UK to France - 10 Days? Long Enough?

[Euromobil]

Whatever you decide to do, read up a bit on French traffic regulations, gendarmes are very hot on speeding and a Stop sign means STOP not just creep out. Also small places still have the dreaded 'priorite a droite'. It took me several years to realise the difference between the top twp signs.

 

[Coolcats]

I suggest you read back to your first post. You did suggest it was possible to drive 1000 miles in one go with just one stop for gas and food.

Agreed 1000 miles at 60mph is at least 16 hours probably more like 20 -24 hours anyone who drives 1,000 miles with only a meal stop is reckless to the point of a licence should be taken away.

 

[Nasher]

I suggest you read back to your first post. You did suggest it was possible to drive 1000 miles in one go with just one stop for gas and food.

Agreed 1000 miles at 60mph is at least 16 hours probably more like 20 -24 hours anyone who drives 1,000 miles with only a meal stop is reckless to the point of a licence should be taken away.

You have partially quoted what I posted which was: "I regular do a 1000 mile journey stopping once for gas & food and then the ferry"

To clear up any possible ambiguity, my journey includes a ferry:

Therefore I drive for (say) 565 miles, stop for gas and food, I then drive another another (say) 185 miles to the ferry, I have to wait around 1-2 hours for the ferry, then another 1-2 hours on the ferry (Dunkirk-Dover) and then 250 miles back home 1000 mile journey - so more than one stop

The overall journey time is normally about 24 hours, most of the journey is on fast autobahns/motorways and I try to travel during the quieter periods, sometimes there are hold-ups and if delayed I will stop somewhere for the night

As (if!) I get older, I may find it is too much and will plan an overnight stop, but for the moment I'm ok

As I've said throughout this discussion, we are all different/each to their own/etc. but I do feel being accused of being a reckless driver and not deserving of a licence is a little bit over the top

 

[MattR]

Hi All,

My partner and I have decided that this year, we want to rent a motorhome and drive to France in September (COVID allowing). I am sure you see posts like this frequently, and I have read many topics on this forum offering advice.

One thing that I haven't been able to calculate though - is whether 10 days is enough (it would be more like 9 and a half as the vehicle would have to be returned on the 10th day). Anyway, that being said - we are contemplating a whistle stop tour from the UK (based near Essex), to Monaco and back.

We are factoring in stopping at Paris. We are not expecting to see everything and do everything. And we are happy with travelling from Monaco back to the UK in 2 days (yes, a lot of driving).

Potentially we are being a bit too optimistic - but I'm just looking for peoples advice and opinions at this stage.

If it were me, I'd look at something like

Dat 1 Essex to Paris (camp near Bois de Boulogne)
Day 2 Paris (if you want a gallery / museum plus Eiffel Tower etc) and evening walk
Day 3 Verseile and on to Orleans or similar
Day 4 - 8 Dordogne / Bordeaux / vin yards or Brittanny (weather dependent)
Day 9 head north to Calais - overnight Beauvais or similar
Day 10 Beauvais to Essex

Alternatively, skip Paris and skirt down the West Coast before hitting the Dordogne.

We do similar trips each year over 3 weeks...

Fly to Monaco for a long weekend another time

 

[thebriars]

As I've said throughout this discussion, we are all different/each to their own/etc. but I do feel being accused of being a reckless driver and not deserving of a licence is a little bit over the top

What you do is of no real interest to me, except I would not like to be anywhere near you on the road.

However, suggesting that a newbie in a hired, probably C class, van with no experience of French roads could do the same is totally misguided.

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[Figaro]

bit industrial large park.
as you can see from my photo

I didn`t get the industrial bit from your photo, looked pleasant enough.
Would you recommend the Aire ?
Is it a nice town ?
I`d like to think I could get down that way in September.

 

[FIDGET]

I didn`t get the industrial bit from your photo, looked pleasant enough.
Would you recommend the Aire ?
Is it a nice town ?
I`d like to think I could get down that way in September.

Hi Figaro ,
If you look across the river that's the aire , not brilliant but ok no services. Town is nice
Theres some nice rural aires in that aire , not sure what type you like. I personally don't do large towns , prefer small aires by water , if thats your sort I can suggest a couple .
Terry

 

[mitzimad]

That milage in that time wouldnt be much of a holiday .Id go to paris book 3 days on the bois du boulogne site and get the metro in each day then wander south for a few days and then blast back to calais to get home . the great thing with france is you can wander your never far from an aire for the night lots of phone apps to help you find them

 

[Grianan]

The advice to get a CritAir Stöcker is sound.

We had no intention of driving in cities but I’m a bit of a belt and braces and they’re cheap as chips (or cheaper) so I bought one.

We we’re driving along the autoroute and it was getting busier and I thought great we come off here. We did, onto the periphique then onto the left bank ... saw all the sights! It wasn’t actually that horrendous but it was my first time driving the van so a good introduction!

 

[Wellington]

Depends what you like, really. I found it a lot easier to travel in the MH. It’s easy and comfortable to drive, the roads are fairly unchallenging and stops are easy, because you don’t have to crawl around the car park, get a space, get out, walk a mile to the facilities, stand in three different queues for Loos, coffee and a sandwich, Haul it all back, stow everything where you need it, and then find you’ve left your sandwich in the boot and not be able to get at it for twenty miles! I travel with a child, and we stop fairly frequently, but it’s just a question of pulling off, getting what you need from the back and getting on the road again when you are ready (After a short nap, in some cases. It’s amazing how restorative a lie down is!) it seems much less of an interruption, somehow.

I found it very easy, and actually we ran ahead of my planned driving schedule because it wasn’t as tiring as I thought it would be. I would cheerfully plan to drive for six hours a day (Not every day, of course, but to get the main leg over with, happily) We would stop three or four times, for toilets and so on, but as everything was to hand it was pretty easy. If you are happy doing long legs of driving generally, have limited time and somewhere you especially want to get to, give it a go.

I haven’t looked at in detail, but this year I was planning to drive to down to Ashford on day 1 (a good five hours for us) stay overnight near the tunnel, get a mid morning crossing on day 2, then motor down to the south of France with just one over night stop, arriving on day three. (we would then have stayed on a family site with lots of activities for my ten year old for a few days, before doing the journey over to my cousin near Venice in one day) Obviously, this will change as we won’t be able to access facilities, but I’m a lone driver and single parent, and I didn’t find it excessive. For a child free couple it would very doable, in my opinion. It mightn’t be your typical motorhome pattern, but we’re all different.

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[Stanbrook]

We have wonderful memories of driving into Monaco and parking next to the marina. We lasted 4hours before the police informed us "no camping cars here"

 

[Imala720]

Sarlat for us. Wine,food,great scenery and brilliant campsites.

Hi, we’re hoping to head to SARLAT and the surrounding Dordorgne on our next trip to France in September (Covid permitting), then back up via Loire. What’s sites do you recommend down in Sarlat? Thanks

 

[Itsmcb]

Paris is lovely, just head for a campsite on the outskirts and take the train in. We stayed at the Yelloh one in Versailles last year. 20mins and your next to the Eiffel tower. And yes, beware the 2M tunnels on the approaches.
Monaco is vastly overrated (IMHO) a sprawl of expensive modern apartment blocks all fighting for a view of the marina and lots of overpriced cafes. Looks great from the sea (and maybe from a helicopter as mentioned by someone else). I much preferred Nice.

 

[Itsmcb]

We found it easy to underestimate just how vast France is. For a first trip I'd suggest not trying to go too far and remember you will be constantly weighing up how far you can go before needing to turn back to get home. With that in mind we only book one way, then we can meander around at will and book the return crossing the day before.

Wyn

Just a side note to this, it might be worth checking if your insurance (travel and breakdown) is valid if you don't have a return crossing booked as it's a requirement by some. You could always book a speculative return and change it once plans are finalised.

 

[ChrisSue]

Way back in the sixties we used to go as a family to the Cote d'Azur. Dad would leave about 5pm drive to Newhaven then overnight to Dieppe. Avoiding the tolls pitch the tent up near Lyons for one night then down to La Ciotat. This in an Austin A60 with roof rack, four gears, no aircon or satnav. Return trip was stop at Rouen. Is it possible? Yes Was he shattered for the first day of his holiday? Too right!

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[John Barrett]

There's only 2 ways to arrive in Monaco by helicopter from Nice Airport or in a Monagesque registered car of suitable pedigree.

Not quite as you describe but Monaco is just down the hill. A quick drive through and we returned to the reality of Montpellier!

Jan

 

[John Barrett]

Hi, we’re hoping to head to SARLAT and the surrounding Dordorgne on our next trip to France in September (Covid permitting), then back up via Loire. What’s sites do you recommend down in Sarlat? Thanks

I can't remember much but this is probably the best campsite that we ever stayed on!

Camping Yelloh! Saint-Emilion Yelloh! Village in Saint-Emilion

For your camping holidays in Gironde, discover the Saint-Emilion Yelloh Village campsite with mobile homes and quality camping pitches.

www.yellohvillage.co.uk

 

[Nick_Pam]

Your thinking like a funster now, I believe Brittany and a loop around the Loire would suit you nicely

Couldn't agree more - we leave UK on 6th September (hopefully!!) and are doing exactly that for a fortnight

 

[Geo]

Wouldn't like to see a hired MoHo invoice if caught in lockdown somewhere ?
Or if quarantine kicks in coming back from France you cant legally return it for another two weeks

 

[FIDGET]

@ChrisSue
Way back in the sixties we used to go as a family to the Cote d'Azur. Dad would leave about 5pm drive to Newhaven then overnight to Dieppe. Avoiding the tolls pitch the tent up near Lyons for one night then down to La Ciotat. This in an Austin A60 with roof rack, four gears, no aircon or satnav. Return trip was stop at Rouen. Is it possible? Yes Was he shattered for the first day of his holiday? Too right!

ChrisSue . Like you we (back in the early 80's) drove our VW T25 , from the Isle of Wight down to Valras Plage,
Day before we left big chip in windscreen cracked right across (bottoms !!) none available , local coachbuilders had a secondhand one and fitted it in hours before we left ,
drove too Dover , slept on seafront , went on the hovercraft 7am to Calais , drove 600 odd miles stopped at a campsite south of Lyon at 9pm , noone at office parked up on the side of road in c/site , next morn v,early dreadful noise , sounded like a generator , went out too investigate , we were parked near a large pond , full of frogs /toads all mating !!! making the amazing amount of croaking , you couldn't see the pond water there was so many.
drove the rest of the way to Valras Plage in morning spent 7 nights at campsite , moved on to the Camargue area another c/site then up to Carcasonne before doing return journey in one hop.
Boy was I shattered , had to go back to work the next day , Great holiday !!
got windscreen sorted the next week.

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[Jimsnap]

We did a 10 day trip through the Loire Valley, it was great, but even the drive back to Calais was a bit of a drag, we left too long a leg.

 

[FIDGET]

Forgot to say ,I was in my 40 ,s then , now in my mid 70,s I don't do more than 200 miles a day

 

[Rabc]

Sarlat for us. Wine,food,great scenery and brilliant campsites.

yeah agree with you there we are golng to the dordogne in september been several times before.

 

[Vipar]

If your enjoying yourself it won’t be long enough. If your not then it will be too long

 

[Toby28]

I have done this trip many times as a coach driver. It is a long, boring trip using the auto routes, however for your time scale it would be the quickest.
There is parking in Monaco <Broken link removed>.
I agree with a lot of comments on here, it's a long trip, unless you are sharing the driving. Even then it is one hell of a hike. Having said that if that's what you are set on doing I wish you all the best and have a great time, but please take notice of some of the comments that have been made, most of all enjoy the experience.

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[grumps147]

Just a thought, if you are thinking of going to a crit air location then to get one you need to be the keeper of the vehicle and send in a copy of the vehicles V5. You may do better factoring out driving right in to those areas and find somewhere with a rail link not too far away.
While we tend now retired to go for 14 days or longer, we once did a 10 day Loire Valley caravan trip from the North West before we had a motorhome. That was no problem at all. It’s just so much easier in a motorhome in France for so many reasons.
There are lots of hints and tips for visits on here. There are also some excellent YouTube video guides to aires and camp sites that you could look up to help you plan.
Good luck, hope you have a great time.

 

[rick brind]

I think you're attempting a trip that will probably put you off motorhoming ever again. If you only have 8or9days I suggest no further than Brittany or Alsace get used to driving in France and the use of sites and Aires. Monaco is a no go and a long drive. Paris also is not a MH destination. If you want to do Paris go by train if you fancy Monaco fly and make sure you take plenty of credit cards €20 for a coffee and €40 for a G&T don't think to eat for less than €100 per head. You picked two of the most expensive and MH unfriendly areas in Europe. Have a rethink France in a MH is great fun can be very cheap and there's so much to see you could spend several years exploring if you're only going for short breaks of less than a month at a time.
What ever you decide enjoy yourselves

 

[WynandJean]

Just a side note to this, it might be worth checking if your insurance (travel and breakdown) is valid if you don't have a return crossing booked as it's a requirement by some. You could always book a speculative return and change it once plans are finalised.

Yes we checked first and they said no problem.

Wyn