French Autoroutes, late August weekend
Discussion
We will be travelling North through Spain and France on Friday and Saturday.
Does anyone have any experience of how horrendous the traffic is likely to be driving North through France on the last weekend in August please?
Our route will up the Mediterranean coast of Spain, head due North just before Barcelona, through the tunnel under Andorra to Foix, through Toulouse, heading straight up the A20 with an overnight stay in Souilliac.
Day2
Depart Soulilliac, up the A20 to Orleans, head north east through Chartres towards Rouen, then follow the A28 into Calais.
Am I in for a world of pain?
Does anyone have any experience of how horrendous the traffic is likely to be driving North through France on the last weekend in August please?
Our route will up the Mediterranean coast of Spain, head due North just before Barcelona, through the tunnel under Andorra to Foix, through Toulouse, heading straight up the A20 with an overnight stay in Souilliac.
Day2
Depart Soulilliac, up the A20 to Orleans, head north east through Chartres towards Rouen, then follow the A28 into Calais.
Am I in for a world of pain?
105.4 said:
We will be travelling North through Spain and France on Friday and Saturday.
Does anyone have any experience of how horrendous the traffic is likely to be driving North through France on the last weekend in August please?
Our route will up the Mediterranean coast of Spain, head due North just before Barcelona, through the tunnel under Andorra to Foix, through Toulouse, heading straight up the A20 with an overnight stay in Souilliac.
Day2
Depart Soulilliac, up the A20 to Orleans, head north east through Chartres towards Rouen, then follow the A28 into Calais.
Am I in for a world of pain?
If Day one is Friday then it shouldn't be too bad. It will be bad but not too bad. Day 2 I would suggest to start early. Saturday will be the worst of the worstDoes anyone have any experience of how horrendous the traffic is likely to be driving North through France on the last weekend in August please?
Our route will up the Mediterranean coast of Spain, head due North just before Barcelona, through the tunnel under Andorra to Foix, through Toulouse, heading straight up the A20 with an overnight stay in Souilliac.
Day2
Depart Soulilliac, up the A20 to Orleans, head north east through Chartres towards Rouen, then follow the A28 into Calais.
Am I in for a world of pain?
https://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/forecasts,langen.ht... these tend to be quite accurate
zbc said:
If Day one is Friday then it shouldn't be too bad. It will be bad but not too bad. Day 2 I would suggest to start early. Saturday will be the worst of the worst
We’re aiming to leave Souilliac at 09:30 with a full tank of fuel. That should be enough fuel to get us up to Calais with a bit to spare.The Chunnel crossing is at 21:30, with boarding closing at 21:00.
To make matters worse, our Fulli Peage Tag doesn’t work, so we’ll have to stop at every toll to pay. The van will cruise at 150kph all day long, but I’m not too keen on going over 135 in a British registered vehicle at the risk of getting a fine.
The sat-nav is reckoning our route will take 9 hours, so fingers crossed we’ll be ok.
105.4 said:
Thanks Deesee, but every time I’ve been through Paris it’s been gridlocked.
These days I just avoid the place like the plague.
No worries, it’s the route we take & it works These days I just avoid the place like the plague.
This is where the tunnel is some sat nav’s don’t pick it up.
You literally avoid Paris by using it.
I liken it to driving on the m25 at Watford and arriving at Dartford with no traffic. (It’s not that long, but hopefully you see what I mean).
Safe Journey!
Your day two route is easy , I lived 15 mins from soulillac and always used that route as it’s a doddle and avoids Paris, you should be ok .
There’s a few speed cameras if your bothered but only a few tolls to pay , beware the small French car- van parked on the side of the road , there’ll be gendarmes on motorbikes further up waiting to pull you if you’ve been “ making progress “
For what it’s worth it’s about 7 and a half hours with one fuel stop at the speed limits .
The hotel in souillac with the large terrace on the front of it used to serve decent food , I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s fairly obvious. Or if you get there early drive up to rocamadour , park at the top and walk down into town , there’s an elevator to get you back up if you eat too much ! It’s definitely worth the half hour drive up , as nice as souillac is there’s not to much there apart from a mechanical mueseum and a few restaurants.
There’s a few speed cameras if your bothered but only a few tolls to pay , beware the small French car- van parked on the side of the road , there’ll be gendarmes on motorbikes further up waiting to pull you if you’ve been “ making progress “
For what it’s worth it’s about 7 and a half hours with one fuel stop at the speed limits .
The hotel in souillac with the large terrace on the front of it used to serve decent food , I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s fairly obvious. Or if you get there early drive up to rocamadour , park at the top and walk down into town , there’s an elevator to get you back up if you eat too much ! It’s definitely worth the half hour drive up , as nice as souillac is there’s not to much there apart from a mechanical mueseum and a few restaurants.
Deesee said:
No worries, it’s the route we take & it works
This is where the tunnel is some sat nav’s don’t pick it up.
You literally avoid Paris by using it.
I liken it to driving on the m25 at Watford and arriving at Dartford with no traffic. (It’s not that long, but hopefully you see what I mean).
Safe Journey!
Neither of the sat-navs / route planners that I use have picked up the route that you have suggested.This is where the tunnel is some sat nav’s don’t pick it up.
You literally avoid Paris by using it.
I liken it to driving on the m25 at Watford and arriving at Dartford with no traffic. (It’s not that long, but hopefully you see what I mean).
Safe Journey!
Thanks for the tip. I will give it very serious consideration.
Due to personal circumstances, if I miss that 21:30 Chunnel for any reason whatsoever, I’m in very serious trouble with very serious consequences.
zbc said:
https://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/forecasts,langen.ht... these tend to be quite accurate
Nice one. Cheers 
anonymous said:
[redacted]
A told a mate of mine about it, he took his VW California at 2020mm 
(I thought he was taking his estate), it must have been full and on the springs as completely unscathed! At 1850mm ride my wife ducks at the cameras, (I also have much fun speeding towards the 1850mm hanging boards at the channel tunnel)...Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff