At the end of next month I’m taking a van and trailer down to the circuit Alcarras at Lleida, now normally I travel to the Southern circuits (Cartagena etc) and cross Plymouth/Santander, however, this is a new circuit for us and due to time constraints etc I’ll be crossing Dover/Calais.
As I’m paying fuel and tolls myself I really need a sensible route to try and cut the cost of both if possible. I realise I could plan a route avoiding all the tolls but TBH that’s a bit of a pain with the stop/start nature of the N roads.
So if any of you kind folk could offer a decent route I’d be a happy bunny.
Well I’m 17 so my advice maybe thrown out of the window. But if I was to pay for fuel I wouldn’t go anywhere near Paris. If traffic around London is as bad as Paris it’s a no go zone. I think if you’re not going Plymouth/Santander and going Dover/Calais do the red route on this map as the blue route may have traffic around Paris. I don’t think it’s too bad around Lyon, but I’m just thinking about fuel. Tolls are probably the same either route:
I see where you’re coming from Kevin, but what I’m after is HUGE amounts of toll free running.
I regularly used to do a run to Barcelona and would always avoid Paris like the plague and opt to go via Rouen and then Clermont Ferrand and Perpignan. I appreciate that there were tolls to be paid on some parts of the route but felt that the run from Cl Ferrand down was toll free to Perpignan so was worth it. I was thinking of travelling down the A20 between Orleans and Toulouse and was wondering if that was toll free or not.
Calais to Rouen then short Paege (direction Paris) leave and follow Evereux, Dreux, Chartres, Chataudun, Vendome, Tours, then paege to Poitiers, leave onto the N10 Vivonne, Angouleme, Bordeaux ring road (free motorway) follow Bayonne into Spain at Irun, leave at the 1st exit in Spain & turn right following Sunbilla & Pamplona, Tafalla then Tudela to Zaragoza on National road which is good all the way to just before Zaragoza where you should jump on the Autopista to Osera De Ebro, leave the motorway and run into Llerida (Lleida) on the NII (National 2)
Good luck on your trip, what are you going for?? not a circuit I’ve heard of before.
Ross.
If you need any further advice PM me and I’ll send you my phone number.
bigr250:
Calais to Rouen then short Paege (direction Paris) leave and follow Evereux, Dreux, Chartres, Chataudun, Vendome, Tours, then paege to Poitiers, leave onto the N10 Vivonne, Angouleme, Bordeaux ring road (free motorway) follow Bayonne into Spain at Irun, leave at the 1st exit in Spain & turn right following Sunbilla & Pamplona, Tafalla then Tudela to Zaragoza on National road which is good all the way to just before Zaragoza where you should jump on the Autopista to Osera De Ebro, leave the motorway and run into Llerida (Lleida) on the NII (National 2)
Good luck on your trip, what are you going for?? not a circuit I’ve heard of before.
Ross.
Top man Ross thanks.
Taking 7 race bikes down there for 3 days on circuit. Not a circuit I’ve been to before TBH, normally do Cartagena. Circuit is called Alcarras actually, just looked it up on U Tube, seems quite a nice place, typical Spanish one though with not many visible reference points to catch the unwary out.
I normally go to Jerez, last year I took 11 bikes down for 4 days on the best circuit I’ve ever ridden. Most of the ‘small’ Spanish circuits I’ve seen are more like go kart tracks with tight twisty layouts.
bigr250:
Calais to Rouen then short Paege (direction Paris) leave and follow Evereux, Dreux, Chartres, Chataudun, Vendome, Tours, then paege to Poitiers, leave onto the N10 Vivonne, Angouleme, Bordeaux ring road (free motorway) follow Bayonne into Spain at Irun, leave at the 1st exit in Spain & turn right following Sunbilla & Pamplona, Tafalla then Tudela to Zaragoza on National road which is good all the way to just before Zaragoza where you should jump on the Autopista to Osera De Ebro, leave the motorway and run into Llerida (Lleida) on the NII (National 2)
Good luck on your trip, what are you going for?? not a circuit I’ve heard of before.
Ross.
If you need any further advice PM me and I’ll send you my phone number.
TheBear:
Nope… nor is the run between Cl. Ferrand and Perpignan. In fact, it is damned expensive as is the route KevinKevin has advised.
Well I did warn you lol. I am only 17, never had any experience trucking, but common sense would be to clear Paris and the route I gave showed that. You’d save fuel - not having to stop in traffic in Paris - but I don’t know how much toll booths are in France. I got told they’re cheap. Maybe that’s for cars. But that’s the way a holiday company I go with every year routes to.
bigr250:
I normally go to Jerez, last year I took 11 bikes down for 4 days on the best circuit I’ve ever ridden. Most of the ‘small’ Spanish circuits I’ve seen are more like go kart tracks with tight twisty layouts.
What type of bikes will you be taking?
Well I’m taking my 07 Blade and 6 other punters bikes, so they could be road bikes or race bikes like mine. I’ve been to Jerez but unfortunately have never ridden it mores the pity.Watching the guys on U Tube I reckon it’s about a 1min 45’s lap so it’s quite long, maybe comparable to Oulton? I’ll let ya know when I get back. My principle sponsor s taking his new ZX10 for me to play on so maybe I’ll leave my baby all wrapped up for the three days.
bigr250:
Well I’m taking my 07 Blade and 6 other punters bikes, so they could be road bikes or race bikes like mine. I’ve been to Jerez but unfortunately have never ridden it mores the pity.Watching the guys on U Tube I reckon it’s about a 1min 45’s lap so it’s quite long, maybe comparable to Oulton? I’ll let ya know when I get back. My principle sponsor s taking his new ZX10 for me to play on so maybe I’ll leave my baby all wrapped up for the three days.
You have a safe time down there and please do come back on when you get back with a report about the circuit, who do you race the blade with?
I race a GP250, last season with Thundersport and a few local North West club meetings this season I’ll do a few North Gloucester meetings plus the usual couple of clubbies, I’ve also got Jon Kirkhams 07 Superstock R1 to play with.
bigr250:
Well I’m taking my 07 Blade and 6 other punters bikes, so they could be road bikes or race bikes like mine. I’ve been to Jerez but unfortunately have never ridden it mores the pity.Watching the guys on U Tube I reckon it’s about a 1min 45’s lap so it’s quite long, maybe comparable to Oulton? I’ll let ya know when I get back. My principle sponsor s taking his new ZX10 for me to play on so maybe I’ll leave my baby all wrapped up for the three days.
You have a safe time down there and please do come back on when you get back with a report about the circuit, who do you race the blade with?
I race a GP250, last season with Thundersport and a few local North West club meetings this season I’ll do a few North Gloucester meetings plus the usual couple of clubbies, I’ve also got Jon Kirkhams 07 Superstock R1 to play with.
Very talented boy is Jon kirkham, destined for great things I reckon. If you can do his bike justice then fair play to you. I use the Blade for instructing, some New Era stuff and did the Hottrax endurance on it last season. I used to race a Hornet for fun with New Era and lent it to a guy call John Hardwicke to do Thundersport at Anglesea last year where he promptly smashed it to pieces! I’ll take some pics while there and let you know how it went. On track 23rd,24th & 25th Feb, so not too long now.
Hi after reading your post, i,ve put Valencia on the cheap. It may help. Not sure if the tunnel would be open or not and the time, if your pulling a trailer i guess you,ll be on tacho.
toothpick johnny:
Hi after reading your post, i,ve put Valencia on the cheap. It may help. Not sure if the tunnel would be open or not and the time, if your pulling a trailer i guess you,ll be on tacho.
Yeah Johnny, I’m pulling a trailer, but as it’s not hire and reward (honest) there’ll be no tacho in it.
toothpick johnny:
Hi after reading your post, i,ve put Valencia on the cheap. It may help. Not sure if the tunnel would be open or not and the time, if your pulling a trailer i guess you,ll be on tacho.
Yeah Johnny, I’m pulling a trailer, but as it’s not hire and reward (honest) there’ll be no tacho in it.
This time last year I was somewhere between Burgos & Madrid heading for Jerez in my 7.5 tonner full of bikes, which was not being used for ‘hire or reward’ so didn’t need a tacho disc. I still carried a European Authorisation just in case I got stopped and they didn’t understand ‘private use’, over the years I’ve found foreign police understand what they want to and vice versa!
Thats fine have a look at the route i took in [Valencia on the cheap] . The A20 has tolls and a lot of toll free stretches. But i think theres a good chance the tunnel would be shut. A few years ago i dropped at a golf course in Palma, my ferry was friday night. Thursday i was going to stop near Toulouse, but i kept go towards Andorra with the chance to turn round if the road was closed. It was after Ax les Thermes i did slide around a little [ no winter tyres then] but i kept going and went through a toll tunnel into spain and then parked after i dropped down a bit. That was January. Have a look at my tolls round trip Valencia.
bigr250:
Calais to Rouen then short Paege (direction Paris) leave and follow Evereux, Dreux, Chartres, Chataudun, Vendome, Tours, then paege to Poitiers, leave onto the N10 Vivonne, Angouleme, Bordeaux ring road (free motorway) follow Bayonne into Spain at Irun, leave at the 1st exit in Spain & turn right following Sunbilla & Pamplona, Tafalla then Tudela to Zaragoza on National road which is good all the way to just before Zaragoza where you should jump on the Autopista to Osera De Ebro, leave the motorway and run into Llerida (Lleida) on the NII (National 2)
Good luck on your trip, what are you going for?? not a circuit I’ve heard of before.
Ross.
If you need any further advice PM me and I’ll send you my phone number.
perfect route thats the way we go to save money always from pamplona to uk that way
when at pamplona take AP15 to exit km 6 only about 3euros and saves quite a bit of hills on national road for about an hour its quite cheap
