and backed up. The thing is, it's only the black arrows that indicate which it is. Arrows at the side show width, at the top and bottom, height. Or is it the other way round? (Joke). So went back over it, it was only a few centimetres wider than the van, but you couldn't see the low bollards that dictated the width. Just aim for the centre, and pray!

Last year went under a bridge in France where from the side road we turned off, the only indication was on the exit. I drove up to it and stood on the running board, gauged I could drive under, so proceeded carefully watching the clearance, then read the sign as I left. It was 2.5m, this van is 2.65m!
 
Years ago, after hearing about Cité Europe on here, we thought we'd give it a try. The first two car park entrances were way too low, but the third one looked do-able and, knowing that loads of Funsters used the place, Val crept forward as I stood on the door cill looking over the roof, then a friendly Frenchy explained that camping cars park around the back ! :blush:

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Driving south into Colmar along D83 I was directed by my TomTom 6200, with all dimensions entered correctly, to take the RH lane for the underpass at Avenue Joseph Rey [48.0966, 7.3613] only to spot at the last minute a height restriction of 2.6m: not worth the risk when you are 2.8m!

Gordon
 
We nearly got sent into the Rouen tunnel by the sat nav. Actually had the steering wheel starting to turn to go down it when I saw the height signs, quick tug on the wheel and avoided it !!

Worst occurrence was last year in a French town, looking for a campsite which the sat nav was set to take us to, it only took us down a pedestrianised street with pavement cafes on either side. Luckily we made it through tho left a lot of bemused French in our wake.
 
Sandancers said:
We nearly got sent into the Rouen tunnel by the sat nav. Actually had the steering wheel starting to turn to go down it when I saw the height signs, quick tug on the wheel and avoided it !!

Worst occurrence was last year in a French town, looking for a campsite which the sat nav was set to take us to, it only took us down a pedestrianised street with pavement cafes on either side. Luckily we made it through tho left a lot of bemused French in our wake.
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Best satnav blunder we had was it sending us down to the harbour in Biarritz , gets down there, all closed off and cafes tables everywhere, chaos, all the tables had to be taken in before we could do a 10 point turn :doh: :Eeek:
 
Thing about cities as well - who has a good street map? Trying to read signs, double check sat nav, peer at minute part of map - as chief navigator it’s not easy you know! AND it’s always my fault of course! 😀
 
This thread has determined me to accurately measure the height of our van.

According to Fiat the height of our Ducato PVC is 2.54 m and according to Hymer the height is 2.6 m. Obviously the Hymer height includes roof vents which increases the hight but how accurate is that number and the Maxxfan is even higher

We did drive through a McDonald's drive-thru which had a height restriction and we were under the barrier at the entrance but I was very nervous driving under the overhang of the building and from the driver's seat I really have no idea how close it could have been.

The Fiat Ducato does have a radio aerial at the front on top of the cab which seems to be a little higher than the roof but maybe not higher than the roof vents. It may be possible to look up through the windscreen and see if the aerial fouls on anything overhanging as we drive just the front of the van under so I will test for this. A slightly longer aerial with some sort of a warning facility could be very useful.

To accurately measure the height of our van I think I will park on a flat surface and balance a spirit level across the the top of the van at the highest point and use a laser measure to measure the height from the ground to the bottom of the spirit level.

Mark

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Rapido925M said:
Driving south into Colmar along D83 I was directed by my TomTom 6200, with all dimensions entered correctly, to take the RH lane for the underpass at Avenue Joseph Rey [48.0966, 7.3613] only to spot at the last minute a height restriction of 2.6m: not worth the risk when you are 2.8m!

Gordon
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Yes we almost got caught by that one a few years ago but luckily spotted it in time! Sat navs are only as good as the map data they rely on....we weren't using a TomTom but our's also didn't know about the height restriction. Hubby does most of the driving, so in towns my main job as navigator is to watch out for street signs and tell hubby which lane to go in/avoid if necessary - its always useful to have two sets of eyes just in case.
 
They should when repairing the road dig it out before resurfacing so as to maintain the same height restriction. But if they just slap more tarmac on top you will have less clearance. Driver beware!!!
 
chaser said:
It's ok saying there are signs, but if you are following an artic, and looking where you are going, along a four lane road, you are not expecting a 2mt tunnel to jump out at you.
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Just one slight problem with your point here. If you are following an artic, then it will hit the 2m tunnel before you do! :rofl:

Even so common sense rules, Sit just a couple of feet behind an artic and yes you will miss signs. There's nothing to stop you leaving a larger gap so you have a chance to see signs.
 
g3cwi said:
Is this the France that people describe as the land of milk and honey for motorhomers. The one where the roads are all empty and the travel is stress-free?
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No, that one's in fantasy land.

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g3cwi said:
Is this the France that people describe as the land of milk and honey for motorhomers. The one where the roads are all empty and the travel is stress-free?
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No, it's a tiny part called Rouen.

France is still motorhome heaven to many, including me. 👍
 
nicholsong said:
So how did the MH(on left in pic) get in?
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To answer my own question above the MH probably entered through the 'Deliveries' entrance which in some S/markets connects to the main CP.

I iscovered that when having left a LeClerc because of height barrier I saw 3 MHs in the CP then passed the 'Deliveries'

Geoff
 
Lenny HB said:
Good rule of thumb for underpasses if you can't see a sign with the height assume its too low.
We have never had a problem with Rouen 99% certain the ones that get caught out are those who follow their sat-nav blindly.
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Fully agree after years pulling curtain siders and tilts,,,If in doubt stop and look,,BUSBY.
 
I had a near miss with that tunnel. Just crept under but smashed our roof light when we passed under the height warnings.

Almost as much fun as a hot and sweaty lengthy reverse ( with big audience) when I drove somewhere I shouldn’t have in Rioja:doh:

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