Eurotunnel & French Roads

[littlethatcher]

Has anyone been through the tunnel with their bike ? Any problems or hiccups encountered ? And French roads....... I know that the A roads are the Autoroutes and therefore you pay on them, but what about the E Roads, do you pay to go on them ? I assume E Roads are similar to the A roads ? Any help ?, thanks

[Fiasco]

Hi Mate

Eurotunnel on the bike is a breeze. The only hassle is getting all your tickets, passport etc out at the barrier. Helps to have them all in a tank bag.

If you arrive early just go through anyway, bikes are often moved to the front of the queue, although you will often be held on the platform until they find the ideal space for you to fill. Be careful riding on the train as there is a metal grate down the middle to catch oil leaks, this can be slippy when wet. You will be told to park at a diagonal with your front or rear wheel against the curb, you will be asked to use your side stand.

Then just relax and enjoy the journey, I normally use the time to organise my documents, gear etc.

Once you get to the other side there is a total garage, ideal to fill up and eat some brekky.

Once in France just remember to look left first at all junctions, especially when turning right, I nearly got wiped out within 20 mins of being in France !!

Not sure about the tolls, I set my GPS to avoid them.

Have fun, if you stop in Perronne' beware of a couple of maneaters in the cafe' eh Ghoti ??

Dave ;D

Here's Ghoti on the shuttle

[littlethatcher]

Hi Dave, thanks for that. My plan so far is to got from Poole To Cherbourg and then from there I am going to a lovely hotel out in the sticks near Mayenne. Staying there for 2 nights so that I can go to the MotoGP at Le Mans and then from Le Mans I was headed up for Rouen, and I wish I had checked that bit a little earlier as although I dont particularly want to use the Autobahn on that particular route it is over an hour quicker (according to my beloved TT Rider). But these E Roads I am assuming that you have to pay on them as they seem very similar to the A roads. Any advice for the ferry travel bit, ive already booked it (Obviously, lol) Thanks

[Deleted]

E roads = A roads ;D,
most of the maps I've seen given both A & E letters for the main roads, can cause confusion the first time you see it.
D roads are the bizz, quiet, usually well surfaced and NO tolls ;D

[teffort]

The "E" roads across Europe are part of an international network of major routes and cross national borders. Even UK main routes have designated "E" numbers but our government does not recognise them so you'll never see them signposted. For example the E05 route starts in Glasgow and runs all the way to Algeciras in Southern Spain via Birmingham, Southampton, Le havre, Paris, Bordeaux, Madrid and Seville. E routes will be a combination of Motorways and main trunk roads. "E" routes with 2 digits are reference routes (main routes) and those with 3 digits are intermediate routes. With the major routes, those ending in "5" run North/South and those ending in "0" run East/West.

The French designate their motorways as "A" roads and these are mostly peage (toll) roads. France, like most of mainland European countries, recognises the "E" marking system and dual mark their roads with both the E number and the national number.

[teffort]

With regards motorway toll charges in France - these are quite expensive, even on a bike. For example, to travel from Calais to Bordeaux all by motorway will cost about 42 Euros on a motorcycle. The sections of motorways around major cities are generally free but you'll normally pay everywhere else. Sections where you pay are marked "peage". In general you take a ticket at a barrier at the point where you join the toll and you pay at the end of that toll section or when you leave the motorway. On a bike you'll always need to stop at one of the manned booths to pay and I've always found it easier to pay by credit card to avoid fumbling around for coins. They accept Visa and Mastercard.

The high charges on French motorways mean that traffic is usually fairly light away from city ring roads. They are very useful if you need to cover big mileage in a short time to get somewhere. They are also well served with rest areas and toilets about every 15 miles or so and plenty of places to buy fuel and food.

[covertcodger]

Regarding Toll charges on France roads. From Calais to Le Mans expect to pay about £25. As Fi says, you can set your TTR to avoid them, but I agree with Paul that they do get you to your destination quickly, and the rest/petrol stops (aire de service) are welcome. There is a new Autoroute south of Rouen where the petrol stops are few and far between.

Enjoy your trip.

[Deleted]

One thing we noticed while on the 'Route Nationals' to avoid tolls was all the closed/dissused eating places, probably put out of business by the motorways with services. So if you use the 'N' roads its a good idea to carry some food and drink to avoid searching in the villages, which can be a real chew on a hot day on a fully loaded bike, to be fair there are the occasional snack bars at the rest points but the food choice is limited. I wish we had as many rest points here!

[Ghoti]

For the toll roads, I have some small notes coins in a pouch or small magnetic tank bag and just over the whole bag, pointing to the coins. The people at the booths are always (appear) happy to take out the right money and give you back the bag. That way you dont even have to take gloves off.

I got the idea when I saw a French rider doing this. I dont know if it is standard practice, but seems to work fine.

As for the tunnel (probably too late now), but absolutley fine.

[bobh]

Filling stations are a perennial problem when touring in France, particularly on a bike with a short tank range, and particularly away from the major routes. Most autoroutes have service areas at reasonable intervals, and are good about telling you how far it is from one to the next. These are open 24/7. A few really main non-motorway roads also have motorway-style service areas with a coffee shop, though they may not be open 24-hours.

Everywhere else is a bit of a lottery. Bigger supermarkets in any decent-sized town will generally have pumps, with a manned pay booth during normal opening hours (typically 9-6, but usually closing for lunch between 12-2) accepting cash and UK credit cards. Outside of these hours they are unmanned and will only take French credit cards. Supermarkets are anything up to 10% cheaper than autoroute service areas. Whereas in the UK you might see a sign for “Superstore”, in France look for “Centre Commercial”

Sometimes you will find a manned independent garage in small towns and villages, with daytime opening, but many filling stations have now conveted to unmanned operation, and only the few with the most recent equipment will accept non-French credit cards. As a result, on Sundays or in the evening you can be completely stuck – I’ve known people who’ve had to make an enforced overnight stay because they couldn’t find a filling station which would accept a UK credit card or cash.

Not all motorways are toll. Useful bits of free autoroute and good dual carriageway are the A16 Dunkirk-Calais-Boulogne, the A25 from Dunkirk to Lille and beyond to hook up with the (free) Belgian, German and Dutch motorway networks, the A28 between Abbeville and Rouen and the A154/N154 Rouen-Evreux-Dreux-Chartres-Orleans (they’re still working on that last bit). Further afield there’s the A20 between its junction with the A71 at Vierzon down to Brive (but toll thereafter), chunks of the A77/N7 from Fontainbleu to Nevers (for Magny Cours) and the grandaddy of them all, the A75 from Clermont Ferrand down to the Med at Beziers/Montpellier, though you do have to pay to get over some silly little bridge at Millau.

Hope that's useful - Bob

[phineasdorchester]

We got caught needing fuel on a Sunday a couple of times, in places where the only fuel to be had was from an automated pump that didn't accept UK credit cards. On both occasions a kind local bought fuel for us and we paid them in cash.

It seems they are quite ready to do this for foreign bikers who are stuck, but it's still a better idea to fill up on Saturday night and take a short ride on a Sunday, unless you are near a bigger place of on the autoroute.

In Normandy a few years ago we found it quite hard to find anywhere open for fuel on a Sunday, but I think that might be less common now.

Otherwise riding in France is a real pleasure.

[littlethatcher]

Having recently returned home from my trip to France I thoroughly enjoyed it. As a lot of people sais riding in France is a pleasure. Drivers over there seem far more considerate of bikers then what they are back home. On the Sunday, after leaving Le Mans, I was headed for Rouen, and the easiest and quickest way to get there was on the Autoroute. I have to admit that I wasnt overly keen on the thought of having to use the Autoroutes in France, but as I had had a long day and just really wanted to get to Rouen (and my hotel) fairly quickly the Autoroute was the obvious way to go. Now despite the fact that I had joined the Autoroute at Le Mans and there was obviously thousands of bikers (and I mean 1,000's) the Autoroute was pretty clear. The police had put in a narrow extra lane at the toll entry and exit points of the Autoroute so that meant for that day only we didnt have to pay the toll charge (very handy indeed, but was obviously due to the large numbers of bikers having left Le Mans). All the way up the Autoroute there were bridges with people on waving at all us bikers going along. But all in all I did find the using the Autoroutes a lot easier thn using the motorways over here. Generally over here I am used to using the M5 when I do have to ride on motorways as I live in the West Country, and that in my opinion is one of the UK's quieter motorways. So now I am hopefully going to plan a trip to Valencia in October, so has anybody got tips for riding in Spain, LOL ;D