Kerbut may know this,why did the French regrade the nationals to D type routes,thus banning trucks,so they have to use the toll roads.Nantes to Bordeaux is a typical example of this.In my youth,i was so cab happy to plod up and down those roads,admiring the scenery,great little bars/cafes to sample,coffee/cognac or a calvados drunk with a raw sugar lump,with moules et muscadet for the evening meal.Rabbit stew,and snails with garlic.Not forgeting the tripe stew.
I do miss the days of the RN myself, but they built all of those fantastic motorways to help two groups of people, us and them.
I honestly don’t know why they were classified as D roads,where we live ,our lane comes out onto a D road and I see alot of lorries on that road but they are mainly agricultural feed lorries
I like you can remember stopping at The Creperie and having to go through St Gregoire and then through the outskirts of Rennes down to Nantes via national roads and then you had The Flying Sausage and another restaurant known as Luke’s, during the summer I drove past the Aire de Marin (the fish restaurant ) south of La Rochelle and there were several lorries (mainly TFE) parked there despite being in the weight limit on that road.
Tony said
great little bars/cafes to sample,coffee/cognac or a calvados drunk with a raw sugar lump,with moules et muscadet for the evening meal.Rabbit stew,and snails with garlic.Not forgeting the tripe stew.
They are still there they just take a bit of finding now ,if i have the time i always get off the auto route and ratch the old places out, like the French drivers do
Was Lukes near Chantonay,now weight limits.Once at the Flying sausage,a farmer was run over by a car,at about 5am when they opened.There was one wellington boot in the middle of the road.His body in the ditch.Deceased.
Think Colin is still living in St.Genis de Saintonage.Fish and chip cafe near to his house.The creperie was ideal for a break from the port going south.The rouitier between Rennes and Nantes was popular,it was just 20 minutes north of Nantes.
Strange how a Rouitier restaurant in the UK is a car only establishment.Normaly a 4 or 5 star hotel,for wealthy clients and diners,where as the network in France is designed for truckers to get an economic meal and facilities.What makes the Uk think they are the best.If the sign said “Haulier” outside nobody would go in,and there would no room for any trucks to park up outside.
The Creme brule was to die for,you could see the chef with a blow torch burning off the brown sugar on top of the custard base desert.
toby1234abc:
Kerbut may know this,why did the French regrade the nationals to D type routes,thus banning trucks,so they have to use the toll roads .
Toby,
It’s all to do with the change in funding for roads so that the government wouln’t haven’t to pay for the upkeep of major roads. As their titles state RN (Route National) are funded by the state, RD ( Route Departmental) are funded by the department and the minor C roads are funded by the local community town halls. Lots of old Nationals were down graded so that they would be funded by the department (or county as in England) that they passed through. Where I live in Calvados(14) the D524 used to be the N 24 Paris/Granville trunk road, (its the D924 in Orne (61) and Manche (50)). We still get loads of haulage going past the house,. No autoroutes to use as a by-pass here. There is the A84 Caen/Rouen nearby, but that’s no good for the traffic going to Paris.
Trucks are only banned on Departmentals and even Nationals where there is an alternative route and the max 7.5 T sign is up, normally to take they heavy stuff away from villages and towns.
toby1234abc:
Was Lukes near Chantonay,now weight limits.Once at the Flying sausage,a farmer was run over by a car,at about 5am when they opened.There was one wellington boot in the middle of the road.His body in the ditch.Deceased.
Think Colin is still living in St.Genis de Saintonage.Fish and chip cafe near to his house.The creperie was ideal for a break from the port going south.The rouitier between Rennes and Nantes was popular,it was just 20 minutes north of Nantes.
Strange how a Rouitier restaurant in the UK is a car only establishment.Normaly a 4 or 5 star hotel,for wealthy clients and diners,where as the network in France is designed for truckers to get an economic meal and facilities.What makes the Uk think they are the best.If the sign said “Haulier” outside nobody would go in,and there would no room for any trucks to park up outside.
The Creme brule was to die for,you could see the chef with a blow torch burning off the brown sugar on top of the custard base desert.
Luc’s was near St Hilaire du Loulay just past teh sausage,on he left when southbound. He was open 7 days, we spent many a happr saturday night in there with the TFE lads getting sozzled then heading home to Bordeaux about midnight 
we’d leave about 7am to run up for the afternnon Stena or P&O out of Cherbourg. passed that way coupla summers ago in the car on way to the Pyrinees for a walking holiday, stopped for a meal but it wasn’t as good,still better than UK though. Only 1 starter now where as Luc & Michelle served 2 from the menu & the meats were chargrilled in the restaurant whilst you waited in those days too. Apparently Luc had a nasty motorbike accident & sustained severe head injuries & had to give the business up, shame as he was a good bloke & looked after us well over the years 
Harry Monk:
they built all of those fantastic motorways to help two groups of people, us and them.
and still make all abnormals travel on the Nationale and Departmentale roads - keeps t’job interesting when wide or long, or both though 
Did the downgrade the national from Bordeaux to Poitiers(?N10?).There was a truck ban on it but you could use it if you paid the90euro fine last time I was down there 2003.Also a weight limit in Vivonne,same principal.
welshphil:
Did the downgrade the national from Bordeaux to Poitiers(?N10?).There was a truck ban on it but you could use it if you paid the90euro fine last time I was down there 2003.Also a weight limit in Vivonne,same principal.
That ban is “adjustable” to suit the traffic conditions, you could still use the bit from the Cabbage Patch as far as St Genis de Saintonge and there are some cracking restaurants even before you reach the Aire de Marin.
Working for a French company we were probably more fortunate, but even on English plates, it was rare to get stopped, especially if you could explain you were going for food. Ossie had a POI file of restos to download. I used a Les Routiers book and even my Sat Nav could search them out.
We were only allowed on Autoroutes with permission and the Transics spy system bleeped every 15 minutes to tell you to call your planner if you ran the peages. They thought it annoyed us, to me it was the best part of the job. Like JJ72 said, running route nationals is much more fun, they are spoiled though as they are in the routier as soon as it looks to be getting dusk, and they don’t start much before 8am in Winter
Wheel Nut:
Like JJ72 said, running route nationals is much more fun, they are spoiled though as they are in the routier as soon as it looks to be getting dusk, and they don’t start much before 8am in Winter
8am? Steady on - far too eager that would be 
jj72:
Wheel Nut:
Like JJ72 said, running route nationals is much more fun, they are spoiled though as they are in the routier as soon as it looks to be getting dusk, and they don’t start much before 8am in Winter8am? Steady on - far too eager that would be
Deffo, still dark!!
Wheel Nut:
We were only allowed on Autoroutes with permission and the Transics spy system bleeped every 15 minutes to tell you to call your planner if you ran the peages. They thought it annoyed us, to me it was the best part of the job. Like JJ72 said, running route nationals is much more fun, they are spoiled though as they are in the routier as soon as it looks to be getting dusk, and they don’t start much before 8am in Winter
That’s strange WN how 2 different companies differ,when I worked for Dentressangle the policy was if there is Autoroute available ,use it ,not Nationals.
kerbut:
Wheel Nut:
We were only allowed on Autoroutes with permission and the Transics spy system bleeped every 15 minutes to tell you to call your planner if you ran the peages. They thought it annoyed us, to me it was the best part of the job. Like JJ72 said, running route nationals is much more fun, they are spoiled though as they are in the routier as soon as it looks to be getting dusk, and they don’t start much before 8am in WinterThat’s strange WN how 2 different companies differ,when I worked for Dentressangle the policy was if there is Autoroute available ,use it ,not Nationals.
I still have the printouts somewhere, which gave us the route to use to avoid weight limits. I will try to scan a couple in later