 Poster: A snowHead
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Delayed an hour at the eurotunnel today, but I’ll take that considering the carnage at Dover and an otherwise traffic free journey. Just north of Reims tonight and will do our usual Sunday morning blat down tomorrow.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We are on the A5 heading towards our night stop at Dijon. Got on our allocated train at Eurotunnel no problem. Taking a leisurely drive onwards to Val Thorens tomorrow. It means only 6 nights in our accommodation but will ski next Saturday and stop Saturday night in Macon. I’ve found it’s the easiest way to avoid the worst Saturday traffic. Unless you can get Sunday to Sunday accommodation.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Made it to 1800!!!
Lovely easy journey from Auxerre. We didn't set off until 1120am, which meant that all the traffic around Chambéry and Albertville was gone by the time we came through. We could see it on the sat nav but the estimated time progressively dropped as the day went on.
Lost an hour at the end of the day as the sat nav had us turn right to Landry at a roundabout when we should have gone straight on to BSM. We didn't realise until we were all the way up in Vallendry that there was no access as the road between the two is closed in the winter. A lovely chap came over to us when he saw us pulled over looking confused and explained what had happened. Said he sees about 30 people a day doing it. So we had to go back down, into Bourg and then back up the significantly wider and less hairpin-esque road to 1800. A doddle compared to the drive up to Vallendry. It was starting to snow as we came up, so it felt festive, but the roads were completely clear.
Just settling down with a glass of vin (hubby) and a cup of tea (me).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Now tucked up in bed in Selva. Aiming for Santa Croce in the morning after excellent intel gathering by Mr. Pink.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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14 hours door to door, Bucks to Tignes. Easy drive on the whole, apart from a couple of very heavy downpours. Arrived to rain in BSM which turned to light snow just past Ste Foy, and quite a decent amount has fallen during the night. One of the most trouble free journeys we’ve had. Bon ski to all!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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On the road, near Reims on the way to PdS. And Flexi+ ticket on the tunnel saved us. Two hour delays, but we rolled straight on. I was debating the value of it, first time I've buying it, but this gets us to the chalet in time for getting kids to bed, and having an adult dinner, which is key before first day when I need them not to be totally knackered!
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Lots of other Brit cars today. We are all invading!
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Got to Arcs 1950 at about 2pm after an overnight in Beaune, which was great.
Just bumped into Graham Bell in the little supermarket in 1950!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Loads of Brits here in 1800! Definitely more Brits than any other nationality, though I've heard a smattering of French too. Going to be heading over to 1950/2000 more in the afternoons this week as snow down in 1800 is hard work come 2pm.
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In the Maurienne valley 1-10 April
Skied St Francois Longchamp today and it was empty!
Plenty of snow in the last few days too 
Heading to Val Cenis tomorrow - as heard many good things about it
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Does anyone happen to know what wine buying options there will be in Calais on Easter Monday?
Our usual stopoff Majestic appears to have closed but I wonder what other options exist, especially on Easter Monday? I am assuming supermarkets will not be open.
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| jesus wrote: |
Does anyone happen to know what wine buying options there will be in Calais on Easter Monday?
Our usual stopoff Majestic appears to have closed but I wonder what other options exist, especially on Easter Monday? I am assuming supermarkets will not be open. |
Auchan supermarket in Calais is open next Monday so you may well find a few others are as well
https://www.auchan.fr/magasins/hypermarche/calais/s-105
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You know it makes sense.
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| jesus wrote: |
Does anyone happen to know what wine buying options there will be in Calais on Easter Monday?
Our usual stopoff Majestic appears to have closed but I wonder what other options exist, especially on Easter Monday? I am assuming supermarkets will not be open. |
Are you tunnel or ferry? We came back DFDS in January and I was very (pleasantly) surprised by the prices and range, including some high quality stuff, at the shop near the pre-boarding area.
Mrs DJL spent quite a lot!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Drove back from les arcs yesterday. It all started so well. We left the resort at 8:50 and were back in the uk for 18:35 made easy by getting on a shuttle 2 hours before planned.
Then thinks started going downhill.
British motorway driving is much harder than France with terrible lane discipline making driving harder work. Why do drivers not follow the Highway Code. We’d agreed to drop our son off in stoke so it was up the m40 and then m42, m6. From Warwick the motorways were either 1 or 2 lanes or entirely stationary. Speed limits abounded, though oddly little work was actually being done.
We eventually got home at 1:30. 610 miles in France, nine and a half hours. 310 in the uk, seven hours and a lot more stress. Rant over.
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Tue 4-04-23 16:44; edited 1 time in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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Pleasant surprise for April. -8 and snowing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| DJL wrote: |
| jesus wrote: |
Does anyone happen to know what wine buying options there will be in Calais on Easter Monday?
Our usual stopoff Majestic appears to have closed but I wonder what other options exist, especially on Easter Monday? I am assuming supermarkets will not be open. |
Are you tunnel or ferry? We came back DFDS in January and I was very (pleasantly) surprised by the prices and range, including some high quality stuff, at the shop near the pre-boarding area.
Mrs DJL spent quite a lot! |
We are tunnel, picked up some gin on the way out, and thank goodness, as the supermarkets near resort were closed with it being Sunday afternoon, and the Sherpa at Les Eucherts was practically empty. La Ros Carrefour much better.
We will be heading to Auchan on the way home based on the above recommendation!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@BananaBread, Keep that money flying everywhere. This is our first time to Les Arcs and we've been astounded at the cost of everything. We usually budget around £100 a day spending money on holiday. We're reaching £150 to £200 here.
Husband always says he doesn't come on holiday to scrimp, but it's nuts here.
We went to the Sherpa supermarket yesterday. Bought 4 burgers, 4 packs of microwave chips, 2 baguettes, 2 6 pack of Heineken, 3 tomatoes and a bottle of milk. €46. The beer was only €10 of that.
Have an amazing time. It is incredible here. Despite the high costs, we're already planning our return next Easter. But we'll be doing a shop at Aldi before we leave home, or stopping at a big supermarket well outside Les Arcs when we arrive in France. We go to France every summer too, and shop at a large Intermarche, so we're familiar with French prices (expensive fresh fruit, cheap wine), but here is significantly higher.
What village are you staying in?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Check if Pidou is open if you're headed for Calais. It technically serves lorries and therefore has a different licence to other places, and sometimes is open late on Sundays. Bit of a legal fiction.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@jesus, The Calais Wine Superstore, near Majestic, has now reopened, but again not sure whether it will be open. It used to be open on Sundays.
@Owlette, Stop in the valley for your fresh stuff, plenty around Albertville, although we tend to use the one in Aime. Things like pasta etc we take with us - we used to freeze a load of mince and chicken as well but new rules have put an end to that
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@Boris, “ - we used to freeze a load of mince and chicken as well but new rules have put an end to that”
Um. What new rules?
Thinking about the frozen lasagne/chicken curry/beef stew and sausage pie I have made to take with us…
I assume this is blessing from Brexit?
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| Richie_S wrote: |
@Boris, “ - we used to freeze a load of mince and chicken as well but new rules have put an end to that”
Um. What new rules?
Thinking about the frozen lasagne/chicken curry/beef stew and sausage pie I have made to take with us…
I assume this is blessing from Brexit? |
Yep you’re not supposed to take foodstuff into Europe anymore.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@andmelffion, depends on the foodstuff
If you travel to the EU from a non-EU country, you are not allowed to bring any meat or dairy products with you. You can however bring a limited quantity of fruit and vegetables as well as eggs, egg products and honey. Restricted quantities of fish or fish products are also allowed.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Wed 5-04-23 14:03; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| turms2 wrote: |
April 8 -15 in La Plagne...with wife and two kids 5 and 7
Never been there or generelly in france except a week this Januar and some summer skiing in tignes around 2011 i think..
Maybe i will add a day somewhere in the middle Of the way meaning leaving at 04.00 am , skiing a little bit from 10 till 14.00 pm eat sleep and next day further the way to la plagne.
Possible near chamonix but not sure at present |
I live here in La Plagne and he snow is great right now Really fun spring ski conditions. It's quite chilly for April, but it's keeping the snow much firmer. And it's nice and quiet on the slopes - perfect.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Richie_S, Yes it's another Brexit benefit
On various caravan and motorhome forums, this is a regular topic of discussion. General view is, chances are you'll be fine as highly unlikely that anyone will check your cool-box, particularly if it accidentally gets covered over with coats at customs. But, if you are stopped, best case you have to dump your food, worst case a fine and possibly refused entry
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@Owlette, We went down to the Super U last week and it wasn't a big saving over the shop in Arc 1600. Partly there was due to the temptations:
A wonderful fish counter with things we don't see in the UK anymore like clams, cockles, langostine, crab and a variety of fish
A butchery counter with an interesting selections of meat you don't see in the UK anymore like rabbit
A massive choice of wines - I bought some Alsation wines
A Bakery with some very tempting sweet stuff. I boought my wife a rasbery flan at 24€ that wiped ant any potential savings.
A fresh orange machine. I just had to pay 4€ for a litre of freshly squeezed juice and watch the machine work.
In the end we bought a selection of meats and seafood for the pierrade we had that evening.
Finally there is the Intersport next door. I was sorely tempted by the shiny bits but resited the temptaion and didn't buy that 60m of 8.8mm Beal Opera rope. I did walk out with some wax, however.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@johnE, I went into the Intersport and purchased a nice pair of walking boots on discount - in addition to all the stuff in SuperU - so likewise no savings 
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Boris, Yep! that happend to me in the summer as well
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The sunset is absolutely beautiful. We're in 1800 and I got the most beautiful photo of it setting over Bourg last night. Not sure how to add photos on here though.
If you're comfortable on blues, go to 1800 and get Villards gondola up, then you can hop past La Folie Douce and get Carreley (red and black seats) up to the ridge. There's a panoramic seating area up there with a map of all peaks. It's also where the Les Arcs sign is. You can use your pass to take a photo that will be uploaded immediately to the Yuge app if you have it.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Come on over to the Les Arcs thread. There's loads of recent chatter about blues that are good for nervous skiers as I'm here with a nervous husband. His confidence has massively improved since being here.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@BananaBread, I hate to sound smug, but that is the view is that greets me every moring and evening from my apartment. It is magnificent. One of the mountains you are looking at is the Aiguille des Glaciers. Mont Blanc has the hat on it.
We went into the Cachette hotel last week for a drink. The bar is beautiful but rather sterile. May I suggest you go across to the Abrevoir for an evening drink.They may have a life band on. As for evening meals try the les geneux (out of the hotel door turn right then 50m on the left) or Le Bouche (left out of the door and straight across the square)
@Owlette, You can ski straight down from the Cachette lift to the Carreley, no need to go to the Villards. In fact I think you have to do some walking to get to Villards or cut through the Follie Douce
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks for various replies above re: foodstuff
I plan on being ignorant. Cool box will be at the back of a very full boot.
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Thanks for various replies above re: foodstuff
I plan on being ignorant. Cool box will be at the back of a very full boot.
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@johnE, Fair point. I was thinking of my access from 1800, not Banana's from 1600. For me, it's straight off the top of the escalator.
I've been known to use it this week when I want to get to Vagere, but can't be bothered with the walk up the hill. A nice pootle down the green wakes the legs up and puts me at the top of that hill 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Richie_S wrote: |
Thanks for various replies above re: foodstuff
I plan on being ignorant. Cool box will be at the back of a very full boot. |
Think we may do the same next year.
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Safely ensconced in overnight digs in Dijon.
Journey went incredibly smoothly. St Albans to the other side of the channel in 3 hrs!
We arrived 2hrs early for our planned 13:20 Shuttle and hopped on an earlier train. No undue delay at French passport control. And a very quiet run on the motorway - just over 5 hours driving with one short stop to fill up and walk around.
Hope to be jn resort at Arcs 1950 mid afternoon.
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FAQ
