Simple_Simon

Hi All,

I am about to embark on a journey from London to a small village just outside of Gibraltar, where I am planning to stay a while. My intention is to drive.

I would sincerely appreciate any advice on the best route to take (other than the Google Maps option) which will ensure I do it in the quickest way! If you know what I mean!

I will be using the Chunnel to get as far as Calais. The rest I am not sure about, other than just following Sat-Nav & Google. I keep hearing all these horror stories that between tolls, if you exceed the speed limit by a millimeter per hour you get fined or worse.

I need to get down there as quickly as possible, but safely (obviously).

If anyone has some good advice for this journey I would very much appreciate it.

Many thanks

Simple Simon

jdr

Try Michelin put in quickest route, you can include hotels etc.

Simple_Simon

Thanks JDR. Michelin is much the same as Google and Sat Nav. There are two of us driving and we are planning to share the driving so that we don't have to stop anywhere. Hence I'm after advice on the best route to avoid getting pulled over if I am doing say 122 KMPH in either Spain or France!

Again thanks for responding.

jdr

Well that will give you the quickest route, how fast you drive is up to you. French cops are worst especially if it is raining as all the speed limits drop.
You probably won`t get pulled in Spain for that little over the limit.
Have you ever driven over a 1000k at 120kph, don`t do a driver change outside mine if you are not stopping. ;-))

bbeau

Best route calais-rohen-le mans-tours-poiters-bordeaux-irun-pampalona-zarragoza-teruel-valencia-murcia-granada-malaga mostly all autovia yes tolls but the quickest route.120KPH wouldn,t be a prob.by car its possibly done from calais in about 20 hrs plus coffe stops....

Simple_Simon

Many, many thanks bbeau for your guidance,

I have just plotted the route on Google Maps and it shows it as taking 1 Day 2 Hours. Which is 2 Hours more than the default route that Google suggests.

Please could I ask what is the rationale for going down the right of Spain as opposed down the middle past Madrid.

My fear is I may be doing 140 KMPH every now and again - As it is downhill - If you get my drift - And am wondering is yours still the optimised route to minimise interference from our friends in "Blue" ?

Again, your guidance is very much appreciated.

SS

fionamw

That looks like a post to save. Friends did Holland to Malaga in less than 24h with two children and a dog, so it must be do-able!
Let's hope he doesn't meet a pieman, it might slow his progress

Simple_Simon

Hi jdr,

Our intention is to only perform driver changes at petrol stations. Neither of us are spring chickens. And after all the Mars Bars we will be consuming we won't be able to swap during the flight because of our bellies!

Many thanks.

SS

Simple_Simon

Hi fionamw,

Do you happen to know the route they took from Holland?

All advice is seriously welcomed.

Many thanks

SS

Mitzyboy

Im sorry mate, you must be mad. You MUST stop somewhere.
I did this when we moved to Spain. We drove from Birmingham, then a couple of hours sleep in Maidenhead to just south of Valencia non stop and I can tell you had I needed to drive for another hour I might not have reached my destination. The other two in the cab were spark out by 24 hours and I was poking myself in the eye to stay awake. It was stupid.

I came on the motorways down the East, coming down to Lyon and then Valences, Perpignan, Barcelona etc

Seriously, dont do it ... you still have a huge drive after Valencia and you need to stop somewhere

Simple_Simon

Hi Mitzyboy,

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I don't have a choice. Both of us will be taking equal share of the driving chore. I intend to take a quilt and pillow (not for the driver of course).

We are very limited for time, hence we don't plan on stopping - apart from replensihment of Fuel, Coffee and Mars Bars!

We will be fine, I just want to make sure I have chose the quickest, most "trouble" free route.

Many thanks for your concern.

SS

fionamw

Mitz has a point, but I know some people are fine with driving long or frequent split shifts with a partner, as were my Dutch friends. Afraid I can't be certain the route, but I'm have a feeling it didn't take the Perpignan/Barcelona route, rather going across to the NW of Spain then down through to Madrid & down that way. I remember him saying one of the stretches quite a bit N of Madrid was tortuously windy (that's not Force 10, but curvy!). They had an Escort estate type car, just fyi.

Mitzyboy

Well .... your risk
But Mars Bars aint going to help you .... trust me

The quickets most trouble free is the way I told you. You can go via Paris but if the perifierique is snarled then you can sit there for hours

Fred James

If you are on a Spanish motorway, although the speed limit is 120kph, the traffic laws allow you to exceed this by 20kph while overtaking.

As a result of the fact that it is almost impossible to prove that you were or were not overtaking, the speed cameras on motorways are set at just over 140kph before they are triggered.

If you are checked by a mobile patrol it may be more difficult to prove that you were overtaking.

The traffic on most motorways in Spain moves at over 120kph so I would not worry to much - France however is a very different matter!

Almost all of the various purges on speeding in Spain have related to non motorway inter-urban roads where the limit is 100kph and strictly enforced.

The quickest route will be through Madrid and down to Bailen and thence to Malaga, either via Granada or Cordoba. The east coast route is not the one to use if heading for Gib.

jdr

Lol