Travel time in France
Hi, we're venturing into France with our caravan for the first time and really looking forward to it. For the first few days we are at Caravaning Des 4 Vents visiting Disneyland etc and then head off to Camping de L'Île D'or in the Loire valley.
How long will it take to drive from Calais to Caravaning Des 4 Vents?
How long will it take to drive from there to Camping de L'Île D'or?
How long will it take from Camping de L'Île D'or back to Calais? (Don't want to miss the boat back!)
Sorry to bombard you guys with questions 
Many thanks,
Andy.
Comments
-
BTW, Camping de L'Île D'or is in Amboise.
0 -
If yo travel on Autoroutes at a good pace (60 mph) then allow an average of 50mph including stops for tea, lunch etc. So 300 mile will be about 6 hours so long as there are no major hold ups. This has worked well for us over the years to within 15 minutes
or so wither way.If you travel on N or D roads then I guess the average will drop to around 30-40 mph due to slowing down in towns, villages etc plus numerous roundabouts, traffic lights, other calming measures.
0 -
Very useful info - many thanks.
For the tolls, do you have to pay in advance (like the Dartford crossing these days) or can you just pay by card at each toll?
0 -
You pay in cash or by card at the toll booth. However, increasingly the tolls are unmanned off the major routes and that can pose problems.
Have a look on line at the SANEF tag. It is a radio tag like the DART system and can be bought in England. Not for everyone but they don't half take the hassle out of motorway travel. It's not much fun for your other half hanging out of the window/door trying to pay at tollbooths.
0 -
It's different for caravans Micheal.
The speed limit for the typical car and caravan in France on the motorway is 56MPH.
Write your comments here...This was with a caravan F, not been over since we change to a MH and I did not say how big our outfit was to say I was within the legal limits but having been passed many times by other outfits towing at 70 or 80 I dont think the
limit is strictly enforced so never worried
0 -
It's different for caravans Micheal.
The speed limit for the typical car and caravan in France on the motorway is 56MPH.
Write your comments here...This was with a caravan F, not been over since we change to a MH and I did not say how big our outfit was to say I was within the legal limits but having been passed many times by other outfits towing at 70 or 80 I dont think the limit is strictly enforced so never worried
It's different in France these days, they enforce speed limits vigously by all kinds of technology as well as direct by Plod.
This link shows the current speed limits in France
http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/5582430/french speed limits.pdf
Don't know how to make it a blue clicky.
Personally I think the limits are madness because they restrict a Discovery 4 and a small caravan to 56 yet allow a toy car and large caravan to go at 80!
0 -
Thanks all for the prompt replies
Interesting to see the speed stickers info in the pdf link in the last post. Not sure I'll bother with that however it's reminded me of the GB sticker. I have a number plate with the EU (GB) badge on the left had side.
Is this sufficient or do I need a large sticker too?0 -
Thanks all for the prompt replies
Interesting to see the speed stickers info in the pdf link in the last post. Not sure I'll bother with that however it's reminded me of the GB sticker. I have a number plate with the EU (GB) badge on the left had side.
Is this sufficient or do I need a large sticker too?That will do just fine. Caravan needs the same kind of plate.
If you put a large GB sticker on the back the French will only use it for target practice anyway. Only joking.
0 -
Maybe its just me but I tow around 6500 miles each year on continental roads and being an "anorack" with a spreadsheet record all our journeys and have almost never even averaged 50 mph and that is towing with a large powerful car at or close to the legal
limits (or sometimes over)Agree.
0 -
Maybe its just me but I tow around 6500 miles each year on continental roads and being an "anorack" with a spreadsheet record all our journeys and have almost never even averaged 50 mph and that is towing with a large powerful car at or close to the legal
limits (or sometimes over)Write your comments here...I can aassure you David it is our average both abroad and in the UK, maybe you dont go as fast as I do or perhaps you have a 3 hour lunch or dawdle at 40mph who knows but normally if we are doing any longish trip I allow 50mph
and including stops for coffee, lunch the loo etc. 95% of the time I am within 15 minutes or so either way travelling on Autoroutes/Motorways or Dual Carriageways for the majority of the journey. Generally travelled at 60ish mph traffic and weather permitting
stopping after about 2 hours, 30-45 minutes for lunch another 2 hours then maybe a quick pit stop.0 -
I agree with Deleted User User. We have just back from Italy and we averaged 48 - 50 mph on the trip to which have to be added stops. Michael, to average 50 including stops does strike me as being on the high side! We do the 3 x 2hr stints method and get about 250+ miles in a day - except last Saturday going over the Fern Pass when it took us 3 hours to get from Imst to the German border!!!!
0 -
Like others we have a 'routine' which we arrived at after realising that we were arriving at destinations feeling knac....very tired.
We use 50 MPH to calculate how long it will take from A to B and 40 MPH to calculate how long that journey will take including stops.
We drive 2 hours then stop for 30 minutes,2 hours then stop for an hour follwed by 2 hours then 30 minutes and then the final 2 hours.
So a maximum of 8 hour driving, this is unusual nowadays, with a total of two hours for stops. This is of course flexible but it works for us especially as it encourages us, OK me, to be organised and get an early start.
In 2014 we travelled form Villanova Park to Santander and whilst it is just over 400 miles arrived feeling quite normal, and having enjoyed a great drive,after 10 hours 10 minutes.
0 -
In the past, we used to do the hero run down to the south in one go with just a change or driver when one of us felt tired.
These days, it's stop at nearest decent camp site around 15.00 no matter how far we have travelled that day and be chilling out with a glass of wine by 15.30.
Getting a bit older now!
0 -
That sounds like a great cunning plan to me
Everything considered, it looks like we may have underestimated the time it'll take to get to our first destination so we're probably going to drive down to Kent the night before and get a morning ferry. That'll hopfully get us to Des 4 Vents in good time
for that glass of wine!
0 -
I have just returned from 9 weeks over the water, 3,800 miles home to home and my cars readout says I averaged 36mph. OK it wasn't all towing and probably a 60/40 of motorway and N/D roads but we can all be a little overly optimistic when it comes to average
speed.0 -
I have just returned from 9 weeks over the water, 3,800 miles home to home and my cars readout says I averaged 36mph. OK it wasn't all towing and probably a 60/40 of motorway and N/D roads but we can all be a little overly optimistic when it comes to average
speed.Write your comments here...I agree the readout form these never seem to show a high mph average on the long term but that takes into account sitting in traffic, around town etc. My point is from point A to point B on Motorways/Dual Carriageways we average
50mph, so a 300 mile trip on an average will take us 6 hours in total including stops for tea, lunch etc. We will ahve a 10-20 minute break mid morning, 30-45 minutes for lunch and a further 10-20 minute afternoon break and always we are not out by more than
15 minues eithr way except the odd occasion where there my have been horrendous traffic or an accident etc. This is not fantasy but fact, as I said earlier travelling at 60ish its possible, at 40 obvously not, and it may not suit all to go at that speed but
we dont like to dawdle.0 -
With a larger van+car we are limited to a slightly lower speed, and in several countries you are limited to 80kph, so cannot achieve the 60mph possible here.
Lunch breaks are never less than 1 hour, it takes a bit of time to prepare a salad and make coffee, have a rest and stretch the legs afterwards.
Why rush?
0 -
Our trip to Italy in June was 65.04 Hrs driving over 2286` at an average speed of 33.2MPH from the trip. Thats over 50/50 Autostrada/"S" Roads, including throgh Dolomites and Alps its actually quite surprising how low average speeds actually are. If you
can get up to 40MPH on a mixture of roads you are doing well . I find Sat Nav ETA`s quite accurate, unless you actually stop due to a traffic jam the ETA does`nt change by that much, no matter how fast you go (I`m referring to driving at legal towing speeds
not solo)0
