Not sure how it would fit with your journey, but I'd agree with the Norfolk line suggestion - used them last year after someone here suggested them and they were great. Unhassled and brand new boats. Slighty longer crossing time but I like being at sea!!!
Only warning would be to take care to know where the ferry terminal is on the way back, it took us a while to find it and the signposting isn't great until you're well into the docks. Not a problem you get in Calais!!
-- He\'s a cheeky wind-up scamster and he\'s on the radio....
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98 octane unleaded is available everywhere and, not long ago, was the standard stuff and actually more common than 95.
The good news is, it is normally only a cent or two dearer per litre than 95.
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The only disadvantage with Norfolk Line is that they sail every two hours (compared to 45 mins with P&O and Sea France in the peak hours), and not much if at all past 11.00 pm. If you miss one by a few minutes you wait a long time.
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Done Cadbury World, utterly utterly boring. And that form a man who fights with his wife for the last chocolate crumb,
I would however consider RAF Cosford (20 mins off the M6 via M54) for the cold war museum.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Very interesting TVM, but are you sure you're in the right thread?
:-)
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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P&O advertise prices from 108ukps on the Hull Rotterdam/Zeebrugge but they do not exist they charge around 160 each way total rippoff with terrible food.Norfolk line is fine but it is quicker to go to Calaise and drive to Dunkerque ,both P&O and Sea France are offering prices from 19ukp in reality these cost 21 but they do exist midnight sailings.
GB plate if the police are feeling that way out satnav and camera detctors are best left under the seat give them no reason to stop you especially speeding.
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Andy.....I think I understood what I thought you meant, but what you meant wasn't what I actually thought you said!
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"I used to enjoy motoring in France but haven't been since 2001. Are there any changes in attitude I should be aware of? Do I need a GB plate? Are the French Police as intolerant of GPS systems as they used to be of speed trap warning devices?"
Hawkeye,
Ordinary motorist speaking here but I do go to France about 5 or 6 times per year (and have done for about 10 years - prior to that it was annual trips to continent - once for a month or so in summer then on various occasions through the year for a few days break (including Troyes - don't forget to visit the "designer villages" there for bargain goods)
My short answer to all your questions is "No".
Longer responses are
Chances of being stopped by gendarmes/police are virtually zero - we have been stopped once (in 30 years)and that was by a "new" woman gendarme - they apologised and said they thought we were French (our Xantia I guess) and took no notice of the satnav and had a chat. However, radar detectors are illegal. If satnav with camera warnings are illegal, why does via Michelin include them with their satnavs?
There are a few more speed cameras (but I haven't spotted that many - only one on Nantes by-pass that I can recall)) despite me reading that they are "targetting" Brits in and out of Calais - not spotted scameras or radars near Calais. Anyway, limit on motorways is 81 mph - do you need to go significantly over that?
Theoretically you need a GB plate - a £3.00 magnetic one should solve that, but has anyone been "done" for lack of one?
Choice of ferry/crossing is up to you really - we increasingly use tunnel, esp in winter because wife does not enjoy rough seas and we don't have as far to travel south to Dover/Calais as you but I have to say that journey to channel is the worst bit of a trip to France - congestion, delays etc are usual.
Once in France the roads are very quiet compared to ours, though I would exclude the motorways near Paris and some larger cities (Bordeaux for example) from that. Usually you stick the speedo to 80 mph and get on with it. N roads, and even D roads are incomparibly better than our A and B roads (except in villages where they seem to use potholes as natural speedhumps!). Services on motorways are much better - cheaper, better food, much better coffee and also picnic areas, play areas\for kids etc. Cheap, good quality hotels are available in every town if you need them. Diesel in Feb was just under 1 euro a litre at supermarkets 1.10 or so at petrol stations - treat you car to some BP, Shell etc for less than 75p a litre.
Basically, France for the motorist is much, much better than here.
Enjoy.
--
Phil
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There are a few more speed cameras (but I haven't spotted that many - only one on Nantes by-pass that I can recall)) despite me reading that they are "targetting" Brits in and out of Calais - not spotted scameras or radars near Calais.
Fixed cameras to the north and south Calais they are grey boxes in the central reservation I have been flashed by them with both UK plates and German plates and heard nothing.
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There was a nasty little gendarme with his radar gun out last July on the main motorway into Calais.
There have been spot checks on UK motorists in Calais, police checking for headlight deflectors and GB plates etc. It was in one of the car magazines last year. There was a bloke who got done as his deflectors had fallen off en route, you could still see the sticky patch on the light but he still got fined.
Remember the 130kph (81mph) motorway limit is only in the dry, when raining it drops to 110kph (70mph approx)
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Remember the 130kph (81mph) motorway limit is only in the dry, when raining it drops to 110kph (70mph approx)
Ahhh. So that explains why the UK limit is 70 mph :-)
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On the subject of beam deflectors, does anyone know the current state of play with xenon lights and how to adjust them? I've read some horrors - such as a Seat Alhambra that could be switched for driving on the right...but only after removing the front bumper at a cost in labour of £150. In short, can I specify xenon lights on my next car without storing up an awkward and/or expensive problem for the next time I want to go to France?
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There are a few more speed cameras (but I haven't spotted that many - only one on Nantes by-pass that I can recall)) despite me reading that they are "targetting" Brits in and out of Calais - not spotted scameras or radars near Calais.
There are quite a lot of fixed speed cameras in France. The IGN Carte Nationale 951 lists all fixed camera sites. I find them better than the Michelin maps.
The speed cameras are grey boxes and have a warning sign a short distance before stating : "Pour votre sécurité... Can't remember the rest, but by the time you have noticed this you have reached the camera. I was flashed on an N road three years ago but never heard any more.
If you notice drivers flashing their headlights it usually indicates a speed trap further along the road. This may be some miles away so check your speed.
I still say that Hull to Zeebrugge is the best crossing if travelling from North Yorks.
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If the police are sufficiently bleeding minded,then a GB plate is still required.Irrespective of EU regs. the 1928 law requiring nationality plates has never been rescinded.
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I suspect the greater speeding temptation is on an empty single-carriageway N or D road, where the limit is only 90 km/h. This seems low, but given that a lot of these roads are lined with farm entrances, garden furniture outlets and the like, it pays to be alert to what might suddenly emerge into your path.
Which reminds me. In ten car-based holidays in France, I can't remember one situation where I've had to yield priorité à droite. Even in small towns where I've passed the slashed-diamond sign on the way in, every side road has a stop line. I suppose it must still apply to unmarked junctions away from main roads but although I've been prepared to give way at these, I don't think I've ever had to.
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Believe me, for your own safety, priorite a droite still applies in many parts of France, particularly in towns - and even where it doesn't, many drivers still do it. I've just come back from the southern Dordogne, where it is widespread, many totally unmarked junctions. Keep your eyes peeled for white posts with a red band at the top, which are sometimes all the warning you will get of traffic suddenly pulling out.
Don't forget also that, in towns, priority on roundabouts is often for traffic joining in front of you, not for traffic already on the roundabout. You have to stop to let them on! It sounds mad - it is - and away from town centres the rule is usually as in the UK, give way to traffic already on the roundabout. This often causes huge confusion, as you might imagine.
It's also worth pointing out that uniformed or plain-clothes customs officers (les Douanes) are entitled to stop you - and often do at roadside checks just like the Gendarmes - anywhere within (I think) 50km of a port of entry to France. In practice, because of the number of regional airports, this means virtually anywhere. They tend not to be as friendly and polite as the police and they target vehicles with UK plates, particularly those heading north from Spain or west out of Belgium.
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