Have looked on here and when someone asks for a route to spain, most people send them down towards Lyon, why?
I haven’t driven a lorry abroad, but I have been to spain many times in a car and always go Calais/Rouen/Everuex/Dreux/Oleans then either Clermont Ferrand and Millau or Toulouse/Carcassonne.
This is mostly dual carriageway around Rouen and free autoroutes futher down.
Surely this would be better and cheaper, its not as far either.
Is there a particular reason?
thanks
Every one has their own views on which is
the best route and also from which docks
it is best to travel from,Unfortunatly some
firms have to go via Caslais and if they
are able to carry large fuel tanks with the capacity
of 1500 liters it is possible that when refueling
in Luxemberg ,as IT is cheaper than France
about 33cents a liter plus the VAT which makes
a good return, Many of the drivers however
come into France at Caen,Cherborg which in turn
is quicker and shorter the top route to follow,
The route is laid down by those who pay the wages normaly
and so one goes which ever way the BOSS says to go,
m623d Yours is the correct route for the South. Lyon takes them to Barna.
So the boss sorts the route?
ok, is it because they let a computer route them?
surely they would save a packet going Rouen way.
I would have thought with all the competition from the east etc that they would try to save as much as poss.
I must admit when I travelled last month that way I didn’t see that many trucks.
its not normally the boss that sorts the route on long distance. But if costs & time are at stake then common sense prevails. the thing with international work is,that what was the best route yesterday can be the slowest route tomorrow. Thing are always changing.
Read the post TOLL ROUTES TO SPAIN;
every one has their own views, the point
at present is that Fuel is the main costs
so if one can by doing a 260km extra
save 0.33cents per liter plus the
recovered VAT ,this does make
a difference as the fuel in France
is 1.20€+ and in Spain 0.98cents
Alone on a full tank of fuel of 1500 liters
is a saveing of 500€ with out the VAT
which has to be recovered,so say in total
about 725€+ ,IT all depends though on who is
paying for the ferrysand which way you have
been told to go, unless you are a O/D who will go the way
he/she belives is best for them,
Although it looks obvious that going by Lyon is the long way round, it’s a much flatter route than going via Millau or Toulouse - Carcassonne. What you gain distance wise, you lose speed wise. So you can go any way, they all take about the same length of time. The difference is within a couple of hours, assuming you start at Calais.
(This is only going by drivers chat, not proven scientific fact).
On top of that, going via Lux’ and Lyon, you can gain a fair saving on fuel costs as Brit Pete has explained. Using the same route on the return journey will put you in the UK with almost full tanks to do your deliveries, load out and get back to Lux’ on your next trip, to start the savings all over again.
Taking all these points together, it’s by no means as clear cut as you initially thought. It eventually comes down to either yours or the bosses preference.
(Mine is the Millau route, phenomenal scenery).
ok, I can see why now, but was suprised there’s not alot of time difference.
Didn’t notice the toulouse route was that hilly, compared to Millau!
The lyon way gets very busy too and I’ve heard there are loads of problems in the Aire’s with the immagrants on that route.
I prefer the millau route to toulouse in a car.
Thanks for explaining that, hopefully one day I’ll get to put it to the test!
m623d:
Have looked on here and when someone asks for a route to spain, most people send them down towards Lyon, why?I haven’t driven a lorry abroad, but I have been to spain many times in a car and always go Calais/Rouen/Everuex/Dreux/Oleans then either Clermont Ferrand and Millau or Toulouse/Carcassonne.
This is mostly dual carriageway around Rouen and free autoroutes futher down.
Surely this would be better and cheaper, its not as far either.
Is there a particular reason?thanks
You are right as long as you want to go to anywhere except the Barcelona region. Apart from that going down via Irun is by far the quickest and the cheapest way.
I am going that way next week (1st time this year).Is anyone using the new A28 Le Mans to Tours as opposed to Evreux Dreux Chartres?
Did everyone miss my question?
disgo:
Did everyone miss my question?
Probably ‘no’ to both questions then, although a friend came down that way in his car a few weeks ago and I think he said it was a lot more expensive, obviously, but don’t think he made it down here any sooner.
Rouen, Evreux etc. is the route for me. 
Thanks Spardo. Thought I was invisible for a while.