I drove it years ago, taking rural roads and camping along the way. It was a leisurely 4 day drive and very enjoyable. I more or less drew a series of straight lines on the map, and followed that route. |
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By *ucianpoundCouple
over a year ago
Cap d’Agde, France |
The standard west coast motorway route will be the quickest but it might take you a couple of days to recover from such a journey in one hit.
Making the journey part of your holiday, avoiding the motorways, travelling on lovely old roads and seeing France could be a lot more relaxing, plus saving 60+ euros on motorway tolls would pay for a night in a chambre d'hôte en route. |
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keep to route Nantes, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Narbonne by far the most direct and can be done in one hit but long day so suggest an overnight stop.
Off the motorway is prettier and you see more places depends how much time you have. We have tried it all |
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I prefer going via the middle route (Roscoff to Lorient then Vannes, Nantes to Bourges then Clermont Ferrand to Beziers on the A75 and down to Agde. It's a little longer but there's more toll free motorway so what you spend on fuel you save on tolls (unless your car is very juicy) , and the scenery is nicer driving over the Massif Centrale and crossing the big viaduct near Millau. It's more fun if you have a decent car and enjoy driving but if you're just cruising you might want to stick to the Bordeaux--Toulouse way. |
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By *exy BeckyCouple
over a year ago
Bergerac, France |
"I prefer going via the middle route (Roscoff to Lorient then Vannes, Nantes to Bourges then Clermont Ferrand to Beziers on the A75 and down to Agde. It's a little longer but there's more toll free motorway so what you spend on fuel you save on tolls (unless your car is very juicy) , and the scenery is nicer driving over the Massif Centrale and crossing the big viaduct near Millau. It's more fun if you have a decent car and enjoy driving but if you're just cruising you might want to stick to the Bordeaux--Toulouse way. "
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it is miles farther and we do have a decent car, we have been via Millau several times and yes I agree its lovely but it does depend how quickly you need to get there. We go for several weeks but its still nice just to take 1 overnight stop and get there. |
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In fairness even though Plymouth is nearest I rarely bother with the Plymouth/Roscoff crossing; it's long, expensive, uncomfortable and hard to sleep no matter if you have a recliner or pay extra for a cabin. My normal route is leave Exeter mid afternoon, drive up to Dover (the extra fuel is still cheaper than the extra ferry cost unless I'm driving something naughty) then cross to Calais. This usually means I get to France by about 8pm which means I can check into my prebooked motel, have a feed and some wine to unwind, get a good 8 hours then get on the road, straight down the middle past Paris and then via Clermont-Ferrand and I'll be at my place near Narbonne by about 8 or 9 in the evening so about a twelve hour drive including a 45 minute lunch break and a few 10-15 minute pit stops... And that's just me on my own not splitting the driving or anything.
The advantage of doing this is avoiding Brittany which takes bloody ages to get round/across (it's worth taking time to visit as it's beautiful but otherwise its best avoided) and it shortens the amount of driving you have to do somewhat plus there's more flexibility. |
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