Bob T Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 [quote user="PaulT"][quote user="Bob T"]If I were to compare food prices with the UK, then I would also factor in ...... road tax ......[/quote]Now, I would much prefer to pay a road tax in France than the tolls.I pay £145 road tax in the UK.We make 5 journeys down to France a year. If we went via Paris then the tolls would cost 528 euros. We go via Rouen and it costs 346 euros. This is without going anywhere else via the autoroute.I know that we could take the N roads but would take a great deal longer to get to our house and could require an overnight stay.Paul[/quote]And for me it is different, I never pay tolls as I never visit the UK. They also have toll roads in the UK - north of Birmingham, but as in France you have the choice of not using them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyF Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 To my knowledge there is one short stretch of toll-road alongside the M6 north of Birminglam and tolls on a few river bridges and tunnels, but that's it. Hardly to be compared to the network of toll-roads in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 If there were no road tolls in France, taxpayers would have to fork out an extra €250 each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon-the-censored Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I'm more than happy to pay the road tolls if France!The standard and maintenance of autoroutes in France makes the UK look pretty much third world.Apart form the peak holiday periods - the autoroutes are rarely packed and are a pleasure to drive on.I dread to think how many hours, days, months and perhaps years of my life I completely wasted on the M25! Miserable human experience....Simon :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 It is holiday season here in Brittany where the OP lives and every year for as long as I can remember, the local shops and supermarkets increase their food prices sometimes by 150% to make their profit now. Unfortunately the visitor numbers are well down this summer but there are plenty of bargains to be had and don't use the big names plus with all the rain, the veggies are doing very well in the garden which is another solution to cheap veg and fruit and grow your own. You can buy bulk meat from the eleveurs and there are many locally, share a pig between neighbours or half a cow etc, keep some chickens and get the left over bread from the local boulangerie to feed them on and even go fishing.Lots of ways to cut the costs down including non-foods by buying the cheaper brands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 We used to pay 'road tax' and tolls for most of our time in France. All very expensive. Those who live in Brittany don't pay tolls, or didn't when I was there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I am now going to touch wood, as I have never yet had a bad experience on the M25 (yet!) and we always used the eastern section when driving from the North to Dover or Folkestone. AND occassionally the western one when going to visit friends in Mortlake.We have had bad experiences in traffic in Lyons and in Paris though. Hit these cities like any other city and there are holdups that can go on and on and on for a very long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 [Funny because yesterday we called at LeClerc and my usual four tins of Felix éminces in gelée for our cats were actually €1,10 CHEAPER than both of our local Super U where I would buy it cheaper normally than LeClerc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 No tolls in Brittany west of Rennes Péage nor TGV high speed but that is changing next year when Brest to Paris will be 3hrs hopefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 [quote user="idun"]I am now going to touch wood, as I have never yet had a bad experience on the M25 (yet!) and we always used the eastern section when driving from the North to Dover or Folkestone. AND occassionally the western one when going to visit friends in Mortlake.We have had bad experiences in traffic in Lyons and in Paris though. Hit these cities like any other city and there are holdups that can go on and on and on for a very long time.[/quote]When I had Xerox as a client I would spend many an hour travelling two or three miles on the M25 in the morning. I guess it depends what day and what time of day you hit it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickP Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 idun wrote I am now going to touch wood, as I have never yet had a bad experience on the M25 (yet!) and we always used the eastern section when driving from the North to Dover or Folkestone. AND occassionally the western one when going to visit friends in Mortlake.You must be the only people in the UK then with that experience of the M25. I live in the south and use it at all times and it's a nightmare. It's an absolute pleasure to get onto the A16 then the A28 to Le Mans even if you do have to pay, well worth it! [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I will second that comment.I mostly used the M20 which can be a nightmare sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 [quote user="Simon-come-lately"]I'm more than happy to pay the road tolls if France!The standard and maintenance of autoroutes in France makes the UK look pretty much third world.Apart form the peak holiday periods - the autoroutes are rarely packed and are a pleasure to drive on.I dread to think how many hours, days, months and perhaps years of my life I completely wasted on the M25! Miserable human experience....Simon :-)[/quote]I will second that but The M20 could be a nightmare sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprogster Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 If you are going to compare like with like congestion, you should be comparing the London orbital motorway with the Paris autoroutes!Amuses me that very often posters are comparing their part of rural France, with metropolitan areas of the UK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Like many things in life it boils down to timing doesn't it. We always tried to time London when it was not rush hour and succeeded. AND unless there had been a big accident then we never expected to get held up.The strangest thing that happened to us was about five / six years ago, heading towards Dover. We used the M25 went over the Dartford Bridge which was had huge hold ups in the other direction, but normal flow on our side. Got onto the Dover road and at one point I looked around and our car was the only one on our side of the carriage way, nothing to be seen in front or behind, and not much heading towards London either. Didn't last long, but for a few minutes that was what it was like. We got to Dover early. Caught an early ferry. We had booked to stay in Reims, but I cancelled and we just kept driving, swopping all the time and got home in the early hours. We hadn't done that since we were 'young'. We have been held up further north in England, on the A1 in the south and not too far from the M11. And then further north still on the A1 near the Pontefract turn off. The worst place I personally know for being held up is the A1 around Newcastle upon Tyne, now I have spent a lot of time on that road and that never seemed to have a 'time' to get congested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 [quote user="Val_2"]and every year for as long as I can remember, the local shops and supermarkets increase their food prices sometimes by 150% to make their profit now. Unfortunately the visitor numbers are well down this summer but there are plenty of [/quote]So I hadn't misremembered it being more expensive. I remembering holidaying with friends in the Morbihan and the men went shopping. I could not believe how much they had spent, the list ignored completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I did two shops the other weekend. One in Lidl whereby the trolley was overflowing and I had an electrical item, alcohol, lots of meat and other non-food items as well and that came to €146 approx. Called into Super U along the road for the items I cannot get in Lidl, didn't even cover the bottom of the trolley hardly and that was €120 approx and mostly cat food,biscuits and litter and some bread and yeast; ,no meat nor alcohol or toiletries. I can imagine its very hard for UK derived financies which must alter each month, to be able to buy much now other than the necessities of life. I see today too, carburants have crept back up to where they were last month after a tiny decrease,again to hit the visitors who provide most around here with income one way or another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon-the-censored Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 [quote user="Sprogster"]If you are going to compare like with like congestion, you should be comparing the London orbital motorway with the Paris autoroutes! Amuses me that very often posters are comparing their part of rural France, with metropolitan areas of the UK![/quote] Toulouse = ''metropolitan area'' of FranceSimon :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgina Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Conclusion: I am in the wrong part of France[:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plod Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 The rocade of Toulouse is famous for its jams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 [quote user="Val_2"]I did two shops the other weekend. One in Lidl whereby the trolley was overflowing and I had an electrical item, alcohol, lots of meat and other non-food items as well and that came to €146 approx. Called into Super U along the road for the items I cannot get in Lidl, didn't even cover the bottom of the trolley hardly and that was €120 approx and mostly cat food,biscuits and litter and some bread and yeast; ,no meat nor alcohol or toiletries. I can imagine its very hard for UK derived financies which must alter each month, to be able to buy much now other than the necessities of life. I see today too, carburants have crept back up to where they were last month after a tiny decrease,again to hit the visitors who provide most around here with income one way or another.[/quote]I have found that the prices do go up this time of year where I am not far from Pontivy. Having said that 3 Canard fillets for 12 euros today.similar price to what they were 3-4 years ago.I used to buy them when I came to our holiday home at Pont Aven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 [quote user="plod"]The rocade of Toulouse is famous for its jams.[/quote]I have never been to Toulouse but the Bordeaux rocade can be nasty. In fact, it's worse when you leave the rocade to go over the Pont d'Acquitaine. The road goes into four lanes and that's fine until they start overtaking you on BOTH sides, even after you have indicated you were going to pull into the right and let all the impatient people get past!And that's also not too bad in good weather but, when it's misty and rainy and you can barely see, it's seriously scary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Riff-Raff Element Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Just got seven damn great melons direct from the producer just up the road for the princely sum of €5. That's quite good. If you are fond of melons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 We used to get wagons full of melons coming round, direct from the producers and they were very expensive. We were a distance from the producers though.You live near the producers, so yes, take advantage. Proximity didn't work in our favour either as the vin de savoie, was on our doorstep, but we never got that 'cheap' either[:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audio Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 [quote user="idun"]You live near the producers, so yes, take advantage. Proximity didn't work in our favour either as the vin de savoie, was on our doorstep, but we never got that 'cheap' either[:-))][/quote]My next door neighbour, a farmer came to me crying his eyes out last year clutching a weed saying all his 70,000 cabbages had a disease of some sort. All this came about after his cows ran amok in my garden and he thought I was going to claim damages, I didn’t. The end result? He harvested all of his very healthy 70,000 cabbages and gave me zero for the damage his cows caused.I'm waiting for the next time the cows pop over, a nice steak perhaps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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