We've traveled on a number of busy weekends and didn't realised until someone said "oh that's Black Saturday" or Oh that's the french bank holiday weekend, I wouldn't do that if I were you . . . so i did stress a little bit about it, however the only thing we struggled with was getting into a Motorway services at lunch time, absolutely chokka block nowhere to park the caravan, but we just moved on to the next one and took a later lunch.
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We have tried different approaches to this over the years.
1) Travelling at night is exhausting and not all the roads have lighting on them, so require a better degree of concentration.
2) Travelling on the Saturday and travelling with frozen as well as cooled bottles of water. Which is ok if you aren't travelling with kids and getting stuck in a jam in the searing heat.
3) Getting the overnight ferry and starting your journey early. This doesn't guarantee that you avoid the jam at Nantes.
We now get a mid week ferry (cheaper price) and then drive half way to two thirds of the distance and stop for a days sight seeing. We then leave before ten in the morning to avoid all the traffic.
We find Nantes going anti clockwise the worst at mid day. But getting caught on the road going across the marshland which is past La Rochelle on the way to Royan in the heat was really pretty bad, as we used up all our water. We now always freeze bottles of water so that we have something really cool in the car if we get caught short.
------------- sueze
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
This is a very useful link - thank you!
Am in correct with my interpretation that 'Depart' refers to driving in the direction of south and 'Retour' is driving north?
We will be driving from Saint-Julien-Des-Landes in the Vendee to near Cherbourg on Saturday August 6th (via Nantes) and if I'm reading the chart correctly, this is classified as 'orange' (difficult traffic)?
Am I reading it correctly?
Many thanks.
------------- 2016: La Garangeoire
2015: La Garangeoire
2014: La Garangeoire & hopefully a couple of weekends in Ireland
2013: Des 4 Vents, Ile de France & Portland , Normandy, O'Connors Riverside, Doolin
2012: Actons, Clifden, Co Galway; Interlude, Ile de Re; Salthill, Co Galway; Westport, Co Mayo
As expected my return journey will be busy according to Bison Fute, my favourite - Autoroutes.fr - shows problems developing if we set off too late, but ViaMichelin seems to see no problems.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Black Saturday
