rite used to drive on the continent all the time in a truck but the mrs has persuaded me to take her to the south of france by road we are going near montpellier.the route i think im going is arive at bolougne autoroute to rouen(not to fussed about the peages) then old road evereux chartes and come out at orleans then autoroute all the way taking in clermont ferrand,millau thane arrive a t montpellier.if any one else has any better ideas it would be appreiciated.
That looks like the route I would use.
I’d probably stay off the peages as much as possible though, only because one motorway is much the same as another.
You get to see a lot more on the nationals and the best resto’s are on them.
Spardo is the man to ask, he’s our resident France expert.
Simon:
That looks like the route I would use.
I’d probably stay off the peages as much as possible though, only because one motorway is much the same as another.
You get to see a lot more on the nationals and the best resto’s are on them.
Spardo is the man to ask, he’s our resident France expert.
thanx simon was suprised how cheap the motorways are
if you want to go down the national, you could go calais, st omer, amiens, senlis, melun then hop on to the A6 then down the N7 all the way down to clermont ferrand, or use the A77/N7 going past magny cours down to moulins then, riom and jump on to the A75 at clermont over the viaduct at millau then straight down to montpellier.
should be an easy days drive via the autoroute, or do it over a couple of days via the national staying in an auberge on the 1st night, around moulins. then willl only take about 5hrs on to montpellier.
route i take up to calais is pretty much as above but i use the A1, A26 from senlis up to calais. takes me a good 9.5hrs from clermont to calais with the wagon using A71 coming ff at gannat, then the N7/A77/A6 off at j15 up to melun, then maeux, senlis then the autoroute up.
to be honest via the national from st omer to senlis is a pain in the chuff in a wagon but by car shouldnt be tooo bad.
just watch out for speed cameras and mobile traps, they are like a rash all over france now!! 
hope this helps.
bonne route
chris
Been away a few days Hanson, and only just seen your post.
Without going into details I reckon your route is fine but there really is no need to jump on the autoroute at Orleans. Apart from going round the city itself (and even that is not necessary if you hit it at lunchtime, the French are off the road eating 
) the National route alongside is perfectly good, releatively quiet but plenty of routiers.
Even south of Clermont you can fettle quite well alongside the a/r. (BTW just south of Clermont at Issoire J14 there is a great place to eat about 100m east of the a/r. ) After that is a little beyond my ken but looks quite good 'till you get nearer the viaduct.
Bonne Route et Bon Appetit. 
thank you very much to all those who have gave me tips and helped only reason using motorways is im in abit of a rush to get down brilliant advive thou thanks veyr much.
Last week did Oldham to the spanish border in less than 24 hours( kipped in my car,1050miles).Best thing is to stick to the autoroutes if time is pressed,tour de france takes time.Calais/Dunkirk down to paris orleans C/F on to montpllier best for time.
froggy:
Last week did Oldham to the spanish border in less than 24 hours( kipped in my car,1050miles).Best thing is to stick to the autoroutes if time is pressed,tour de france takes time.Calais/Dunkirk down to paris orleans C/F on to montpllier best for time.
did you not go out of your way abit going to dunkirk first
if it took 24 hrs from Oldham to the spanish border in a car you must not have got out of third gear,you can do it in 12 hrs easily,i do it all the time.
chrismac:
:shock: if it took 24 hrs from Oldham to the spanish border in a car you must not have got out of third gear,you can do it in 12 hrs easily,i do it all the time.
space cadet