 Poster: A snowHead
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pam w, Not tried the new LD Lines route from Portsmouth to Le Havre as I to only live a short distance from the port and used to always go P+O, going on Brittany Ferries to Caen this year, not tried them before as prior to that there was a Stena crossing from Southampton...............
Anyone use Brittany Ferries regularly?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| pam w wrote: |
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Are you all driving Merc estates or Range Rovers?
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certainly not, can't imagine why people use gas guzzling Range Rovers to drive down French autoroutes to the Alps. And if I had bought a Range Rover I wouldn't have been able to afford an apartment in the Alps! I drive back and forth in a 1996 Toyota which has now done 128,000 miles without a murmur. As others have said, a cruise down empty autoroutes is a lot less strain on a car than doing the school runs and shopping at Tescos, constantly stopping and starting and manoevring with a cold engine. We don't thrash - keep it around 80 mph and the rev counter is rarely above 3500 and we get 39 - 40 mpg (petrol). But I wouldn't do it without a good European breakdown cover (not in any age of car, as Helen Beaumont said). I am planning a route for our next trip, at the end of February, which would be autoroute to St Quentin, as it's sooooo boring, then using RNs down through the more interesting areas to Dole, then across the Jura to Geneva. Though if the Jura mountains had a lot of fresh snow I would think again. The tolls are so expensive that the saving would pay for a very pleasant dinner and stopover in a nice hotel somewhere about Dole - can anyone recommend a characterful and inexpensive hotel or chambres d'hote in that area?
I have wondered about Telepeage but never yet having to cope with any more than two or three cars at a toll station have not thought it worthwhile. Don't do it on busy Saturdays... the whole point of self drive is flexibility and not travelling with lemmings.
The demise of P & O ferries from Portsmouth is a blow as we live 12 minutes from the ferryport and I hate the M25 to Dover. Has anyone tried the new French alternative from Portsmouth - Le Havre? P & O do not take Tesco vouchers on the Dover - Calais route, though Eurotunnel do, so they now get our business. Even without having to pay for the crossing, it is quite expensive to drive. But hiring a car for weeks at a time is just too expensive, so for long trips there's not much choice. I can't cope with supermarket shopping for an apartment full of people without a car.
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I have just invested in telepeage, €20.00 deposit for the tag and no queues to worry about!
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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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To anyone is tempted by driving; give it a go. Then you can contribute to next years driving discussion  . Do it for the fun not the money!
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I think there may be a height restriction on the telepeage booths, meaning that SUVs and people carriers with roofboxes won't be able to use them.
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The only reason we do it is so that we can take our two Huskies with us as its much cheaper to fly there. At present it costs us £600 just to simply drive to the resort !!
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| boredsurfin wrote: |
| skinutter, By the kids earphones ! |
Yeah he'd eat them at the mo but in time definately!!!!!!!!
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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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| Mouth wrote: |
| boredsurfin, or give then a job to do like paying the peage????? |
Good idea actually - hadn't thought of that.....though at the moment same problem as above 
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I really love the idea of driving down to the slopes, there's something romantic about it. Only problem is I'll definitely have to get a set of snow tyres, and for that I'll need a spare set of rims. Which already makes it veeery veeery expensive.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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magriggs, Why not keep the same rims and change between Summer and Winter tyres in say December /April ? Not sure if anyone offers to store them in UK but Kwik-fit companies in France and Switzerland provide that service, so you might try them.
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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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Chris Brookes, thats why we do it now, for the dog, esp if we are going for 2 weeks. We have a nice meal on the way down, and usually a nice hotel too.
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magriggs, Winter tyres are a real confidence booster! Istore my summer tyres and will put them back on the same rims in May.
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You know it makes sense.
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| magriggs wrote: |
| I really love the idea of driving down to the slopes, there's something romantic about it. Only problem is I'll definitely have to get a set of snow tyres, and for that I'll need a spare set of rims. Which already makes it veeery veeery expensive. |
Steel rims shouldn't be expensive, very few cars will need to use alloys in the winter.
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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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The alloys fitted at the mo are much too expensive/pretty to expose to snow/salt/snowchains. My idea was to buy a cheap set of used alloys, at the recommended manufacturer dimensions for snow tyres. Of course, "cheap" is a relative term, with a set of used wheels coming in at £300 and four tyres at around £1000...
I don't think it's possible to get steel wheels for my car, although it would be worth investigating.
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Poster: A snowHead
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bobbins, another double post.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| magriggs wrote: |
The alloys fitted at the mo are much too expensive/pretty to expose to snow/salt/snowchains. My idea was to buy a cheap set of used alloys, at the recommended manufacturer dimensions for snow tyres. Of course, "cheap" is a relative term, with a set of used wheels coming in at £300 and four tyres at around £1000...
I don't think it's possible to get steel wheels for my car, although it would be worth investigating. |
what sort of car is it?
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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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magriggs, snow and salt shouldn't affect your alloys, and you can get chains of one sort or another which can be safely fitted to pretty much any wheel/tyre combination. Someone's probably mentioned them already, but Spikes Spiders are excellent, don't touch the wheel at all. Pricey, though, to buy or hire (but cheaper than new wheels and tyres, and you'd still probably need chains).
I shouldn't worry too much about your alloys. Although they are no doubt pricey to buy, they're probably worth little. You'll scrape them on something soon enough.
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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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Try ebay for steel rims.
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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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What I really need is somewhere nice and warm and safe to park at the bottom of the mountain, and then use some other convenient means of transport to get to the ski field.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| magriggs wrote: |
The alloys fitted at the mo are much too expensive/pretty to expose to snow/salt/snowchains. My idea was to buy a cheap set of used alloys, at the recommended manufacturer dimensions for snow tyres. Of course, "cheap" is a relative term, with a set of used wheels coming in at £300 and four tyres at around £1000...
I don't think it's possible to get steel wheels for my car, although it would be worth investigating. |
ouch!! I have an Audi A4 Quattro and my 4 winter tyres were only 380Euro!!! (and good winter tyres at that ,online of course  What are you driving that costs almost 400Euro/tyre ?
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Just roughly priced them, and the rears are £200 and fronts £150. So £700 plus fitting and balancing. And £300 or so for the wheels. Still not cheap
edit: I don't appear to be able to add.
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magriggs, have you tried some of the internet sites? mytyres.com and blackcircles.com . I have bought my last 2 lots of tyres from one or the other.
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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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Yup, got the prices from Mytyres. Cheers
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Just caught up with this thread! Drove to St Anton from Birmingham in Jan 2005. Great experience! On the way back, we set off at 7.30am local time and were back in Birmingham at 9.10pm.
Over New Year 2006, we went to Lech. We didn't drive (all the way). We set off from Birmingham at about 5.30am and drove to Luton. Flew Helvetic to Zurich, got the train to the central station, then trained it to Langen am Arlberg, then taxied to Lech. Got to Lech at about 4.30 pm local time. Got all the hire stuff sorted that afternoon.
There were no hold ups on the driving and flying experiences, but the humping of heavy cases, boot bags (no skis) and hand luggage from airport to train and then train to train and taxi was a real downer, particularly for wife and daughter. If we go to the Arlberg again (which we will!) and there are 4, not 5 of us, driving may be the best option Alternatively we could seek out flights to Innsbruck, or take the Arlberg Express (coach) from Zurich if we fly on a Friday or Saturday.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Its also an adventure driving to the Alps specially if you get lost
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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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Helen Beaumont, Yes, you're right - the height restriction is usually 2 metres in the télépéage lanes
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Chris Brookes, I've ordered the TomTom maps of europe card, so getting lost hopefully won't happen
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You know it makes sense.
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magriggs, make sure you order them from ebay,our friends have just received them and saved a small fortune
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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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Patch, Helen Beaumont, I just drove back from Alpe D'huez (yesterday), can also confirm Telepeage height restrictions of 2.0mtr. With the top box on my Voyager is 2.2 so no telepeage for me 
However, we left the resort at 19:30, drove throigh the night changing drivers every 2-3 hours, had an hour wait (at 5.30 am) at the tunnel and got back to Leicester at 9.30. Saw hardly any traffic in France (on the 'busiest' Saturday of the year) and not much more in the UK, even the M25 was clear.
My advice, if two of you can drive, is do an overnight stop on the way down, they're fun! but come back in one go, and have all of Sunday to unpack.
BTW wed/thur/fri Alpe d'huez had three dumps of about half a meter (each!) Pistes were amazing (like off piste really) and I got to use snow chains for the first time when we left - no problems.
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Poster: A snowHead
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AxsMan, too far to drive back to Durham in one go.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Helen Beaumont, Yeah, that sounds like an overnight both ways to me!
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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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AxsMan, definitely. Now we have our own apartment, we can be flexible about when we leave too, so might leave Thursday or Friday. Going out we do Sunday crossing arriving Monday if we're going for 2 weeks.
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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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My only advice is- at the peage make sure you stop level with the ticket machine. In a right hand drive car its easy to pull up before it and stand around like an idiot on the busiest weekend of the French holiday with huge queues forming behind you, and wondering why the machine won't give you a ticket.......
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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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and don't stop in burgundy and let your passenger taste wine in Beaune, as he's likely to lose the peage ticket when you stop for the loo. They then charge you from Marseille when you get to Calais later that evening.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Helen Beaumont, LOL, that sounds like the voice of experience
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Helen Beaumont, ouch. Details on how to get the telepeage system can be found here....No tickets involved  www.sanef.fr
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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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Chris Brookes, I cancelled and decided to buy a GO 700 instead, which comes with full European maps. It was cheaper than the TomTom ONE that I bought at the SD card upgrade from TomTom (£180!!!!). I'm not willing to trust eBay for that, as there are two versions of the European maps knocking around. If anyone wants a TomTom ONE at well below shop price (£190 vs £250) then let me know.
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magriggs, good choice. My friend purchased the maps on ebay for £20 through a recommendation, they are perfect but i agree its pot luck on ebay. Each year we have travelled to the Alps we have printed the route from the AA and always got lost so hopefully next year with TOM TOM NAV we won't. 
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FAQ
If needed I will buy them from a Hypermarket closer to the resort - in America I have was told that in laybys there were people who would put your chains on for you (at a cost 
