Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveBarbosa
Hi Dean, me and the family are also driving down to spain at the end of July. It will be a slow meander through france and into the pyrenees to catalunya, across to cantabria/asturias, then down to castilla la mancha.
After much deliberation (and a hefty 3k bill for the latest repairs - don''t ask!) we've decided to take our uk car down with us. We're going to re-register it in spain eventually, but for now we're gonna just 'cruise' it for a while. I just find that if I'm going to leave the country I love and have lived all my life and move on then flying is such a crude way of traveling in these circumstances - much better to know where I've been than to know where I'm going. Thats my view anyhow.
We havent mapped out the route yet as we're so busy packing, but I guess we'll take a mixture of toll roads and get side tracked now and again.
Xose - thanks for that advice! Its good to know. We'll have european breakdown cover for a while, but it still wouldn't prevent over zealous tow truck blokes getting in the way if we have a misfortune. Here's praying that we dont. :-)
Sorry, as for the total costs we dont know, but we've gotten quotes for the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff at around 300 quid (car with roof rack and bikes). Then petrol is around £60/64eur per 400 miles (eek!), then there are tolls which I havent got the foggiest. Also we're hoping to buy a tent (big enough for 2 adults & a 1 yr old) and camp our way down with the odd break now and again at a hotel. We originally wanted to campervan it down but too expensive to purchase and insure.
Regards, Steve
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A great site to play with for ideas of cost and route is viamichelin.com
I got this by just entering from Calais (pick any place inside calais it offers, it don't matter much in the grand scheme of things) and to Barcelona. The result was :
Costs 203.03 EUR
Toll 83.05 EUR | Petrol 119.98 EUR | Road tax EUR
Time 11h57 which 11h25 on motorways
Distance 1323 km which 1296 km on motorways
Great place to play with what if scenarios.
Worth knowing also that lorries are off the roads on Sundays. So this is a good day to travel. Mind you, if you're avoiding the Autoroutes and opting for the tree lined country routes typical of French motoring brochures, be aware that summer (specially weekends) releases millions of 40 mph caravans and they're all going where you are and they're all toguether behind the lorry on a hill on a two way route national. Avoid the temptation to join the cannonball run if you find yourself in this situation. Typical of this situation, if you do choose the scenic routes, be very aware when overtaking - not just what's coming at you, but a bigger threat IMO is what's about to overtake you and the 5 cars behind you, doing about 80mph on a 50 road and about to go right up your jacksie if you don't see him. This is a common danger in route nationals. If you adopt the chilled out approach, you just let them get on with it and enjoy the pantomime.
Last thing, be aware of the hours and hours of driving at high speed effect. This is when you're doing 50/55 and could have swarn (officer) you were doing about 30. Your mind finds it difficult to judge "slow" when you've been driving fast for a long time. Adding to this problem is that your car is probably heavier than you're used to on a daily basis and so breaking times are very deceptive. This is particularly relevent when you come off the motorway straight into Route Nationals and where most "fender bender" accidents happen.
Have a fantastic trip and be safe.
Xose