Going to France by car

Just to conclude. We did buy a Tom-Tom or to be precise, our children purchased one as a present. We found it invaluable, taking us to exact locations each time we asked. We were never stopped by gendarmes at any time, nor given any hassle, just kind attentive courtesy and curiosity. Stayed Vendee for 10 days, and then to Brittany. We travelled within about 40 mile radius of each place we stayed, exploring. Most enjoyable, and planning to go again 2015. Maybe to an area where we can visit chateaux and history. Loved it. Thanks to all the useful pointers given on here. We were reminded of how lucky we are in UK on food costs and selection at supermarkets. We self catered and the selection of fresh food was superb. Love France.

Sat navs can be very useful but I would suggest that even if you have a sat nav never go anywhere you do not know well without a map.

On a cross country trip to Norfolk last weekend I had a sat nav, but I had forgotten to put my roadmap back into the car.

My sat nav gives me "fastest" "eco" and "shortest" and sometimes none of those options seem to make sense.

I found heading off without being able to see a map and to get idea of the general geography of where I was going, was to say the least alarming.

That does sound a lovely holiday. Well done. Might copy that.

Nice to hear all went well gjay Yes, it is a lovely country.

Nonu Thought you might be 'over there' ! There's no doubt you'll be enjoying yourself immensely!

So glad it went well for you, it is such a beautiful country. There is a lovely programme on French telly at the moment about the most beautiful villages in France; every day we say that we really must go there... (resolves to lift head from vegetable garden and get out more)......

So glad you are both back safe & sound Geel.

I am away myself with Himself in the good ole US of A

Having the best of times as always .

Here for another 3 weeks , yippee!!!

Hi everyone. Well we had our lovely adventure. 18 days of sun and lovely weather, except one early morning thunderstorm that was so exciting. Crescendo of thunder, about 4am provided us with a spectacular couple of hours lightning which we got up to watch. The beaches along the Vendee were so sun blessed and beautiful to stroll along. An oasis of free car parking reminded us of what a huge country is France. Our new satnav took us effortlessly through Nantes, without a blip. The roads, right down to the Vendee, are so good and clearly signposted, that we could not have got lost if we had tried. And the new (to us) ferry was immaculate, with super cabins, and great quality food in the restaurants. Prices were very much cheaper per item paid in sterling, than euro. Superb rack of lamb £7.50. Worried so much about headlight deflectors and travel kit, etc., but never stopped by the gendarmes at any time. The accom at both Vendee and Brittany was excellent (Eurocamp chalets) Foodprices, even supermarkets, reminded us of how well off we are in Devon. Lovely hol, planning another later tis year. We loved every minute. Regards to you all.

Definitely no more eurocheques. The easiest thing to do is just to withdraw money as you need it from cash machines, which are everywhere. Petrol stations take debit and credit cards as do shops and supermarkets.

We used to have a Eurocheque account with Nat West but I think they were stopped some years ago. Credit cards are accepted in most places including motorway tolls.

We used to go over to France a lot in our car and only used maps. Only problem was the French build new roads and changed the numbers very easily and quite often, so we had to make sure we had up to date maps. Husband did not get on with sat nav type things. Watch our for speed cameras. You do appear to be given warnings that you are coming to one. We never had any real problems using maps, although sometimes the French do put road names in strange places and also the place you are going to is changed to somewhere else, so you need to know other places on the route.

We sometimes used motorways - auto-routes - and never had any problems. Lots more service areas of one sort or another than on a UK motorway.

As you may know public conveniences are not always easy to find apart from on auto-routes, and at times, as the French do, we used bushes, lanes etc to do what we had to do. Usually lots of other people had found the same places already. On one occasion we were asked by a car full of gendarmes to move on from stopping on the side of the road, but no real trouble. I think they were just being difficult.

On another occasion we inadvertently went through a red light in a strange area, not aware of the go with caution light also at the junction. We were pulled over almost immediately by some municpal police, who also did not know the area. We were very polite and explained why we had crossed on the red light, and there was no problem. We asked if they knew what route we took to get to where we were going, and they didn't know either!

Love the Vendee. I am sure you will have a good time.

Thanks annodomini. Regards

I haven't used eurocheques for many years. I didn't know they still existed. I have a pre-loaded card for both withdrawal of cash and payment in shops, hotels etc, which I top up before travelling and take a credit card with me as back-up but have only needed to use it twice. The best place to go for advice on this is Martyn Lewis's web site:
www.MoneySavingExpert.com

Hi, Do the French traders readily take Eurocheques in payment. Or is cash a must. I will take my credit/debit cards, but don't particularly want to take a lot oin cash? I think, somewhere, I saw a comment by someone who lives in France, who would probably know. Regards........

Forgot to say, enjoy your visit.

We use a Satnav in must places in Europe with great success BUT in France it is firmly switched off. Despite ticking the option boxes against Motorways somehow the directions always took us to the nearest Peage (apologies for spelling).

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.

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

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.

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

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!

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

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.

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'

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!

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

Hope it helps