Ok not quite truck related, but I can’t decide which way to drive my car to Salou from Dunkirk.
Whenever I’ve driven in the truck it has always been toll roads.
Now I’m paying I’m trying to avoid tolls as much as possible. Was planning on stopping in Limoges the first night then onto Salou on the second day.
Limoges isn’t set in stone so alternative routes are fine, don’t really want to go through Paris as we are doing that on the way back up.
Tell me how it’s going and i’ll give you a short cut. 
bald bloke:
Tell me how it’s going and i’ll give you a short cut.
Switch your messages on mate
daleyboy:
bald bloke:
Tell me how it’s going and i’ll give you a short cut.Switch your messages on mate
ok give me a minute to work it out 
Go on then.
Done
why Dunkirk and not dover or le harve or caen
have a look at Google maps it looks a pretty straight forward run avoiding tolls
dover calais paris lyon montpelier pyranees barelona salou ,easy
Shipping dunkirk as it’s the cheapest option.
The routes all look ok, but I was trying to avoid Paris, and I wasn’t sure of the best route to avoid tolls
daleyboy:
Shipping dunkirk as it’s the cheapest option.The routes all look ok, but I was trying to avoid Paris, and I wasn’t sure of the best route to avoid tolls
Why do you want to avoid the tolls Dale ?
To save about 80 euros each way
daleyboy:
To save about 80 euros each way
But that would mean you’d spend more time in the car and less on the beach plus you’d probably do more miles. I’ve done Estartit from Calais all motorway and that seemed to take an age.
But it would also mean nicer scenery as well.
Maybe I need to find a route that has some tolls and some free
daleyboy:
But it would also mean nicer scenery as well.Maybe I need to find a route that has some tolls and some free
It depends on whether you want to make the driving part of your holiday or not, I tend to shoot down the motorway overnight when I’m heading down to the South of France but that’s our choice and its easier for the kids as they crash out for most of it, the only time I made the driving part of the holiday is when we went to the Italian Lakes and obviously went over the Alps and stopped often for photos.
That’s fair enough, and I thought of doing that as well, but the way things have worked out we will be on the 8am ferry, so alot of the drive will be during the day.
I am thinking of going the tolls as we have 2 days to get to Salou from Dunkirk, so I don’t want to he hanging around too much.
Maybe I will just bite the bullet and pay the tolls down and take the slow road back as we have 4 days to get back. And the boy wants to visit the Eifel tower as well so its going to be overnight around Paris somewhere
Could always change the Ferry time, don’t forget it’s a longer crossing than Calais and then the clock goes forward an hour so it’ll be best part of 11.00 time you leave Dunkirk.
Go on get an evening ferry about 20.00 get off just before 23.00 French time the boy will be crashed before Saint -Omer then foot down and you’ll be on the beach late afternoon if not before.
Personally I would go via Rouen, Evruex, Chartres, Orleans, Clermont Ferrand and Millau, Mixture of Toll and non toll and completely misses out Paris or the boring drive down the east side of france.
Approx 60euro in tolls each way but chose ur roads wisely and u can decrease that, I would definitely go over the Millau Bridge though
If you’ve not been through the pyrenees before then I recommend going through vielha, not a lot further and great scenery (and stop off), Cambrils is much nicer and next door to Salou.
If you are going to the eiffel tower then pre book tickets or you will be queuing all day.
My folks live nr Perpignan and after driving it we came to this conclusion…Get a lift from Southampton - Bournemouth, plane to Girona…hire car job done…cheaper, quicker and less hassle 