Driving in France

poodledoodledoo

We have been lucky enough to win a holiday in Charente Maritime, France and would like to go by ferry/car as a return Dover-Calais crossing is included with the prize. We will be taking our 4 young children with us on the journey.

Now, this will involve my husband who is an inexperienced driver (around 18 months experience) driving for 8 hours through France which he has never done before. We will be taking our own car.

We have done a bit of reading up on the web on the technicalities of driving in France and we are confident we know all of the major points but we are understandably a bit nervy.

Are we crazy to even consider this journey or is driving in France not too big an ordeal?

dacouch

Have a look at the aa's site as it gives you advice.

Be aware that French motorways are often toll roads so you may pay tolls.

Driving on left is not hard, be aware at roundabouts and junctions, its sensible for front passenger to "assist" with driving eg remind at junctions and roundabouts.

Take a hi vis jacket / vest as its the law and the warning triangle

nickyhutch

I'd be OK with the driving, it's be the 4 children that I'd struggle with! I think you'll be OK. I'd suggest you plan your route carefully and allow for breaks. My OH was nervous about driving in France last year as it was his first time, but once he'd had a go, I couldn't stop him. You get used to it surprisingly quickly. If you can, go for a sailing that means you're driving in daylight when you get there.

And congrats on the hoilday!

Quietmanc

Quite a hike from Calais actually.Good advice from dacouch.Other things to be aware of: be especially careful after stopping,either for a break or to get fuel (if you're not on the motorway) as it's very easy to forget that you should be driving on the right when you start off again.Also,if your husband wears glasses whilst driving,he legally has to have a spare pair.

hewhoisnotintheknow

its not hard, common sense is all yoyu need

having a tomtom makes it much easier

you will need

spare bulb set
hi viz jackets for each passanger
beam reflectors
first aid kit
warning triangle
relevant insurance
your v5
if you wear glasses a spare set

some money for on the spot fines if you get nicked speeding

poodledoodledoo

Thank you very much for the advice folks.
We are planning to stop over in Rouen to break the journey up because it's roughly half way and then we plan to stop every couple of hours on both of the days to break it up a bit.

We have researched things pretty thoroughly but there are always things that get missed so thanks for the info.

Any more would be much appreciated

dacouch

The motorway services actually serve nice food which will be a novelty.

If you want cheaper duty frees pop over to the belgium border where they are cheaper have a look at https://www.day-tripper.net as you can actually look the price of fags etc on there before you go. If you want to go pop to Adenkirke which is amazingly close to Calais, they prefer you paying in Sterling, its set up for UK daytrippers and you can get a wicked British Fry Up there. If you are going to buy duty frees have a look at the daytripper site as you can download vouchers for various shops and the ferrys duty free (Ferry duty free is normally expensive) that give you freebies if you download a voucher before you go.

You will love France

If you want to plan routes or find distances there is a route planner on the aa's website.

kazd

poodledoodledoo wrote: »

Thank you very much for the advice folks.
We are planning to stop over in Rouen to break the journey up because it's roughly half way and then we plan to stop every couple of hours on both of the days to break it up a bit.

We have researched things pretty thoroughly but there are always things that get missed so thanks for the info.

Any more would be much appreciated

We did exactly this last year, stopped over in Rouen on way down and had it booked for way back but cancelled it and did the whole drive in one day. We took it in turns driving, we stayed in a place called Paizay Le Tort. I think we left about 4 or 5 in the morning and were home by 4 in the afternoon.

Driving was really easy but rural France a definite no for us. I would do it again but would want to be closer to the coast (we were about 50 mins inland). Nearly all the restaurants were closed in August and to be honest we were just glad to get back to blighty.

Its Cornwall for us this year.

DCFC79

To the OP driving in france is easy, until a few years ago id never driven in france before, we did mainly stick to the autoroute/motorway and didnt really go through any towns,

DCFC79

dacouch wrote: »

The motorway services actually serve nice food which will be a novelty.

the ones i ventured into the food wasnt particulary nice,

hewhoisnotintheknow

also for 8 hours its a waste of time stopping off somewhere, take it in turns