Snapper's Touring France.

[AL G]

Juno Beach

 

Best one so far - well this one and the fire juggler. You should take this up for a living ;0)

[Snapper]

Day 8

 

 

(about 80 miles which should take about 2hrs 30mins along the coast road which is very slow. but there are loads of stops for place to look around and I would allow a full day to take things in)

[Snapper]

Avranches

 

American Cemetery at Omaha Beach 1

 

American Cemetery at Omaha Beach 2

 

Utah Beach

 

The hotel L’ Hostellerie du Chateau which is in the castle at Bricquebec 1

 

The hotel L’ Hostellerie du Chateau which is in the castle at Bricquebec 2

 

The hotel L’ Hostellerie du Chateau which is in the castle at Bricquebec 3

[Snapper]

Well I have just had another great meal in France, this time at tonights hotel. The L'HOSTELLERIE DU CHATEAU in BRICQUEBEC. Again the hotel was within the castle walls and the car was away from peoples view. This was another great find with a friendly owner and the food was fantastic at a reasonably priced hotel for such a location. What a great place to finalise a great trip.

 

Hotel Links:

 

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/recherch/...mp;x=9&y=10

 

http://www.lhostellerie-bricquebec.com/Eng...esentation2.htm

 

 

L'HOSTELLERIE DU CHATEAU

4, cours du Château.

50260 BRICQUEBEC

Locate on map

Tel: +33 (0)2.33.52.24.49

Fax: +33 (0)2.33.52.62.71

E-mail: [email protected]

 

 

I thought I would post a couple of pictures with the main tower of the castle in view because the sun was at the wrong angle earlier.

 

 

 

Pic 1

Pic 2

[Snapper]

Day 9

 

 

 

(180miles + ferry crossing. Bricquebec to Cherbourg and the Poole to Birmingham)

 

Well made it back in one piece and did almost 2100 miles in just over a week

[Snapper]

For all those that read this thread and was was interested in my trip or who are planning a trip to France.

 

I have updated a lot of the posting that I made and have mentioned the hotels and added web links for them. I hope that will make life easyier for anyone who is planning a trip and wants recommendations of routes, sights and places to stay.

 

I must say that I covered a lot of miles but it was worth it for everything we saw.

 

The big question is what would I do differently if I was going to do it all over again?

 

It's hard to say really given the amount of time I had to do everything in, but if I could have added an extra couple of days to the trip I would have done the following;

 

1) Stopped some where between Mont St Micheal & Rocomador to brake up the drive. Picked some where interesting to stay and look around about 1/2 to 2/3rd of the way down.

 

2) On the way back up through France from the Central Massif area and having taken in the Chateau de Chambord. I may have stayed two nights at the Hotel De Franch in the village of LA CHARTRE SUR LE LOIR. I would then spend the next day visiting the Chateau at Chenonceau and visiting the town of Ambroise. Along with the last residence & Museum of Leonardo Da Vinci's at the Manoir du Cloux, 5-10 mins from the center of Ambroise.

 

I have done option 2 in a previous years trip.

 

I hope that is of help to people.

 

If anyone wants to talk to me further about this trip please feel free to send me a U2U message and I would be glad to help.

 

Jamie

[Ladders]

Jamie, I was just wondering what sort of reaction do you get from people in general in France? Do you get any bad atitude from people because you drive a 'posh' car like you sometimes do here? Or are you pretty safe to leave it without having to worry about getting it keyed etc for example?

 

I'll give you a bell about this soon but would you rather 'wing it' on these trips and just do things on impulse or do you do a bit of planning first?

 

Cheers

 

Dave

[Greg.g]

Dave

 

Not wanting to tread on jamies shoes, but we had no problems at all on our trip.

In fact the oposite with people smiling and taking piccies with camera phones. Our hood was permanently down and we would leave it like that when we parked. Alot of the time i left my satnav holder attatched to the windscreen (satnav removed) when parked up. I would never do this in the UK.

 

As far as routes are concerned, jamie was of great help to us in planning our trip. A fair amount of accomodation was booked in advance as i knew which route i would be taking, but i left a few nights open to include some flexability.

 

I can totally reccomend this type of holiday. You get so much more than on a package deal.

 

[Ladders]

Greg, you can probably give me some guidence as well as you've done a few of these trips before as well!

 

I've got a week to work my way to Spain, any places you can recommend? I was thinking of heading to Monaco and St Tropaz area. Plus was thinking of going over the Millau bridge!

[Greg.g]

We drove from the spanish border (pyrenees) near gavernie to St Tropez last year. It was a fair drive, but managable in one day. We did like St Tropez alot and intend on returning sometime in the future. With these sort of distances you have to decide whether you want the quickest A - B motorway dash or the quiet B roads. I tend to mix up a bit of both.

[Snapper]

Ladders,

 

The reaction from people is fairly good from the Franch as a whole. But you have to remember that you get idiots everywhere, so using a bit of common sense is always a good idea.

 

Lotus's in France are extremely rare even though they have 5 dealerships. Exiges are rarer than rocking horse shit. When I drove the Exige up and over the draw bridge and into the medieval walled city of Carcassonne the road to the hotel was just a bit wider than the car and hundreds of people was trying to exit the city at the time to go home.

 

It was amazing, Everyone gave way to me and people huddled into shop doorways and every crevice to let me pass as I edged my way though the narrow streets with the Stage 2 & ITG roaringing away in 1st gear with everyone looking in to see if there was a famous movie star in the car.

 

Elsewhere the car did get a lot of attension but everyone seemed well behaved. I was supprised at how many people knew what the car was. I guess it has had a fair bit of TV coverage on their motoring programes.

 

As a whole I wouldn't worry to much, just look at your surrounding as you would in the UK and way up the area.

 

I always do some planning first because some where like France is a really big place and you could spend a long time going no where and seeing nothing.

 

Like everything in life it always helps to know what you want to achive or have an objective. If you don't you always end up disappointed

 

It's really not hard to plan a trip if you give it a little time & thought. I spent a little time with a great book called 'DK Eyewitness Travel - France' which you should be able to get at every good bookshop and it's small enought to take in the car. Priced £16.99 - There is an offer on for 3 for the price of 2. (France, Spain & Switzerland would be good to start with)

 

Web Link:

http://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/stat...avel/intro.html

 

Also see picture posted below

 

It's full of pictures and text in easy to read, short and to the point pages with helpful information. Work out what you want to see, plot them on one big map and join the dots up. Then look at the mileages to see if you can do them in day stages as well as having some time to look around when you get there.

 

Then you can use logis-de-france and or viamichelin websites to plot where to stay. I mostly used the logis-de-france which I find better for finding accommodation in France.

 

logis-de-france wed site: http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/recherch/index-ca.htm

 

& or

 

viamichelin website: http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/gbr.../MaHomePage.htm

 

I always book over the phone rather than on the internet, that way you find out if someone there speaks English

 

For this trip I booked most of the hotels all in one telephone session from the UK. there was only a couple I didn't, but I had my laptop with me so that I could do some research and sorted one out while on route and the other I did purely on just turning up some where. This was the Hotel St Auban, Normandy.

 

In my view there is nothing worse than if you having a bad day on the roads for any reason and you are running late and you then have to find that all the hotels are booked up. My partner would throw her teddy out of the car big style

 

I would agree with Greg's comment: "I can totally reccomend this type of holiday. You get so much more than on a package deal."

 

If I get bored I move on straight away, if I like some thing then I stop and stay at my will.

 

RE: "I've got a week to work my way to Spain, any places you can recommend? I was thinking of heading to Monaco and St Tropaz area. Plus was thinking of going over the Millau bridge!"

 

I can give you some help there because I did the Pyrenees in a Caterham and another trip from East to West in northern Spain in the Elise. I have a couple of places I would recommend.

 

But I would say that to do Spain, Monaco, St Tropaz, the Millau bridge and back in one week is pushing it. I don't think that you will have time to see anything. But I can help you plan something that you would enjoy. To do a trip like that could end up very boring and not much fun. I would say that I pushed the amount of miles covered a bit to much on my trip, but I also got to see a lot. You have to remember as well that if you are doing all the driving it can get very boring and unenjoyable for a passenger.

 

As Greg say's "We drove from the spanish border (pyrenees) near gavernie to St Tropez last year. It was a fair drive, but managable in one day."

 

Yes it can be done with a great love for motorways but Greg must have missed some great places to stop and look around, Carcasonne & Avignon to name just two. to have done that distance and miss everything between is a great shame. I would rather miss St Tropez and do the other two instead.

 

St Tropez is Nice, I remember chasing James Hewitt about there when his relationship with Diana blew up in the press. But it is really a richmans yachting playground and nothing else.

 

Ladders as I say give me a call and I help sort you out.

[fentuz]

Nice trip....

 

As you were at Mont St Michel, you should push to Fougere... and then the best Brittany...

And if you were on a rush... just a short at Loheac to see the circuit and it museum... Hommel....

the "French Lotus":

[Howard]

I agree with Snapper regarding idiots every where -- Northern France, Lotus soft top , sharp knife, no camera this spring.

 

Area looked Ok but l was desparate for a P.

 

However the French police did actually get it back for me. Decent French helps.

 

This is the only time Ive had a problem in 5 years of going 3 or so times a year normally for 3 - 4 weeks at a time.

The last trip was France, Spain, Portugal, France and just into Italy staying as close to the sea as possible and then a mad dash back.

 

I normally just go where I fancy using hotel chains to book ahead.

Also booking with a laptop/internet/mobile phone is now so easy although I did sleep in the car once.

 

The next trip I fancy is Netherlands Denmark Sweden and I would like to see Stockholm.

All I have to do is save a bit more cash up but that might take me to winter and snow, so I will probably take a 4x4 and the wife instead.

 

Life is so hard

[Snapper]

Ladders

 

You Have Mail..

[Snapper]

I have just updated this topic with addresses & contact details of the hotels, Distances traveled & driving, checked that all the web links work and attached some basic maps so that it fits in more with the rules of the new touring section.