first time to South of France

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Danbury1971

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Hi all, we are planning a trip to the south of France in our '71 Danbury. This is quite a bold move considering the furthest we have been to date is just an hour away. As we are taking our dog we are limited to Eurostar and therefore have to drive the whole length of France. I am wondering what is the best route. Toll or non toll roads, easiest way to cross the alps, or avoid then if possible. Am I over thinking this or underestimating the prowess of a 1600 engine. All advice welcome.
Thanks
George
 
We did this in summer 2015 with a 1.7 type 4 engine.
Only site booked was in Kent at start, goal was to make it to the med and back.
1st stop Drum Inn, Ashford Kent. Dog friendly pub with campsite close to tunnel. Train approx 10am but got there early so probably 8:30/9 train.
2 nights in Troyes-lovely town, campsite quite busy but you made it somewhere [emoji485]🥂.
Lazy start to day, think we hit road at 11am then drove to L’Ardéche, hot weather and engine was getting warm; hit traffic at Lyon which maybe a good thing for engine but hot in van as we could hear the Cicada therefore 28dec, ending with BIG hill over to le pont d’arc arriving 8pm (I definitely should have broke that journey up, it is a holiday). 2 nights by river canoeing etc.
decided to follow winding road to avoid hill, mistake as it was like the Italian Job but great views. Eventually back to toll road and cruised to Le Grau Du Roi .. 3 days camping near beach on huge site on Cote d’Azure.
then to site in Grenoble for a night,
2 nights in Interlaken Switzerland.
1 night in tiny villiage in Black Forest (Waldkirch).
1 night in Luxembourg (Esch-Sue-Sûre), roads to Belgium were surprisingly hilly.
2 nights in Flanders where we got dogs treatment.
We used Toll roads in France to cover miles with ease and reduce number of stops, quiet compared to uk roads. Having ‘Save my bug’ sensor saved our engine on long hot journeys I reckon as I drove to oil light. We didn’t book and always found somewhere, even in Ardeche at night on main French holiday (3rd site lucky but it was fab place).

Faults: accelerator return spring snapped in engine bay and started shorting on coil, fixed with tie wrap. In Switzerland found brake reservoir empty (worrying after roads driven in Ardeche), learnt German word trichter (funnel).
 
You'll be fine - just take it steady and make sure the van is well serviced before you leave. I always take spare service parts (points, condensor, dizzy cap, throttle cable, clutch cable etc) but have only once had to use anything - when the clip between the clutch cable and clutch pedal snapped. 30 mins lying under it saw us back on the road again (that was on my 2013 trip to Spain)

Here's a pic of mine overlooking the Spanish city of San Sebastian. We made it to Barcelona and Valencia last year (2017) :)

hJ0KQvk.jpg


One last bit of advice... if you're going over the alps, make sure you've got new brake fluid before the trip. I boiled mine over the Pyrenees in 2013. On long downhill sections (this was several miles downhill in 3rd at 40+mph...) you can need to use the brakes a lot, so don't overdo it - and mine has discs too :D
The cars that made it to Spain last year, including the Fiat 126 the photo was taken from:
EIr1A2s.jpg
 
Hi George

We went about 6 years ago, family of 5, fully laden. We have a 1914cc engine with a longer ratio gearbox which coped but we still had to be cautious with the heat, and brakes going up/down the mountains. As we had kids who got bored travelling we used both the toll roads, A roads and the 'national' roads.

When the youngest is grown up (he's 14 now) and we can go on our own we'll do it again, and go further afield, but we'll just use the national roads and break the journeys down into 3/4 hours per day. We generally stayed at Municipal campsites and didn't book. Arrive before 5 though. I think most towns have to have a municipal campsite and they are generally positioned on the outskirts of town, near the swimming pool usually. We didn't find a bad one and often they are in very beautiful places. From being on the banks of the Rhone (Decize) to right on the walls of a fortified town (Langres). I can't think of a bad one but i am sure they are around. The town centres are normally an easy walk and beautiful. They're clean have hook up but you might have book this (we don't use hook up), you can pre-order bread and croissants normally. I'd really recommend.

Others may have differing views and experiences but I would go for it, or mix up pre-booked with non booked.

Chugging through the back roads of France in the sun in a T2 stopping where you want, lovely.

Of course if your target is to get the South asap, I'd suggest two days at least but i'd make it 3. If you have kids it does have different dynamic too although all the toll roads have regular 'aires' where you can regularly stop to break up the journey, let the dog have a walk, so this part is easy too.

I'd also check your breed of dog is ok too as some aren't. Ours is a staff cross and we had just paid to have her jabs and passport when our vet suggested we check!! She was a banned breed so couldn't come.

A great way of getting to the south, quickly, but at an extra cost if to take the overnight ferry to Bilbao or Santander. We'd do that again too

Good luck
Al
 
Where are you heading?

If the South East (Cote D'Azur) then its an easy toll route journey, allow 2/3 days from Calais, I don't bother getting off route, just stay in the Aires and keep going.
Have been via the Alps when heading to Italy/Switzerland and yes its a bit steep, but the main roads are pretty steady so take it easy and you will be fine.
If heading to the South West, its a better area for touring and stopping and you can break the journey up from La Rochelle area onwards by going down the coastline through to the Basque region.

I have booked up camping in advance but I wouldn't again as we ended up committed to a campsite that we would otherwise have moved on from, we always managed to stay somewhere and in doing so have had the best adventures - stressful at times :lol: but also the better memories.
 

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