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Post by Alanović on Jul 23, 2024 15:05:44 GMT
I'll leave here about 1.30. 2.5 hours is fine to get there from here (lots of experience of it). Then there's 2 hours hanging about before departure, 2 hours dozing on the boat. Then I'm planning to rest the other side a bit and get some brekkie. Then we'll hit the road, taking turns to drive between 2 of us, and if either one of us gets tired we'll pitch up at a Formule 1 or something for a night and get to destination early Sunday.
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Post by Alanović on Jul 23, 2024 15:07:22 GMT
If he's on the 6am ferry, will dock 9-ish CET, on the road 10/10:30 hotels don't usually start check-ins until 2pm gives a good 3½ hours run. Paris might swallow a chunk of that if it can't be avoided. Covered this before - we're heading for a villa with a key box. Check in time is whatever we make it. No dependencies, no rush. Just holiday.
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WDB
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Jul 23, 2024 15:42:03 GMT
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Post by WDB on Jul 23, 2024 15:42:03 GMT
Good plan. I think too many drivers overestimate their ability to ‘power through’ on trips like yours.
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Jul 23, 2024 16:13:49 GMT
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Post by Humph on Jul 23, 2024 16:13:49 GMT
I’d avoid Paris altogether on a Saturday. Swing over by Troyes and down to Lyon. Can get a bit congested through there too mind. With two drivers it should be easy enough though. Just stock up on Haribos!
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WDB
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Jul 23, 2024 16:36:46 GMT
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Post by WDB on Jul 23, 2024 16:36:46 GMT
Clermont Ferrand
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Jul 23, 2024 16:50:18 GMT
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Post by Humph on Jul 23, 2024 16:50:18 GMT
Never had that flavour. 😉
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WDB
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Jul 23, 2024 19:31:07 GMT
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Post by WDB on Jul 23, 2024 19:31:07 GMT
Rubbery
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Post by Alanović on Jul 24, 2024 8:33:39 GMT
I like that route, and Millau od course. Once beyond Paris though, satnav tells me the Toulouse route is faster to our destination. But depends which way round Paris we go. And that depends on the traffic on the day, which will be advised by Google Maps.
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WDB
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Jul 24, 2024 8:44:19 GMT
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Post by WDB on Jul 24, 2024 8:44:19 GMT
There are more road signs in France pointing to CF than anywhere but Paris. Probably.
That made me want to go there, and we did in 2013. There’s a lovely big square by the station, with a huge statue of Vercengetorix — which is a name I should have given to at least one of my children.
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Post by Alanović on Jul 24, 2024 8:48:53 GMT
Never visited but passed by a few times. St Etienne is the nearest I've stayed I think, when I went there to watch Scotland v Morocco in the 1998 World Cup, in a 1.3, white, 3 door Peugeot 309 Look, which I proceeded to sleep in overnight. Ah, days of youth.
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Post by Alanović on Jul 24, 2024 8:57:43 GMT
Crit'Air '1' sticker arrived yesterday and has been installed on the driver's side of the windscreen, bottom right. I put my last (much higher number) one in the wrong place on the Merc. Probably won't need it but you never know where you might be diverted to, what the rules will be on that day, and if a certain type of Flic is in a certain type of mood. Better safe than sorry for the sake of a few Euros. Got a Saltire and a Euro Flag as well as the UK sticker on the back too, don't want any locals getting the wrong idea - I mean the poor car is cursed with a Manchester registration. (It's a joke, northern folks.)
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WDB
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Jul 24, 2024 8:57:52 GMT
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Post by WDB on Jul 24, 2024 8:57:52 GMT
With children dispersing to new adventures of their own, MrsB1 and I are left with a week in September and the whole world to choose from. And we’ve got out of the habit, so we’re a bit uncertain.
We’d like to do some rail-based city trips in Europe, but a week seems (paradoxically) too long. And not long enough for a full sunshine road trip to the southern half of France. So we’re wondering about easing ourselves back into continental travel with a little tour of Normandy and Brittany — which could start with the big treat of a ferry crossing to St Malo. Rennes is a city we’ve often passed but never visited, so we might look for a cultural set piece there. And I saw a little of the wild west of Brittany on a work trip in 2019, and I’d like to see some more. Cider in big cups, and galettes won’t hurt either. Oysters too. Could work!
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Post by Alanović on Jul 24, 2024 9:10:19 GMT
Very much love Normandy/Brittany. My first ever trip to France was on a ferry into St Malo on a school camping trip to nearby Rotheneuf. It absolute captured me, wandering the streets of St Malo, buying baguettes and cheese to make a sandwich on the beach. A beautiful region with incredible produce, and I've still got an inkling to buy something like this for my retirement, for summer use. Just paint it, get some cheap furnishings from the local bricolage, pick fruit and make jam. Live on those baguettes and cheese, and cheapo plonk and cider. Ahhh, soon. Soon. www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149808854If I had that money in the bank right now I'd be on the phone to them.
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WDB
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Jul 24, 2024 9:14:23 GMT
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Post by WDB on Jul 24, 2024 9:14:23 GMT
Lovely garden! But I think I’d face two implacable opponents if I suggested buying it.
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Jul 24, 2024 9:23:32 GMT
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Post by dixinormus on Jul 24, 2024 9:23:32 GMT
Paris shouldn’t be too busy until the weekend of 17 August when all the French return from their hols? Or will the Olympics somehow cause extra traffic? Sometimes it’s simpler to aim for the peripherique than it is to try to navigate the maze of outer suburbia motorway routes around the east of the city.
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