Matthew Barnard

Driving from Calais to Toulouse next week. Travelling with 2 small
children so using autoroutes. We have two full days for travel which
should be comfortable for approx 13 hours driving.

Route planners seem to advise going via(around) Paris. My question is -
would it be better to avoid Paris and go around it to the West? I could
go to Rouen, down to Chartres and then A10, and A20 south. THis would
involve short distances off autoroute - but I suspect this may be
quicker/easier than the peripherique around Paris. It will be August so
I suspect traffic in Paris lighter than usual.

Any suggestions?
--
Matthew Barnard

nitram

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 09:07:33 +0100, Matthew Barnard
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Driving from Calais to Toulouse next week. Travelling with 2 small
    >children so using autoroutes. We have two full days for travel which
    >should be comfortable for approx 13 hours driving.
    >Route planners seem to advise going via(around) Paris. My question is -
    >would it be better to avoid Paris and go around it to the West?

I'd do what Michelin recommends stick to the autoroute and go via the
east side of Paris.
http://www.viamichelin.com/

    > I could
    >go to Rouen, down to Chartres and then A10, and A20 south. THis would
    >involve short distances off autoroute - but I suspect this may be
    >quicker/easier than the peripherique around Paris. It will be August so
    >I suspect traffic in Paris lighter than usual.

It depends on the weekend.

    >Any suggestions?

I'd go with the Michelin recommended route. Whenever we have tried to
use non motorway roads in France it's added hours to the trip

Nige

Don't know which route planner you are using, but actual distance from Calais to Toulouse is approx. 600 miles and at average speed of 60 mph this means about 10 hours not 13. If you look at www.viamichelin.com and do the route, it suggests that the journey time is 8hours 24 mins. So if your car is able to cruise at 70 plus, cannot really see how it can take 13 hours?
I think it's best to get the journey over as quickly as possible (with the kids in the back).

Nightjar

"Matthew Barnard" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Driving from Calais to Toulouse next week. Travelling with 2 small
    > children so using autoroutes. We have two full days for travel which
    > should be comfortable for approx 13 hours driving.
    > Route planners seem to advise going via(around) Paris. My question is -
    > would it be better to avoid Paris and go around it to the West? I could
    > go to Rouen, down to Chartres and then A10, and A20 south. THis would
    > involve short distances off autoroute - but I suspect this may be
    > quicker/easier than the peripherique around Paris. It will be August so
    > I suspect traffic in Paris lighter than usual.
    > Any suggestions?

French N roads are frequently single carriageway, with very little chance to
overtake, so you get to travel a lot at the speed of the slowest traffic on
the road. I generally expect to at least double my travel time if I am using
an N road, rather than an Autoroute.

Colin Bignell

Jcoulter

Matthew Barnard <[email protected]> wrote in news:c5
[email protected]:

    > Driving from Calais to Toulouse next week. Travelling with 2 small
    > children so using autoroutes. We have two full days for travel which
    > should be comfortable for approx 13 hours driving.
    >
    > Route planners seem to advise going via(around) Paris. My question is -
    > would it be better to avoid Paris and go around it to the West? I could
    > go to Rouen, down to Chartres and then A10, and A20 south. THis would
    > involve short distances off autoroute - but I suspect this may be
    > quicker/easier than the peripherique around Paris. It will be August so
    > I suspect traffic in Paris lighter than usual.
    >
    > Any suggestions?

Are you driving your own car from the UK? Then avoid rural roads at all
costs. Overtaking is hard enough on these roads, overtaking with your
passenger as a lookout can be frightening.Especially for the lookout ;-)

nitram

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 15:04:47 +0100, "nightjar"
<nightjar@<insert_my_surname_here>.uk.com> wrote:

    >"Matthew Barnard" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected].. .
    >> Driving from Calais to Toulouse next week. Travelling with 2 small
    >> children so using autoroutes. We have two full days for travel which
    >> should be comfortable for approx 13 hours driving.
    >> Route planners seem to advise going via(around) Paris. My question is -
    >> would it be better to avoid Paris and go around it to the West? I could
    >> go to Rouen, down to Chartres and then A10, and A20 south. THis would
    >> involve short distances off autoroute - but I suspect this may be
    >> quicker/easier than the peripherique around Paris. It will be August so
    >> I suspect traffic in Paris lighter than usual.
    >> Any suggestions?
    >French N roads are frequently single carriageway, with very little chance to
    >overtake, so you get to travel a lot at the speed of the slowest traffic on
    >the road. I generally expect to at least double my travel time if I am using
    >an N road, rather than an Autoroute.

That's most people's experience. Autoroutes are worth every eurocent
of the toll.

nitram

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 09:17:31 -0500, jcoulter
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Are you driving your own car from the UK? Then avoid rural roads at all
    >costs. Overtaking is hard enough on these roads, overtaking with your
    >passenger as a lookout can be frightening.Especially for the lookout ;-)

I sit in the back seat in UK, when my wife drives our left hand drive
car on rural roads ...

Matthew Barnard

Thanks everyone for the info. We shall certainly travel via autoroutes.
We are travelling in our UK car - and we have driven extensively in
France. Sadly I can't sit in the back when overtaking because of 2
children!

The Michelin planner is interesting. When I plug in travel via Rouen it
gives me exactly the route I had anticipated. This involves 800km of
autoroute and 120km off autoroute. We will be travelling daytime on
Thursday and Friday. The Michelin site estimates the route via Paris as
7hours52 and the route avoiding Paris via Rouen as 8hours36. Not a great
deal in it - so it basically comes down to :

Do you all think travelling 120km off autoroute will be (almost
certainly) worse than travelling through Paris in the middle of the day?

Additionally (with 2 children) I am concerned not only about total time
but also ease of travel and stopping. Obviously the autoroutes are ideal
- but again I wonder if travelling 120km on RN154 will be any easier for
stops etc than the bit through Paris?

I still am not entirely decided....


--
Matthew Barnard

nitram

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 16:38:42 +0100, Matthew Barnard
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Thanks everyone for the info. We shall certainly travel via autoroutes.
    >We are travelling in our UK car - and we have driven extensively in
    >France. Sadly I can't sit in the back when overtaking because of 2
    >children!
    >The Michelin planner is interesting. When I plug in travel via Rouen it
    >gives me exactly the route I had anticipated. This involves 800km of
    >autoroute and 120km off autoroute. We will be travelling daytime on
    >Thursday and Friday. The Michelin site estimates the route via Paris as
    >7hours52 and the route avoiding Paris via Rouen as 8hours36. Not a great
    >deal in it - so it basically comes down to :
    >Do you all think travelling 120km off autoroute will be (almost
    >certainly) worse than travelling through Paris in the middle of the day?

yes. You don't actually travel through Paris more around it..

    >Additionally (with 2 children) I am concerned not only about total time
    >but also ease of travel and stopping.

As you know there are plenty of places to eat and stop on the
autoroutes.

    >Obviously the autoroutes are ideal
    >- but again I wonder if travelling 120km on RN154 will be any easier for
    >stops etc than the bit through Paris?
    >I still am not entirely decided....

remember that the times these planners give are for perfect
conditions no road works no traffic jams etc.

I'd stick to the autoroutes.

Nige

I am probably not doing this correctly, but..........both routes are total distance of 970 kms according to my route planner. The one via the Paris Periphique takes 8 hours 24 and the route via Rouen is 9 hours 6 mins.
Can't understand why www.viamichelin.com gives different figures?

Knight of the Road

"Matthew Barnard" <[email protected]> wrote
    > would it be better to avoid Paris and go around it to the West? I could
    > go to Rouen, down to Chartres and then A10, and A20 south.



Yep, I do it all the time (I drive an articulated lorry)

Rouen, Evereux, Dreux Chartres......

The missing section of autoroute is a mix of good single and dual
carriageway roads, it`s a far more enjoyable drive, you will save a fair bit
of money on tolls, and it takes no longer. That is the way I go.


Vince
--
Truck Driving In Russia- www.coventon.co.uk

Nightjar

"Matthew Barnard" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Thanks everyone for the info. We shall certainly travel via autoroutes.
    > We are travelling in our UK car - and we have driven extensively in
    > France. Sadly I can't sit in the back when overtaking because of 2
    > children!
    > The Michelin planner is interesting. When I plug in travel via Rouen it
    > gives me exactly the route I had anticipated. This involves 800km of
    > autoroute and 120km off autoroute. We will be travelling daytime on
    > Thursday and Friday. The Michelin site estimates the route via Paris as
    > 7hours52 and the route avoiding Paris via Rouen as 8hours36. Not a great
    > deal in it

I find viaMichelin to be rather optomistic in its timings even on
Autoroutes. It assumes no bouchons and I seriously doubt you will cover that
distance without meeting any heavy traffic, particularly on any non-toll
sections, road works or accidents. ViaMichelin gives me the Channel Tunnel
to Beziers as about 9h30m. In practice, it took me nearer 13 hours (done
over two days), mostly on Autoroutes. Once off the Autoroutes, it is very
optomistic. It assumes that the 135km of that route that is on N roads would
take little more than an hour and a half. It is more likely to be nearer two
and a half hours.

...
    > Do you all think travelling 120km off autoroute will be (almost
    > certainly) worse than travelling through Paris in the middle of the day?

It will be prettier, but probably quite a lot slower.

Colin Bignell

Matthew Barnard

    >I am probably not doing this correctly, but..........both routes are
    >total distance of 970 kms according to my route planner. The one via the
    >Paris Periphique takes 8 hours 24 and the route via Rouen is 9 hours 6
    >mins.
    >Can't understand why www.viamichelin.com gives different figures?

Sorry Nige - I should have clarified this. I quoted the Calais -
Montauban distances/times from Viamichelin as this where we actually get
off. I used Toulouse in the heading as it seemed a major destination and
was where we were originally planning to go. Your times are spot on
therefore - slightly further south than we are going.

Apologies for any confusion.
--
Matthew Barnard

Nightjar

"Nige" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] m...
...
    > Don't know which route planner you are using, but actual distance from
    > Calais to Toulouse is approx. 600 miles and at average speed of 60 mph
    > this means about 10 hours not 13. If you look at www.viamichelin.com
    > and do the route, it suggests that the journey time is 8hours 24 mins.
    > So if your car is able to cruise at 70 plus, cannot really see how it
    > can take 13 hours?

Having driven Calais to Beziers more than once, I would consider that much
more realistic than the Michelin figures. Even without kids, you should take
a break every couple of hours or so, plus allowing at least an hour for
lunch. There will also nearly always be congestion in the non-toll bits
around cities or large towns, the Autoroute operators are often out and
about doing repairs or maintenance to the roads and I have yet to do the
trip without coming across a bouchon or two caused by a breakdown, accident
or perhaps a lorry fire.

Colin Bignell

nitram

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 08:50:36 +0000, Nige
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Don't know which route planner you are using, but actual distance from
    >Calais to Toulouse is approx. 600 miles and at average speed of 60 mph
    >this means about 10 hours not 13. If you look at www.viamichelin.com
    >and do the route, it suggests that the journey time is 8hours 24 mins.
    >So if your car is able to cruise at 70 plus, cannot really see how it
    >can take 13 hours?

You forget that all the route planners assume ideal conditions, no
traffic jams no road works, no small kids wanting to stop for the
toilet, no stopping for meals drinks etc. I'd say that 13 hours is
about right.
Did you never do a long distance trip with kids yourself?