Driving Manchester to Paris.

bylromarha

Another vote here for M40 route. Grew up in South East and live in the Midlands. M40 has always been the faster route, even if it is a little longer.

WTFH

Another vote for the M40 over the M1, and for Auchan. Diesel was €1.309 at the Grande Synthe one (near Dunkirk) on Monday, also that store is a bit further from Calais so they have a few more wine offers than the Calais branch. I can't remember the petrol price, I think it was 1.529, but I'll check in Thursday on the way home from work.

Also, Auchan's wine offers run from Thursday to Wednesday, so the biggest selection is on a Thursday.

Burnleyfc

Cheers for all the replies,
So my route to Dover is M6-M5-M42-M40-M25 anti clockwise missing dartford crossing then M26-M20?

Burnleyfc

Thanks for the maps as well, the shops all seem pretty close.
Will try Auchen and get a meal there maybe and can't beat a bargain lidl no matter what country haha

Iceweasel

Burnleyfc wrote: »

Cheers for all the replies,
So my route to Dover is M6-M5-M42-M40-M25 anti clockwise missing dartford crossing then M26-M20?

Spot on there, mate.

How's your French?

That supermarket (Auchan) is pronounced -

Oh-Shan.

Some good offers this week. LOL :beer:

http://www.auchan.fr/

marlot

put the route into via Michelin. it will tell you fuel and tolls too.

LandyAndy

If you haven't driven in France before, don't worry, it's easy (except Paris as other have said) and French roads in general are quieter than British ones. Take it easy to start with and give yourself a bit more thinking time. Roundabouts feel odd in the beginning but you soon get used to them. There is hardly any 'Priorite a droit' now so just be careful at unmarked junctions on local roads.

mattyprice4004

Cornucopia wrote: »

I would have thought 4-5 tankfuls.

The toll-road all the way to Paris costs about 16 Euros.

He said Astra, not Ferrari.

Richard53

A lot of petrol stations in France are unmanned (especially in rural areas) and ask you to put your credit card in before drawing fuel. However, some of them will not accept UK bank cards. I would recommend always carrying €40-50 in cash, just in case you can't get fuel any other way. If it's card-only, at a pinch you could ask a local to use his card and pay him back in cash. Around the ferry ports, look for the pump which has a Union Jack on it - that's the one that will take your UK card.

WTFH

Richard53 wrote: »

A lot of petrol stations in France are unmanned (especially in rural areas) and ask you to put your credit card in before drawing fuel. However, some of them will not accept UK bank cards. I would recommend always carrying €40-50 in cash, just in case you can't get fuel any other way. If it's card-only, at a pinch you could ask a local to use his card and pay him back in cash. Around the ferry ports, look for the pump which has a Union Jack on it - that's the one that will take your UK card.

Um, that's a bit out of date - certainly been no problems for me in the last 5 years in France/Belgium, and going back 10 years ago in Alsace, I never had a problem with a uk credit card at a petrol pump.
Debit cards and pre-paid credit cards are a different matter.

The automatic pumps at Auchan work, but the main station I use each time I'm over has pumps which are very slow. Insert card. Wait. Enter pin. Wait. Select type of fuel. Wait. Select receipt or not. Wait. Finally, after a minute or two you get to fuel your car.