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The trouble with the autoroutes is now the tolls - which seem huge compared to what we once paid.  It would have cost us a massive 103 euros to get to where we went this year.  Even when we had the kids with us we used to 'cross-country' as much as possible, but were amazed by the number of people who had never done it - equating cross-country in France to the same journey in England.  Just as the autoroutes have less traffic, so do the national and departmental roads, so driving is much easier.  Yes, there are villages - although many on the N roads are now by-passed, and yes, there are occasional roundabouts, but these do keep you on your toes, and awake, and we've found are more than compensated for by the added interest of cross-country route.  We've found some of our best sites this way!

This is great stuff  the "kids" are now 14+11 so stick some DVD's on and they wont know what's going on until spain!!!!! shame but peace and quiet is bliss!!! Infact the teenager will probably go to sleep before Birmingham and wake up in Spain with the words 'Im hungry', however his deep sleep will no doubt be interrupted with wind exiting his bottom and the 11yr old kicking him for his addition to the rear of car aroma!!!

 I do remember the n roads being just as quick especially when towing and slowing down for the odd village/town gives an excuse to top up the Vino and get the night stops food in and as Val says it keeps you awake, we have 3 days 2 nights to get to spain and want to make it part of the holiday not just travelling, hence the idea of one route down and the other coming back.

The Rouen-Chartres-Tours route looks a little more complex than a straight road so I wanted to check on here that its not a nightmare!! If it is I'll pay the money and go the LeMans route.

Sproz,

I did the N154 Rouen/Chartres route 4 weeks ago on the way to and from the Dordogne. I didn't want to do Paris, infact I've done it once and will avoid it like the plague. I chose the route on advice from Val and Huw and it worked a treat. but don't think you will maintain 60mph on these roads you wont. Yes they can be long and straight but get stuck behind a lorry and your speed will plummet. Also maintaining speed is interupted by several roundabouts. However much of the N154 is now dualled but I found it slow going between Dreux and the A10 near Orleans. Also I found somewhere to stop a little difficult and had to continue around Chartres and onto the Autoroute to find somewhere. There are aires on the first section when you leave Evereux and I suggest you use one of them if you need a break, don't go on to far.

I'm not trying to put you off using this route, infact far from it as I would use it every time. I'm just making you aware that it's not as fast as you may think.

Just as a comparison. From Calais to Vatan just south of Vierzon is 335 miles. We left Calais at 8.10am and got there at 4.30pm with two stops. so that averaged out at 40MPH.

harryb

Thanks for that, I'll have a chat with our friends and see what their thoughts are, sometimes its nice to slow down to relax a little and take in the surroundings. We leave the tunnel at 6.30am local time and want to overnight around Chartres so we should have enough time.

I must admit that working out average speeds is scary, I tend to be a 90mph man on the motorway (not towing!) however when I work out a point to point average over 250miles or so it usually comes out at 50mph ish.