driving to europe

Tony_H wrote:or if you have a timed ticket at the Peage and you have clearly exceded the speed limit by a certai amount - .

That's an urban myth as far as I know, the people that get pulled over at the peage have passed a speed check before it and the police are using it as a convenient road block.

The maths of being able to exceed 130 speed limit significantly over peage distances just defeat it as an effective tactic.

Tony_H wrote:I got flashed by 2 speed cameras in the massif central a few years back, but nothing ever came of it. I found out from a mate in the force that they have no access to DVLA

That changed a couple of years ago, under the Road Safety Act the DVLA can give details to foreign authorities.

Hi,
Taken from a travel in France page.

Driving in France – update
Be warned – the French police are increasingly clamping down on illegal driving practices. You need to be more careful than ever about speeding, especially in the final miles before the tolls at Calais on the A26 and Boulogne on the A16. The gendarmerie sit a few miles back from the tolls with their speed trap and then casually pick you up at the péage booths – a nasty surprise to end your vacation.

Leave enough time and driving in France is still a
pleasure compared to here.
Goff

Speeding will be the last of our worries I think, 6 up, with gear, in a Landy 110.

all above tips,first class, but I reckon best tip of all, is to access last portion of any trip to mountains by 10am latest. By this I mean, if you're likey to enter the mountain pass/tunnel/last 'b' road after this time, you might just as well stop somewhere for the night, 'cos the traffic bottleneck you'll encounter, will negate any headway you've made by doing 140Kph all the way down the autoroute.

The Autoroute Gendarmes were definitely active on the A26 at the weekend. Radar gun in hand sitting in their patrol car at the side of the road. Mind you it was a nice sunny day to be out in Nord Pas de Calais :D
I can't help feeling that it must have been a poor day for them, we saw no-one in a hurry, everyone seemed well chilled :D

If you decide to take 2 days to get there, as we did last year, then stay:
night one - Arras in France. It's the most fantastic town. One hour from the other side of the tunnel only. Book a room/hotel or whatever using hoteldirect.com or laterooms.com etc. Very easy.
Night two - stay in Chamberey or just outside. We stayed in a type of castle which is now a hotel. Fantastic. Also then you only have one day driving a long way. Get to Chamberey and then it's only 40 mins to the slopes the next morning. Also, you get to your destination in plenty of time to book ski school/lift passes, have lunch and a few beers and aren't tired.
Again, the final day of the holiday you can then ski all day (we came down at 5pm), left and drove just 40 mins to the same hotel in reverse. 7 days skiing, but could have skiied the first day too.

Sounds a long way and a lot of time, but we had two kids in the car and they loved the journey. Helped by having twin DVD players in the back (they watched 5 DVDs each, each way!!) and the adults got to watch one too whilst sharing the driving. Fab fun and the journey made the holiday. Wasn't a drag at all.

Hi,

I have driven to the Alps several times, most recently in January with 3 mates. We shared the driving and did it in a day each way. It is a really long way but you can stop for a drink/ excellent food at the motorway services. You really should stock up on cheap food and drink in the Geant hypermarket at Albertville and get cheap clothing at Decathlon (can't miss, J27 of the N90). Self-catering accommodation is available via www.ownersdirect.co.uk.
Make sure you buy chains if you drive or you may get stuck in the resorts. If you have time to stop over on the way/ back it will be nice.
Cost-£145 Eurotunnel, £150 diesel (gazole) and £80 tolls return.

Looking at those costs, its a wonder anyone drives to go skiing. Between 2 or 4 of you, it just doesnt make economical sense compared to what you pay for a package, if you can get a decent deal.