Going to France by car

I think satnav is a good idea. My OH refuses to have it, so we argue our way around France and Spain and it is always my fault, (especially on the Madrid ring road).
And whoops pedantic gender alert that should have been priorité refusée.

We have been driving to and from our French home in Normandy and all round the area for over 20 years and find maps completely satisfactory. We can indulge the family hobby of 'That way be quicker, but this way be prettier' or 'lets go down here it looks interesting' without a problem and, as another poster said, French road signage, number and destination, is excellent and can be found on even the smallest roads.

When there were road blocks some years ago road maps got us round all the blockages onto little cross country routes and we caught the ferry on time.

I find I travel better if I can put my road journey in context, see where the road runs in relation to nearby towns, famous places and people,and the landscape and geology. Even on regular long journeys in the UK the road map is on my lap, if I am not driving and if I am, I will have studied the whole route and 20 or 30 miles each side of it before starting the journey. I am always finding items of interest that enliven my journey and keep me alert and focussed. Paradoxically I would find a journey that only consisted of instructions on the road ahead, both boring and confusing.

That sound great geeljay, I'm sure you'll have fun.

DH & I are also off on a road trip next month, a wee bit longer than yours though.

We are driving to Athens via Paris, Heidelberg and Salzburg then down into Croatia, Albania and into Greece. From Greece by ferry to Italy then a meander northwards taking in Pompeii, Rome, Verona, and wherever else takes our fancy.

We will definitely be in need of up to date sat nav maps for the sake of my sanity if nothing else .

I agree with FlicketyB - you can't beat maps.
Not that we've ever used satnavs while traveling to France by car.
I would rather decide for myself which route to take, rather than obey some mechanical voice.
I think the ability to read and understand maps is a mental skill which is being lost to the human race ( together with many others, eg writing letters.)
Perhaps it's just old age.

Well this is what OH says and up to a point, I agree. But have you ever navigated the Madrid ring roads in rush hour? Rural France is fine, but big cities are very different, imo.

We did a similar little trip last year, and it was lovely. We usually use SatNav and maps (and iPhone!) wherever we are in the world, and it works very well. Got a bit confused in the far reaches of KwaZuluNatal, though!

We thoroughly enjoyed the overnight trip, in style, from Plymouth, and Roscoff is well worth a couple of nights. (Used to live in Kent so always used the tunnel, but, while it is quick, it doesn't have much else to recommend it!)

Just concentrate, and all will be well - spoken from experience...

Drove down to Portugal from UK over 10 years ago and I still remember the Madrid ring roads.

We took our sat av to USA last Nov - we have US maps too in ours - it was such a boon when we were caught in the tail end of the tornado as we were negotiating our way around Indianapolis. The rain was so heavy we could not see any directions on the overhead gantries and just had to listen and follow instructions - which turned out to be perfect. As to maps - we tried in a number of places to buy maps or an atlas while in America and no-one stocked any!! They just said that everyone used GPS. We did eventually get a map from a restaurant chain which had enough info on it for what we wanted - relative distances between places etc.

We had a particularly bad experience when we were flagged down and stopped by what looked like a police car. We were very suspicious and eventually they drove off again, but it was quite scary.
And never mind deciding if we needed to take the exit for the M3/4/5 the A3/4/5 the R4 or the NI/II/III/IV, all of which have a 5m warning before the 5m slip road (to left, right or in the middle) and you can see why SatNav might help.
We have done it about 10 times now and it changes every time.

That was the Madrid ring road.
We did have people who stayed here and went everywhere by SatNav. They drove past petrol stations if they weren't shown on the screen and were amazed by Bayeux when SatNav took them past the town on the way to Mont St Michel.

baubles Your road trip sounds like a great adventure. Just avoid Turin during rush hour.

Do follow mamie's advice re telepeage, it saved our marriage, it was so dreadful the previous time we went about 6 years ago! They all charge different amounts. So being able to just whizz through is wonderful.

Change the way your lights dip - we remembered, just as well as the police were checking furriners' lights at a beach in the south.

Thanks everyone. There is so much experience out there of almost any situation that we are likely to encounter. I may have become a bit of a worrier, but I am trying to avoid that occasion where I tell myself 'I should have done that'. Must be the boy scout in me, be - prepared!After our trip, I shall PS this and let you know how it all went. My wife and sister are my 'team', so between us we shall cope and hopefully enjoy our adventure. We usually do. Regards to you all.

I think I will buy myself a birthday prezzie of Satnav. We go away about 5 trips each year, and though I know most areas well-favourites- we occasionally 'get lost'. And I quite like useful gadgets, so I shall zone in to a Tomtom. We have over the last 2 years availed ourselves of the cheepo hols in the newspapers. The statics are always newish and most pleasant to use as a base. Usually Cornwall, Dorset and I o W. And now we shall have a good excuse to 'do France ' for another trip.

We always use a tomtom satnav with Europe on it. It has never let us down - and you can set it to show all places of interest, petrol stations, pharmacies - it's simply a case of plugging it into your computer for an evening and learning how to use it properly. If we hadn't had it in Paris we would still have been circling the Arc de Triomphe now. And would never ever have found our apartement. Because so many roads and tunnels were shut because of Paris Plage, which is something not shown on a map.

Found this site
www.vendee-guide.co.uk/priority-a-droite.htm.

Hope it helps

Hmm. Useful to see the signs, but I don't agree with all of it. The article says the St Andrew's cross sign is rare; we pass five on the 10km between here and our local town. Also says that the French are getting rid of PaD, but in our town, they are still putting them in.
Maybe different in the Vendée though!

Well, we are finally sorted and nearly ready to go. We used to 'do France' quite regularly, just book the ferry and a site, hitch up the 'van on the due date and go. It seems a lot more involved, than I seem to remember. Lots of info above and on the travel sites. Maybe we are just a little more cautious. OH birthday this week and a whip round from the 'kids' has purchased a Tomtom for us. Our boys said 'dad, you are getting too old for this. I must admit that with 'the onset' I am probably not the navigator I once was. But Hub seems to be fit and well for an old un. I have tried the high viz jacket, and it is not very stylish, but legal. Now it's just the ironing and assembling a few essential bits that previous mobile home hols has shewn us we need. I'm not too good with akeyboard, but about 20 mins perseverance has allowed me to do this. Regards and thanks, 'Nanny Gergia'

Good luck!

One thing we hadn't realised when we went over soon after they had changed the gilets jaunes rules was that we needed one EACH. We went with only one! It was only because we saw a broken-down minibus with about ten girls standing next to it that I thought I had better check. Derr.

I hope you have a wonderful time.

Geel have a really good time , when do you actually go , and for how long?

We have just got back from a few days in north west France and had a lovely time. Just one word of warning. Make sure that your car is magnetic if your GB sign is. We arrived in Calais and stopped to put ours on and also the headlight stickers. Found our car ( or at least the tailgate) must be made of aluminium! There was no where to buy another GB sticker so were anxious all week. We tried saliva and stuck it on the back windscreen but it never lasted long!

That was how we discovered that our son's blutack was a marvellous invention.

Hi Nonu, we go 9 - 27 May. 10 days Vendee, then back to Brittany for 7 days, near Carnac before we come home. I will also check the GB sign tomorrow. Amazing how we go to great lengths to cover everything, then silly little jobbies trip us up.

Currently driving around with a Teach yourself French playing everywhere we go.

GEEL sounds really super, we were in France couple years ago in Bordeaux.
We didn't take the car though as we were on train --great fun !

Re, your tape you will be speaking like a native.