Kent to bandol in a t2

[Bigbear]

Hi all, the wife and I are currently planning this years holiday, were planning on visiting my wife's grandmother in Bandol in the south of France and introducing her to her great granddaughter and driving there and back with our little girl in our westy. I'm after any advice from anyone that's done this journey or similar in the past? We don't really want to follow the motorways and pay the payages all the way although we know it's not possible all the way.
So mainly any costs we should consider? Any particularly nice routes to take? Any decent campsites that are at a good stop off point? (We're stopping at Lyon for one night on the way there and on the way back as we have family there as well)

My van is a standard 1600 westy with full interior, there'll be two adults and one child inside as well as the usual camping gear. What should I be expecting mpg? (Ballpark)

Any help or advice is appreciated guys, cheers.

Brett.

 

[*Sam*]

Clem is a regular to this sort of motoring, perhaps drop him a PM

 

[Tofufi]

Go for it, you'll have a great time. If the van is well maintained and serviced, you shouldn't have any troubles.

Can't help for specific campsites, but all the sites we stayed at in both Spain and France were clean and had good facilities - it was unusual to find one without a pool, and the prices were very good.

When I went in 2013 we took the ferry down to Bilbao/Santander, and then took the scenic route across the Pyrenees each way to near Narbonne - it avoided driving through the more boring areas of northern France, so I'd recommend considering it if you're heading towards Spain. It's probably better for me than you, as I'm coming from the south-west UK

Driving in France is fine, although I found French drivers more likely to tailgate and less likely to overtake than their Spanish counterparts...

I averaged 25MPG, although my engine was on its last legs and I've rebuilt it since. I'd hope for 28-30MPG if you're not in a hurry

Let us know how you get on 8)
I'd love to head back to France this year in the camper

 

[weeboll]

we did down to Lyon a few years back, lovely drive and my advice would be to take it slow and stop plenty of times.

from memory we stopped at Laon (1 yr old got cranky) then to Epernay on small roads - great scenery andgreat municipal campsite in the middle of the champage region ( stay two nights and enjoy some tasting), then a stop in Troyes for lunch which is a great medieval place, camped near Dijon, d947 road to Beaune for lunch (another amazing tiny roads medieval place, then a6 Macon for the evening.

that gets you about halfway to Bandol in 2-4 nights depending on if your in a rush or want to enjoy your lunch. we took it slow because our boy was one yr old and we had to put an awning up each stop for the travel cot/cooking/nappy changing etc

when we then tried to get across to la Rochelle in one night we found kid got cranky, we got cranky and the journey whilst faster was nothing like as much fun!

 

[Bigbear]

I'd quite like to spend no longer than 3-4hrs driving each day maximum, stopping at a few interesting places on the way there and try to find a different route for the return journey . Our daughter will be three by the time we go so shouldn't be too moody with being cooped up in the van , I've not even looked at a map yet to plot a route so any interesting places that people can recommend may determine our route.

 

[Clem]

Ive driven the the Cote D'Azur a few times now, its easily(?) doable in a bay window but dont underestimate the distance.

When we go, we sail/chunnel in the afternoon, and then aim to get to Riems for an overnight stop, thats about 3 hours or so from Calais. The next day will be a full days drive and we would stop probably in the vicinity of Lyon. The next day will see us on the south coast by late afternoon/early evening. Thats on the autoroutes consistently and maintaining a decent average speed. It depends on the time you have available, but we have always focussed on getting down to the South and enjoying the holiday there rather than meandering there and back. Its such a long way that I think you have to focus and get to destinations unless you want to drive longish distances every day of your holiday. Its costly and monotonous on the Autoroutes, but I offset the toll costs (in my mind) by maintaining a better average MPG, and also a night or two free camping in the aires along the way. Its tiring, but I find the stop - start of town to town driving moreso and annoying.

Horses for courses and all that Have a great trip either way!

Edit - Just noticed youre in Kent - that helps! We have to drive 200 miles just to get the chunnel or ferry! :lol:

 

[colinvw]

I drive yearly from calais to alps for skiing and coteda in summer in family motor. Takes 7 hrs on toll roads to lyon 700km, and thats going around 110-130kmh. Then another 4-5hrs til Port Grimaud, if traffic ok. Not much fun on tolls, but quickest route from a to b. I'd like to,do the journey in the t2, and going on overnight ferry from portsmouth does have its advantages, but huge price difference, never seemed to work for me. Great thing driving in france are the aires. Everyone stops and sleeps in their vehicles. Just stick to bigger aires with service station/restaurants to feel safe in surroundings.


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[71Westy]

I'd recommend proper aires in towns and villages and some extra security.

I used to have a motorhome and we were robbed when we stayed in a services on an autoroute (near Metz). I thought all this "we were gassed and robbed" was an urban legend as I had not actually met someone who it had happened to. Just in case I had installed extra locks on the doors and storage hatch, and tied the front doors together with a web strap. At around 6am, with the family asleep, they forced the lock on the drivers door, but couldn't open it. So they cut the rubber around the quartlerlight glass and removed it, then cut the webbing strap. Once in, they disturbed my wife so used some form of chemical on a cloth over her face to knock her out (she was very groggy for a day and had a rash on her face for a week afterwards). They took her handbag with all of our passports, credit cards, driving licences etc. The police were not surprised as this was a regular occurrence apparently.

Please do not let that put you off - I upgraded to a steel wire to keep the doors together and stayed only in campsites and have toured Europe fine since. Crime in France does appear to vary greatly - we have a house near Limoges and crime and graffiti appear very low. Around Bandol (I spent a week there two years ago) it seems higher - we were warned about leaving our car in certain car parks but the broken glass on the ground was a giveaway.... but it was just the same in the Brecon Beacons....

Nick

 

[isay]

We have driven down south for the last 2 years, Sete and last year Argeles-sur-Mere. 2 Adults, 3 young children. I would say don't underestimate the distance and how slow the bus (our bus!) is

We stopped every 2 hours on average, for the kids to stretch legs, eat etc and to give the bus a break. We stayed mainly on the autoroutes, the driving is easy and just to cover the distance, and then dived into villages and stopped at hotels en route. We took 3 days to get down to the south, which felt about right and not too rushed. Also have a Liber-T tag, so you can drive through the Payage (as long as you don't have too much on the roof rack!). Last year we came back with just one overnight stop, and that was really too much - resulting in top end rebuild.. :lol:

It's a great trip, would totally recommend it in a bay!

Couple of pics, takes me back and reminds me I need to book something up for this year!

 

[lasty]

Brilliant trip - I love that area and have driven down probably a dozen times , mainly to watch the racing at `circuit Paul Ricard` , up in the hills above Bandol .

Steady 55-60 all the way and you`ll have a ball !

It`s worth getting on the peage south of Lyon as it gets twisty on the RN and the peage will give the van an easier time in the heat ...

Enjoy

 

[71Westy]

Ooh, forgot to say - if you going down past Marseilles, the Carrieres de Lumieres is brilliant IMHO

http://carrieres-lumieres.com/en/home" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cheers,
Nick