Route around Paris travelling North
I know that this topic has come up from time to time but I have not really had a straightforward answer. Is there a straightforward and reliable route around Paris travelling up from Clermont on the Autoroute? We hate the usual route through Chartres and would do anything to avoid it including going via Tours, Le Mans. Paris must be simpler surely?
Comments
-
If you're heading for Calais, then if you don't mind paying the tolls, stay on the A10 at Orleans, join the N104 (Francilienne) around the south and then east of Paris, and then continue up the N1 to Calais. This misses your dreaded stretch up to Chartres, around Dreux, etc. but it puts you on the equally dreadful boring stretch from Paris north to Calais!!
Or try a different route entirely, and after Riom head up towards Gannet, then Moulins, and Nevers, Gien, Montargis, then Fontainbleau, Melun, and on to the N104.
It strikes me that you'd be going a fair way off route if you go via Tours - it's much further west. Why not come back up the Rhone Valley and the A26 for a change, if you don't mind paying tolls?
1 -
Thanks Val. We will be going South via Reims and Lyon (as usual!) but then around to Millau and the Lot. Of course we could cut across South of Paris but “straight through” seems simpler.
0 -
agree with Val, looking at the map its not an easy one....but this is because the starting point is Clermont-Ferrand....where will you really be coming from?
if the med, it doesnt have to be the A75...going east Lyons, Dijon, Reims....
staying on the A71 and then trying to het east of Paris is a struggle and adds considerable time to the trip, also going further west makes it a long way....
or.....wild card....dont go back via calais...from Bucks a Portsmouth crossing would be an easy drive and coming back ypu could avoid your pet hate roads.....
1 -
I can’t find the Francilienne or the N104 on via Michelin. I believe it is outside the A86? Couldn’t I go A10, A86?
BB, we will probably be travelling from Aurillac or nearby, but, yes, I suppose we could return from Portsmouth which would be, what, Le Havre or Caen?
0 -
..or even Cherbourg-Poole....
1 -
Yes,the Francilienne (A or N104) is outside of the A86 for the most part, and there's no reason why you shouldn't use that instead. However, it's my feeling that the roads do get more 'congested' the further in you go - so the Francilienne tends to be the quietest at all but very peak times. Looking at a map, the A10 comes in just north of Dourdan and just west of Dourdan is the start of the N104. It doesn't make a straight loop around, but there are a series of bends, one just west of Evry, then just north of Pontault-Combault, just north of Emerainville, then just north of Croissy-Beauborg - and so on, until you come out near Charles de Gaulle airport. It's not as difficult to follow as it looks on a map!
0 -
We have done the A104 a couple of times and it's been OK except as Val suggests at peak times when we have experienced small delays. I think all journeys that are done on a regular basis can get boring but I suppose the logic of why we used them in the first place was that they were the easiest routes?
David
0 -
Thanks Val. I can see that it is a lot further out than the A86 and I missed it on the map.
Clearly, A10/A86/A1 is the direct route but I can imagine some traffic problems. I will see how the mood takes us!
0 -
You need your wits about you on the Francilliene as, get in the wrong lane and you are heading where you don't want to go. I've found it rather fiddly, to be honest. Living , as I do, close to Portsmouth, I'd never again use Dover as a southwards crossing.
1 -
Portsmouth is a bit nearer to us than Dover but the return crossing either requires overnight or gets you in late. We did Portsmouth - Le Havre once some years ago and made the mistake of just having a seat overnight rather than a cabin. Didn’t sleep a wink and ended up at a service station in France sleeping for a large part of the day. Not sure that we would do any better in a cabin but the late return is an option.
0 -
Poole gets in around 9:30, no need for a cabin...we are home usually home by 11:15 even in the dark, on roads we know....
looks to be about 2hrs from Maidenhead (just as an example) and no M25 to have fun on....
0 -
Posted on 10/01/2018 10:38 by cyberyacht
You need your wits about you on the Francilliene as, get in the wrong lane and you are heading where you don't want to go. I've found it rather fiddly, to be honest.
We've done it twice, and would agree with that. The satnav helped a lot, but there seem to be a number of junctions where, if you can't/don't get in the right lane, you will end up travelling in the opposite direction to the one you want. It may be that we weren't familiar with it, but we don't feel inclined to go that way again from choice!
0 -
A 86 northbound around Paris - it's the middle ring road in between the inner Peripherique and the outer ring the Francilienne - just follow the big signs saying Lille until they start to say Calais.
0 -
Looks like the A86 for us then but certainly will consider Portsmouth. It would get us home by midnight I should think and the M25 is always a nightmare and good to avoid.
Any thoughts on Caen versus Le Havre? The Caen timetable looks OK.
0
