Tour de France

[107oc]

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[Branagorn]

So guys, my friends and I are going to get the ferry over to france on friday, and return next friday/saturday (Booking tickets tonight).

Have any of you ever done this before?  Thinking of just making our way to the south (Monte Carlo), and just visiting all sorts of interesting places along the way.

Have you any advice on local knowledge, a friend mentioned a way of avoiding toll roads,  so there is that to bear in mind,  just other things like that?

Also where would you go/ want to see?

And finally if you've got some spare time we will be driving my friends grey 52 plate Seat Ibiza/  was thinking of making up some fun decals for the tour, chuck some stripes and other stuff on there for giggles (all very cheap)  if you could think of some quick ideas/photoshop it up, that would be cool.

[gilesme]

Off to France on Thursday after work (tunnel Fri morning).

If you wish to avoid tolls etc, get a "Bison Fute" map.   "Crafty Bison" is their nickname for routes avoiding jams / tolls etc.  Google it for advice.

Lots of other advice here:

http://www.day-tripper.net/drive-in-france.html

Main things are beam benders / warning triangle / flouro jacket for each person / GB sticker (not strictly always necessary, but I stick it high on passenger rear window so that following drivers might figure tourist / right hand drive (our S-Max has pimped out rear glass...)).

Keep tyre pressures high for long distances / better economy.

[ian789]

What do you call a pointless race that covers 2,200 miles throughout france?

The French.

[qed]

We use the tunnel as its cheap and fast. We also tend to use the tolls if we are trying to get anywhere. The price varies but they carve straight through.

Biggest thing for me is petrol. Sundays in a rural area are just about impossible. Some petrol stations are unmanned and the crafty French buggers don't accept our credit cards. Theres always one local who will pay with his card in exchange for cash.

I know its obv but remember to drive on the wrong side of the road. Easy to forget first thing in the morning. Tie or mark something on the car to remind you.

If a gendarme on foot  waves or blows his whistle for you to stop do it immediatley and don't politely find somewhere convinient/safe to park 300 yards away. DON'T bugger off - they generally have a van waiting at the end of the village. With guns.

Finally try to speak French as much as possible - even if you think you sound terrible - its a compliment and marks you out from the usual ignorant rock apes that they have to suffer.

[qed]

Oh and make sure you have insurance, break down cover and your e111 or whatever it is now. Keep all your car documents and license in one place is useful too.

[gilesme]

Biggest thing for me is petrol. Sundays in a rural area are just about impossible. Some petrol stations are unmanned and the crafty French buggers don't accept our credit cards. Theres always one local who will pay with his card in exchange for cash.

I find most supermarkets / hypermarkets are open on Sundays (Some of these work 7/24 by accepting credit card) - however if "in the sticks" it can be an issue.

Credit cards used to be a problem, however as we now have "chip" (or "puce") in them, they work fine.

[qed]

Look for the Carrefours !!

[Susiebabe]

We use the tunnel as its cheap and fast. We also tend to use the tolls if we are trying to get anywhere. The price varies but they carve straight through.

Biggest thing for me is petrol. Sundays in a rural area are just about impossible. Some petrol stations are unmanned and the crafty French buggers don't accept our credit cards. Theres always one local who will pay with his card in exchange for cash.

I know its obv but remember to drive on the wrong side of the road. Easy to forget first thing in the morning. Tie or mark something on the car to remind you.
If a gendarme on foot  waves or blows his whistle for you to stop do it immediatley and don't politely find somewhere convinient/safe to park 300 yards away. DON'T bugger off - they generally have a van waiting at the end of the village. With guns.

Finally try to speak French as much as possible - even if you think you sound terrible - its a compliment and marks you out from the usual ignorant rock apes that they have to suffer.

Like a string of onions  

[qed]

Like a string of onions  

It might work....

[Branagorn]

We survived,  heres just one of many photos taken,  thought this one suits the tone of this forum

[soffit]

We survived,  heres just one of many photos taken,  thought this one suits the tone of this forum

Sounded like a good idea! So how did it go? Did you sleep in your cars/under your cars or pay the french about £20 for a rock-hard night on ground they have plenty of. [ It always pisses me off they have much the same population and three times the land mass...Bits of it are mountains but even so....

[Branagorn]

yeah,  my friend was abit scarred to do full on,  find your own camping, so we did indeed pay some puffy french bloke about 90 euros for us all to stay on hard rock for 2 days.  And the other times we stayed in this chain of motels called hotel f1, averaged about 14 euros a night,  so that was pretty good.

When we rocked up to monaco/monte carlo, Jamirioquai just so happend to be playing in a local hotel which could be seen/heard from the beach, so we enjoyed that.

Also saw ALOT of supercars

[soffit]

Good on yer... a bit of the unexpected... well done those chaps

[qed]

Fetch me a bottle of Ricard back - Ill give you the money.

Any of you get laid (with each other doesn't count)?