Route from Boulogne to the Dordogne

[Organiste Titulaire]

Hello

I'm travelling to the Dordogne on 1st June, sailing Speedferries at 14.20  then staying in a "Le B+B" just off the motorway at Orleans.

Can anyone advise on the best route from Boulogne? - Via Paris or via Rouen / Evereux etc?  I've not yet had the pleasure of driving on the Paris peripherique, so wondered about the alternatives. Is there much in it?

Any other advice about this drive? Good pints, bad points?

Thanks

Neil

[PeterG]

I would be tempted to do the Rouen route especially as it will be a Friday when you are going round Paris. It took us nearly 3 hours once just to get round Paris, on a Friday. I would also be off early in the morning as it is bad through Saltaire and Bradford 8:30 ish.

[monaco]

Definitely Rouen, Chartres to Orleans.  The road is practically empty.  I would do anything to avoid the Paris ring road system. Unless you know exactly where you want to go, you can end up having to cross three lanes of French drivers to get into the correct lane for Bordeaux.  If you can arrange your times, stop at Chartres for Lunch - it is such a lovely town.

[Hoddy]

This has been discussed lots of times and the answer always seems to be Rouen and Dreux; it's the one we always use. As for Saltaire - watch out for the rain.

Hoddy

[powerdesal]

Why go the long way round from Clitheroe, use the M6.

[Jacqui Too]

We are off to our house near Perigueux next Thursday, and useing the Eurotunnel for the first time, we are taking the 11.16 pm  and we were hopeing to hit the Paris peripherique (spelling?)  at about 3.00 am and thought this was a more direct route, has anyone done this at this time of night?

We will be towing a large caravan, are we mad to go this way or should we find another route? [:$]

Chipie

[josa]

Rouen is better - BUT - watch out for speed traps - only time I have ever been caught speeding was just outside Rouen -  (and I know for all you "holier thn thou" folks out there I shouldn't have been going 1 KM over the limit - nothing to do with how safe you are!! - but I hold my hands up and accept I am a menace and danger to society)  - and I have seen a lot of gendermes on motorcycles (nice ones - Yammies - altough I prefer a big Honda) - chasing down speeders in that area - as has my friend who travels from Limoges to Calais regularly - Rouen is best, but not "friendly"  --  and don't worry naggers - I am in sackcloth and ashes and certainly don't accept speeding as a good thing so don't have a go at me on that basis.

Defensive posting or what!!!! -  this forum is becoming too PC!!!

JD

[Ford Anglia]

Chipie: I'd still do Rouen, Evreux, Dreux, Chartres, Orleans.

At that time of night the roads are empty.

I even know a good route across from Chartres to Orleans that misses out the N154 now, and although a bit twistier, can be quicker during the day when there are plenty of HGV about.

[Organiste Titulaire]

Being in Clitheroe, I was planning to use the M6. The author of the second posting in this topic probably presumed that I was nearer to Yorkshire than Lancashire!!

NS

[Ford Anglia]

[quote user="Organiste Titulaire"]Being in Clitheroe, I was planning to use the M6. The author of the second posting in this topic probably presumed that I was nearer to Yorkshire than Lancashire!!

NS
[/quote]

He probably assumed you WISHED you were[:P]

[monaco]

I was also caught by the speed camera at Neufchatel, hurrying to catch the ferry at Boulogne. Do study the road map around Rouen before you leave, as it can be a bit complicated.  You start out heading for Paris and then diverge towards  Evreux.  The ring road is a bit tortuous, but nothing like as bad as Paris.  I used to live in Monaco and I was so desperate to avoid Paris that I found a route to the East, using Melun and Meaux.   Paris at 3 a.m. might not be so bad though

[WJT]

I have never understood why the French don't have a by-pass of Paris. I would imagine it's as bad for the Parisians with the passing traffic as it is to the ones that have to go through Paris to get anywhere north.

We always go through Paris to or from Dordogne even with the nightmare of Paris itself, we find it much more direct and faster. But we are located in SE Dordogne for those in the NW Dordogne, I could see where it may be better, even though apparently Hoddy disagrees with me. [:)]

[P]

We have only driven down to the SW once so far (and it was with a LWB Luton). We hit Paris at about midday on a Saturday and had no problems - the traffic flowed well and there were no arguements with the navigator - because we had invested in a TomTom One Europe. This device made sure I knew where I needed to be on the road for slip roads etc. Without it I am sure there would have been a lot of confusion and rows.

Our return journey saw us sail round Paris with very little traffic BUT going the other way the traffic was nicely jammed.

Invest in a £200 navigation system and driving will be so much easier. The other advantage is if you want to stray from the route you can and it will just keep recalculating the route. Especially handy when roads are closed for markets etc.

Paul

[Jacqui Too]

[quote user="P"] because we had invested in a TomTom One Europe. This device made sure I knew where I needed to be on the road for slip roads etc. Without it I am sure there would have been a lot of confusion and rows.Paul[/quote]

Thanks for the advice but we already have a Tom Tom One with the French map, bought it last year for the trip Caen - Dordogne, but I am afraid 'Jane' is not always sure where she is[:-))]

See this also:

 http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/875280/ShowPost.aspx

We are going to try the Paris route on the way down because its the middle of the night, and as we do not have the caravan on the way home we can chose a more 'scenic' route if we like.

Chipie

[mattjazz]

Ford Anglia, Whats the route from Chartres to Orleans that misses out the N154? It can get a bit heavy with HGV.

[monaco]

They HAVE  got a ring round - the outer peripherique and it is horrific!

[pogo]

Well, I am about to become (more?) unpopular.It seems that most on this thread prefer the Rouen route to Paris.Although I find it a more pleasent drive(and motorbike ride),I have found that you can't beat Paris for speed most times of the day,and especially night.There is the Periferique(?spelling),then the outer ring road from Airport C de G to Orly,(just follow the signs south to Bordeaux or north to Lille),and if it is rush hour,there is the outer,outer ring road from C de G again ,passing Disneyland Paris, to Evry and the A20.I have been stuck in traffic around Paris for an hour,but I have also been stuck in Rouen for an hour,and crawled up to,and through Dreux.I have done the Rouen route in 6 hours on the motorbike only,but regularly do the Paris route in under 6 in a car,and  have done it in (ahem!) 5 hours at night[:$](from Creuse). Ok You Paris haters.Your turn[:P] pogo

P.S. This may be a more difficult answer to find than 'What is the best car' 'what is the best football team' and 'should the toilet seat be left up or down' (easy, UP!)

[Ford Anglia]

[quote user="mattjazz"]Ford Anglia, Whats the route from Chartres to Orleans that misses out the N154? It can get a bit heavy with HGV.[/quote]

Leave the Chartres ring road  at the junction BEFORE the N154, look for a white sign pointing to "Voves". The slip road joins the D29, turn right at the "T" junction at the end of the slip road towards Voves. Continue to Voves.

At Voves, look for signs to "Janville". It's the D10. Follow this road to the N154 where it crosses it at Allaines.

Here you can either join the A10, or do as I do and continue down the N154 joining the A10 at Artenay.

Allaines to Artenay seems to have very few HGVs .

Once I'd done the Voves route, I use it most times now. It has villages but VERY little traffic, so 90kph is easy away from the villages.