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Travel

From the romanticism, chic and allure of Paris, the dazzling Cote d’Azur, the wondrous relaxation of Provence, the internationally celebrated vineyards throughout to the staggering dominance of the Alps and Pyrenees mountainous regions; France is without question one of the world’s most diverse and culturally rich countries that attracts millions to its land each year.

France via Railway
France is renowned for being in possession of one of the quickest and most efficient train networks in the world. Operated by the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français), the country boasts almost 32,000km of rail and also the world’s fastest passenger train; the TGV, which broke the world speed record in April 2007. The TGV offers high speed intercity services to all major French satellite towns and offers remarkable punctuality and ideal passenger comfort.

If travelling from the UK; France is linked to these shores by the Eurostar service, with direct trains departing regularly from London St. Pancras station to Paris’ Gare du Nord, Disneyland Paris, Lille, Avignon and Bourg St. Maurice, providing a gateway to the whole of mainland Europe.

The Metro
A number of large French cities offer underground services. Most famous of course is the Paris Metro operated by the RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens) and RER, which serves inner city and suburban Paris. Unlike the cramped London Underground, the Paris Metro – although still busy – operates ‘double-decker’ underground trains to make for a more comfortable travelling experience. Other cities that operate underground systems are: Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Rennes and Toulouse.

France by Road
France is covered by almost 900,000km of road throughout the country, which is inclusive of over 12,000km of motorways and 30,500km of ‘Routes Nationales’. Unlike the UK, many major French roads and motorways are subject to toll payments. Like most built-up English settlements; French cities utilise ring roads (Périphériques), with the most notable being the Boulevard Périphérique of Paris – one of Europe’s busiest and most congested roads which opens up to as many as eight lanes and is used by over 1 million vehicles per day. A great way to see the best of France by road is to hire a car. Car Hire 3000 offer great deals on car hire from every major town and airport in France.

France by sea
Other than the most familiar port to British travellers at Calais, France boasts numerous seaports and harbors, of which the following rank as the most notable:

Bayonne, Bordeaux, Boulogne, Brest, Calais, Cherbourg, Dunkerque, Fos-sur0Mer, La Rochelle, Le Havre, Lorient, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Port-Vendres, Rouen, Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Malo, Sete, Strasbourg and Toulon.

France by Air
The country is served by almost 500 airports, with Paris being in possession of three of these, including France’s main international airport; Charles de Gaulle. International flights also fly into Orly airport to the south of the city and Beauvais Airport, which lies to the north - used by low-cost carriers such as Ryanair. There are also a number of domestic services which operate to locations all over France via the following carriers: Air France, Airlinair, CCM, Twin Jet, Easyjet, Hex Air and Air Austral.

The problem (and delight) of South West France is that there are so many areas to explore, and often renting a gite can be so delightful that getting out and exploring might be limited to the nearest town and trips for French Bread, a bar and an ocassional restaurant.
However, an English couple (Jason and Michelle) have established a Motorhome (or motor caravan as I used to call them) Hire centre at St Avit (47 Lot-et-Garonne, Midi-Pyrenees) south of Duras

(see map)

Evolution will plan your itinerary for you or advise you on your existing route. If you’re a lover of fishing, walking, wine tasting etc.a personalised route planner to suit your needs can be arranged for the duration of your vacation. We will provide details of recommended camp sites.

You’ll never get lost…
We provide an on-board ready-to-use GPS navigation system. We’re on-call with a 24/7 helpline with English spoken… We can provide liaison with reputable local property agents for those seeking to purchase property in the area. Cycle and leisure equipment hire is also available. Evolution caters for all-year round rental, with winter skiing resorts only a leisurely 3 hour drive south, a little further will take you to the winter warmth of Spain.

So you can avoid the long road trip through France, fly into Bergerac or Bordeaux or take the train - they will meet you at the airport or station and you’re off free to explore this rich and varied area.And with French number plates you might even get a bit more respect on the road!

For more info see www.evolutionmotorhomes.com

Whilst it may lack the international length and high glamour of its glory years the Monte Carlo Rally still makes an exciting spectacle through the Ardeche, Drome and Alpes-Maritime departements - through the mountains of Haut-Provence and down to the Mediterranean.
For details of the route and timings see www.acm.mc

The slower, but possibly better viewing for the spectator is the Rallye Historique, which does involve numerous start points such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, Turin and Reims before coming together for the final section down to Monte Carlo - this runs from 1- 6 February 2008. To qualify as “historic” the cars have to have been built before 1980!
For details of the route and timings see www.acm.mc

Buy at AllPosters.com

Whilst a trip to France still represents good value, the rising cost of fuel and a stronger Euro against the pound are having an impact on the budget for such a trip. Wine, French beer and many foods still are at attractive prices, and in general hotel and restaurant prices are significantly lower than the equivalent in the UK. Rail prices are much cheaper - although beware of strikes!

Currently Travelex are offering (22 November 2007) a rate £1 = €1.348 - so a euro is worth about 71p.

For fuel, based on Carrefour’s prices at Calais:

Unleaded 95 (Sans Plomb 95); €1.329 per litre (98.6p)
Unleaded 98 (Sans Plomb 98); €1.369 per litre (101.6p)
Diesel (Gazole); €1.195 per litre (88.6p)

These are competitive fuel prices - you may have to pay substantially more on motorways or at some non-supermarket pumps.

It all started in Paris with the Velib’ Scheme - an amalgam of Velo (cycle) and Liberte (free), which has been a tremendous success.

The latest we’ve come across is the Velomagg in Montepellier (34 Herault, Languedoc-Roussillon).

Vélib’ is a Self Service “bike hire” system available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Multi pick up and drop off location allows you to pick up your bike from one service point and drop off to another.

. You need to subscribe, but for visitors there are 1-day and 7-day subscriptions and after the first 30 minutes you pay by the half-hour - e.g. a 90-minute hire will cost just €3 and you can pick up and drop off your bike at any of the hundreds of self-service stations across the city.

The Velib’ scheme has been based on a similar scheme VeloV in Lyon (69 Rhone, Rhone-Alpes) France’s second city. The combination of these eco-friendly and fitness focussed schemes is now spreading throughout France:-
VeloCite in Mulhouse (68 Haut-Rhin, Alsace) and Besancon (25 Doubs, Franche-Comté)
Vhello in Aix-en-Provence (13 Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence)
Le Velo in Marseille (13 Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence)
Velo in Toulouse (34 Haut Garonne, Midi-Pyrenees)
Nantes (44 Loire-Atlantique, Val de Loire)
Rouen (76 Seine Maritime, Normandy)
Bordeaux (33 Gironde, Aquitaine)
Velostan in Nancy (54 Meurthe et Moselle, Lorraine)
Velo+ in Orleans (45 Loiret, Centre)

This is clearly a popular scheme, mainly aimed at local residents but may also offer a different way of seeing some of France’s major cities from a different perspective. However, I would recommend choosing a city with good cycle lanes and paths - you do get the impression that traffic in many of France’s cities is not very forgiving with errant cyclists - so do not try cycling around the rond-point of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris!!

Most French autoroutes between major towns and cities are toll motorways, which whilst often offering fast and uncrowded dual-carriageways, can nevertheless add significantly to the cost of a trip through France - e.g over €90 (over £60) on a one-way trip from Calais to Nice (1226km of motorway driving about 760 miles).

However there are significant sections of autoroute which are toll free - most often these are around major towns and Cities (Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon etc).

In the North, the A16 is toll-free from Boulogne (J29) to the Belgian border (J36) via Calais and Dunkerque. The A25 from Dunkerque (J20) to Lille is free, so you can reach Lille from the main Channel ports without paying a toll!. Also all routes from Lille to the Belgian border.
The following autoroutes are toll free (as at September 2007)
A16 (part of the Autoroute des Estuaires (estuaries)) from Boulogne-sur-Mer (J29) to the Belgian border(J36)
A20 (L’Occitane) from Vierzon (J6 junction with A71) to Brive-la-Gaillarde (J53) via Chateauroux, Argenton and Limoges
A25 from Dunkerque (J20 with A16) to Lille
A28 from Abbeville (J1) to Rouen (J14)
A30/A31 (Autoroute de la Vallée de la Fensch) from Thionville (J1) to Toul (J12) via Metz and Nancy
A38 from Dijon (J33) to Pouilly-sur-Auxois (J24 and the junction with the A6)
A63 (Autoroute de la Cote Basque) from Bordeaux to Bellin-Bellet (J20)
A64 (la Pyreneenne) from St Martory (J20) to Muret (J25)
A68 (la Tarnaise) from Monastruc (J3 NE of Toulouse) to Albi (J11) via Gaillac
A75 (la Meridienne) from Clermont-Ferrand (J15) to Pezenas (J59) (except for the Millau Bridge) via Issoire
A77 (Autoroute de l’Arbre (trees)) from Pouilly (J26) to Nevers (J37)
A84 from Caen (J46) to Rennes (J25) via Avranches

With the 2007 Rugby World Cup kicking off in early September, it is worth knowing when and where the matches are to be held - if only so that you can avoid the additional heavy traffic for several hours around the match time. Particularly susceptible to congestion will be the Paris Peripherique and the A1 autoroute entry to the city - the Parc des Princes and Stade de France are both close to the autoroute and peripherique, and if match time is anywhere near the evening rush hour the traffic will be even more chaotic.
For more details on the Rugby World Cup CLICK HERE
For map click (more…)

At last a budget airline has introduced transparent pricing on its website. Flybe now shows the actual cost to fly on their routes to France and elsewhere. Until now airlines would headline their offers along the lines of “Flights from 99p” but by the time booking fees, admin charges, airport charges and government taxes were added, the 99p could become £50 or more.
The only additional charge is for a credit card (£1.99) and debit card (£0.99) per person per flight.
So I was quickly able to discover that I can fly from Birmingham to Bergerac (24 Dordogne, Aquitaine) for just £65.64 inclusive at the end of September, which sounds pretty good to me!

Flybe flies to Angers, Avignon, Bergerac, Bordeaux, Brest, Chambery, Geneva, la Rochelle, Limoges, Nice, Paris, Perpignan, Rennes and Toulouse.

For more info see www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/flights.html

For some Canadian friends we put together some ideas from our experience to demonstrate how best to do a few days wine touring in the southern Rhône Valley. This is such a rich area to visit - scenically, historically and from a wine (and food) perspective.

We chose to base the tour in St Remy de Provence (13, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence) a few miles south of Avignon for easy access to Les Baux de Provence, Beaumes-de-Venise, Vacqueyras, Gigondas, Cairanne, Lirac, Tavel and Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Others will choose different start points and other vineyards - importantly we think wine tours need to be paced, as an over-indulgence can dull the senses and diminish the enjoyment. And there are so many other things to do in the region, as well as just relax in the delightful climate and atmosphere of Provence.

For more info see www.frenchduck.co.uk

For those of us accustomed to driving in France it is easy to forget how strange it seems to be driving on the wrong side of the road! This is especially the case nowadays when the exit from many Cross-Channel ferry ports is straight onto a fast dual carriageway which takes you away from the town - so it can be several hours until you really have to start thinking about navigating things like roundabouts the wrong way round.
The biggest danger is pulling away after a break, like a picnic or a petrol station - especially on quiet roads in the countryside, where the only thing to signal that you are on a foreign road will be that idiot coming towards you on your side of the road, flashing his headlights and gesticulating something about foreigners, which fortunately you cannot understand. I suspect we have all done it. I went one better a few years ago - after a couple of weeks driving around France I drove back (alone) through rural Hampshire, and after a brief stop pulled off onto the wrong side of the road in England!! - very embarassing, but fortunately no damage done except to the nerves of the poor motorist coming the other way! The best thing is to always park or pull-off onto the right-hand side of the road and/or delegate one of your passengers to do a “pre-flight” check at the start of any journey or after a stop!

There is an article in the Telegraph (21 April 07) about the town of Flers (61 Orne, Normandy) where they have put up signs in English reminding drivers to drive on the right! This follows a couple of fatal accidents caused by british motorists, for whom Flers is but an hour or 50 miles south from the ferry terminal at Caen/Ouistreham - and offers a convenient coffee stop after the overnight ferry.

There is plenty for the foreign motorist to be aware of in France - especially the notorious “Priorité à Droite” rules which still apply. especially in towns and rural roads - although fortunately not on autoroutes or other major routes (nor on roundabouts, where the traffic on the roundabout has priority).
The sign at the top of this page is not just a “crossroads” sign as we know it in the UK - it is the sign for a junction (not necessarily a crossroads) where you do not have priority - the vehicle coming from your right has priority!!
On the panel below the two signs on the left indicate that you do have priority - those on the right say you should give priority to traffic coming from the right! If in doubt - be prepared for some sticky moments!

For more on driving in France see www.frenchduck.co.uk

The number of budget airline routes to France from the UK is continuing to grow, as is the number of French destinations - no longer restricted to the major cities. This really does open up some of the less well-known parts of France.
The list below shows the extent of the coverage - and this excludes flights to Paris which are available from most local airports. Some flights are seasonal, so please check with the airline for timetables and availability.

John & Carolyn Scallon offer comfortable Bed & Breakfast (Chambre d’Hote) accommodation in Burgundy either for stop-overs en route south or for short or longer stays. At Sens-sur-Seille (71 Saone-et-Loire, Bourgogne).
This would be an opportunity to explore some of the lesser known parts of Burgundy with the additional bonus of experienced advice from your English hosts who can help you plan your itinerary to get the best from your day - and recommend vineyards and restaurants.

Just 90 minutes from Geneva or Lyon airports this area abounds with small villages, individual cuisine and lots and lots of really fine wines.

“We’re biased. We live in a small village in the extreme east of Burgundy, right on the border with the Jura Department and we love it here” say John & Carolyn Scallon at www.bandb-burgundy.com who offer excellent accommodation (4 individually decorated bedrooms with en-suite facilities) in the heart of south Burgundy at Sens-sur-Seille (71 Saone-et-Loire, Burgundy) east of Chalon-sur-Saone (see map)
For more info and for suggestions on visiting the vineyards of Burgundy see www.frenchduck.co.uk

For the South West the A20 autoroute (l’Occitaine) is now complete linking Paris and Toulouse via the A10 to Orleans, then the A71 to Vierzon onto the A20 for Toulouse via Limoges, Brive, Cahors and Montauban. This is a very enjoyable road cutting through some glorious scenery - and such a joy for those who used to struggle on the old N20. This provides much easier access to Limoges, the Upper Dordogne & Sarlat, and the Lot Valley, Montauban and Toulouse. Cahors is now less than 7hrs from Calais - although you will have to pay about €47 (£30) in tolls (2006 figures) for the journey from Calais to Toulouse. However, the stretch from Vierzon (18 Cher, Centre) and the A71 junction south to Brive-la-Gaillarde (19 Corrèze, Limousin) is toll free!