Scenic Route

[dredgey]

Hi, we’re considering taking a more scenic route this year rather than all motorway. Probably just South of Sėes or Alençon but can anyone make any recommendations? Is it still a ‘thing’, will we likely see other La Maners or any atmosphere or am I 40 years too late?

[//j17]

Well the roads are still there if that's what you mean - though the majority who just take their cars to Le Mans will just be sat at 130kph on the Autoroute.

From Sées try exiting town west on the D908, then cut south west on one of the really small roads through the Forêt d'Ecouves to join the D26, entering Alençon from the north. From there you might as well follow the old N138 (now D338) into Le Mans.

But if you really want to drive your car to Le Mans look at the Calais->Abbeville on the autoroute (the Pas du Calais has no redeeming features), then go cross county via; Grandvillers, Gournay-en-Bray, Les Andelys, Evreux, L'Aigle, Bellême, Bonnétable, hitting Le Mans from the north west and only seeing any traffic for the last couple of km after joining the outer ring road at Changé. You miss Rouen too so don't need a Crit'air sticker either.

[dredgey]

Excellent, thank you for your suggestions.

Edited by dredgey on Sunday 21st May 11:18

[early_911]

Rouen does have the the 'armada' there from the 8th to 18th June https://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/highlight/rouen-a... . . . . . basically loads of big sailing ship (aka Tall Ships).

For some (inc. me) it's worth the effort. I'm staying in Rouen on the way down.

[HardtopManual]

Our Shuttle gets to Calais at 11h20 local time and we want to get to Le Mans around 6.

I'm planning to drive to Rouen on the autoroute, stop somewhere on the outskirts for lunch (restaurant recommendations are appreciated), then drop onto the country roads through Perche national park for the second leg to Le Mans.

I've never done the trip before - if you have and think there are better routes than the above that will take no more than 6½ hours including a lunch stop, please educate me!

[old'uns]

Good luck with that....Autoroute alone will be 5 ish hours?
Way better drive off Autoroute South of Rouen but waaay slower.
Plan a route on Google Maps or equivalent and see what it throws up

[davidd]

//j17 said:

Well the roads are still there if that's what you mean - though the majority who just take their cars to Le Mans will just be sat at 130kph on the Autoroute.

From Sées try exiting town west on the D908, then cut south west on one of the really small roads through the Forêt d'Ecouves to join the D26, entering Alençon from the north. From there you might as well follow the old N138 (now D338) into Le Mans.

But if you really want to drive your car to Le Mans look at the Calais->Abbeville on the autoroute (the Pas du Calais has no redeeming features), then go cross county via; Grandvillers, Gournay-en-Bray, Les Andelys, Evreux, L'Aigle, Bellême, Bonnétable, hitting Le Mans from the north west and only seeing any traffic for the last couple of km after joining the outer ring road at Changé. You miss Rouen too so don't need a Crit'air sticker either.

This looks like the sort of route we normally take, some fantastic roads and usually quite quiet.

[Johno]

davidd said:

//j17 said:

Well the roads are still there if that's what you mean - though the majority who just take their cars to Le Mans will just be sat at 130kph on the Autoroute.

From Sées try exiting town west on the D908, then cut south west on one of the really small roads through the Forêt d'Ecouves to join the D26, entering Alençon from the north. From there you might as well follow the old N138 (now D338) into Le Mans.

But if you really want to drive your car to Le Mans look at the Calais->Abbeville on the autoroute (the Pas du Calais has no redeeming features), then go cross county via; Grandvillers, Gournay-en-Bray, Les Andelys, Evreux, L'Aigle, Bellême, Bonnétable, hitting Le Mans from the north west and only seeing any traffic for the last couple of km after joining the outer ring road at Changé. You miss Rouen too so don't need a Crit'air sticker either.

This looks like the sort of route we normally take, some fantastic roads and usually quite quiet.

Not dissimilar to our route down, although we're even further east, not much, but slightly for the leg south of Rouen, coming from Dieppe though we head west of the Rouen autoroute run and over the Seine at La Bouille on the little ferry. Just before there's a nice cafe & boulangerie for breakfast (Newhaven - Dieppe ferry, so o/n at Dieppe)

For many years we ran down the old N138 and 15-20yrs ago it was really a lot of fun to do so.... However, times have changed and it's nice to pick a less travelled route if you've got the time. A stop for breakfast and lunch and then in time to pitch tents and head to qualifying is great.

The autoroute blast is efficient, but low on fun and can easily be switched onto if time is an issue.

Edited by Johno on Tuesday 23 May 10:34

[davidd]

This is the route we'll be taking (more or less)

[//j17]

davidd said:

This is the route we'll be taking (more or less)

Odd, a lot more time on the Autoroute than my route but only 15min quicker according to Google (6hr 2min vs 6hr 18min). Was expecting yours to be a chunk quicker than mine. Catch a 7am train and you get to Les Andeles at just the right time to buy a buagette/drink/cake before taking it down to sit on the banks of Le Seine for lunch.

[davidd]

//j17 said:

Odd, a lot more time on the Autoroute than my route but only 15min quicker according to Google (6hr 2min vs 6hr 18min). Was expecting yours to be a chunk quicker than mine. Catch a 7am train and you get to Les Andeles at just the right time to buy a buagette/drink/cake before taking it down to sit on the banks of Le Seine for lunch.

Interesting thanks, I think the autoroute to rouen is habit although it does always vary. I've sent yours to our official route planner bloke. 7:36 train so the timing might be right.

[davidd]

//j17 said:

Odd, a lot more time on the Autoroute than my route but only 15min quicker according to Google (6hr 2min vs 6hr 18min). Was expecting yours to be a chunk quicker than mine. Catch a 7am train and you get to Les Andeles at just the right time to buy a buagette/drink/cake before taking it down to sit on the banks of Le Seine for lunch.

you doing that in a spitfire??

[Mellow Yellow]

davidd said:

This is the route we'll be taking (more or less)

We do almost the same route, but stay on the A29 to Yvetot. Plenty of 2 mile+ straights south of Le Neubourg, means you shouldn't get stuck behind anything for long; tractors NEVER pull over in France

[A_Cochrane]

Thanks to everyone sharing their info here, super helpful. I'm coming from Dieppe and staying overnight on the Tuesday in Paris (Gonna be interesting with the strikes ), will be nice to have a leisurely drive on smaller roads instead of straight down the Autoroute

[Ozzer2006]

davidd said:

This is the route we'll be taking (more or less)

Almost the same route but instead of crossing at saint wandrille-raçon cross at Duclair on the free ferry is a great little route. Also there's a great boulanger/pàtississier opposite

[eastsider]

Calais
A16 Abbeville
A28 > A29 Yvetot
D131 Pont de Brotonne
D913 Bourg-Achard
D438 Brionne > Bernay > Gace > Sees > Alencon
D338 St Saturin

Then go east or west around le mans not through town/ring road

[gt6]

eastsider said:

Calais
A16 Abbeville
A28 > A29 Yvetot
D131 Pont de Brotonne
D913 Bourg-Achard
D438 Brionne > Bernay > Gace > Sees > Alencon
D338 St Saturin

Then go east or west around le mans not through town/ring road

yep that is the route we usually take plus it avoids the crit air problems at rouen

Edited by gt6 on Tuesday 23 May 21:22

[Dblue]

davidd said:

//j17 said:

Well the roads are still there if that's what you mean - though the majority who just take their cars to Le Mans will just be sat at 130kph on the Autoroute.

From Sées try exiting town west on the D908, then cut south west on one of the really small roads through the Forêt d'Ecouves to join the D26, entering Alençon from the north. From there you might as well follow the old N138 (now D338) into Le Mans.

But if you really want to drive your car to Le Mans look at the Calais->Abbeville on the autoroute (the Pas du Calais has no redeeming features), then go cross county via; Grandvillers, Gournay-en-Bray, Les Andelys, Evreux, L'Aigle, Bellême, Bonnétable, hitting Le Mans from the north west and only seeing any traffic for the last couple of km after joining the outer ring road at Changé. You miss Rouen too so don't need a Crit'air sticker either.

This looks like the sort of route we normally take, some fantastic roads and usually quite quiet.

And us - exactly that route through Grandcourt, Londiniere and ending near or in Lyons La Foret for lunch. Then some A roads across through Les Andelys , Evreux and over to pick up the autoroute near Bernay. With a lunch stop its still 7 hours so not much more leway for more diversions if you want to be there anything like a reasonable time. Its 450 miles!

[//j17]

davidd said:

//j17 said:

Odd, a lot more time on the Autoroute than my route but only 15min quicker according to Google (6hr 2min vs 6hr 18min). Was expecting yours to be a chunk quicker than mine. Catch a 7am train and you get to Les Andeles at just the right time to buy a buagette/drink/cake before taking it down to sit on the banks of Le Seine for lunch.

you doing that in a spitfire??

Yea, done that about 10 times in my Spitfire. Other than the 100km on the autoroute to Abbeville where 130kph isn't the cars happy place you're on A roads, which are.

The very first run was...uncomfortable - but then I swapped the original seats for some Mk1 MX5 ones so the only issue was the 30min of ear ringing from the wheelbarrow sports exhaust. Replaced that with a custom "vocal but not shouty" system in time for last year's race and both arrived with normal hearing and managed to have conversations with my passenger that didn't just go:
A: <some question>
B: What?
A: What?
Look at each other and give up.

[MRMNB]

Has anyone got any tips for going Calais » Paris » Le Mans » Normandy?