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French toll costs

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Have a couple of Crystal/Inghams trips booked for next season but given the airport chaos I am thinking about driving for a 3rd trip in March 23. What are the general toll costs for the leg from Calais to bourg area (not sure if this will be the destination). Looking on Google it looks like the toll roads will be approx 3hrs quicker but need to balance this out with toll costs plus there will be a bit of saving on fuel which appears to be approx 100kms shorter by using toll roads.
We will be travelling from Birmingham so I am also thinking about splitting the journey over 2 days each way so recommendations for interesting towns to stay over at would be appreciated.
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Last one way trip, with a doofer, came through at £76.45.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
It is difficult to explain the shock on going from UK to French motorways (or vice versa). The roads you will take are in tip-top condition, go through beautiful countryside, and are usually not busy (often quiet).

Worth every penny IMV.
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Ski lots wrote:
Last one way trip, with a doofer, came through at £76.45.


Doofer?? Is that one of those tag things that just charges you as you drive through the tolls?
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@MogulMonkey, we drove the roads for the first time a few weeks back.

Coming back from Les Arcs cost us £70.99, however we came off the toll road slightly early and headed west on the N42 for the night in the van, then over to Boulogne-sur-Mer and up round the coast up to the train.

We also had a little detour around Troyes to the Parc naturel régional de la Forêt d'Orient, so again probably saved a couple of €'s.

Without doubt, some of the nicest motorways i've driven on, not a single bit of traffic. Road works on the way there and back and pretty much all of them were so they could cut the grass on the verges to keep the roads in nice conditions. Well worth the money.
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@MogulMonkey, Yep
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It is indeed. There is a deposit charge and a usage charge, which makes it slightly less attractive for a one off trip. On the other hand it generally speeds up the journey and means in a right hand drive car you don’t have to wake the passenger or get out of the car at tolls.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
If you put your route into teh Via Michelin planner it will give you the toll costs...
And I'd recommend the Bip'n'Go doofer rather than Sanef as there's no yearly charge, only for the months you use it, and activation is cheaper.
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I'll could give you the definative answer on Wednesday after I drive down to les Arcs tomorrow, but the answer will not be too diffferent from the figure given by mappy.com of 89.9€ each way. It may be a little different due to alternative routes from Djion to Albertville.
Quote:

On the other hand it generally speeds up the journey and means in a right hand drive car you don’t have to wake the passenger or get out of the car at tolls.

I find the time saving quoted by using a autoroute transponder are rather exagerated. It takes about 15 seconds to pick a ticket up (we try and do it without stopping) and between 30 seconds to a minute to pay. Parking closer to the toilet when having a wee wee will save more time. However if you are driving on your own a transponder may be a good idea.

Unless you have a lot of time and want to do a lot of sight seeing on the journey (not great scenery most of the way) I think avoiding the toll roads is a non starter. On the autoroute it takes about 9 to 10 hours from Calais to Bourg st Maurice. Avoiding the motorway will take at least 3 or 4 hours longer.. This means close on 20 hours from Birmingham and that may require an overnight stop, completely obliterating any savings on tolls. A more sensible cost saving would be to take the ferry rather than the tunnel. For our trip next week the ferry was over £150 less than the tunnel. It does, however, take an hour longer and is less frequent.
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@MogulMonkey, Don't try to save on tolls by using ordinary roads.
A few years ago we had a month in France in our Campervan, the first place we wanted to visit was Chamonix, and as we had loads of time decided to use free roads. By half way through the second day of driving I was losing the will to live! Single carriageways had 80kph speed limits, so every slight incline meant changing down from 6th to 5th, every almost non-existent village had a 50kph limit, every town, even if it had a bypass had dozens of roundabouts - never again!
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I have driven back from the French Alps not using the autoroutes at all, took a day longer.

The autoroute costs would depend on which Bourg I was going to.
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@RobinS, Yip, French N roads are great for old fashioned motoring, think plus fours, flat cap and something without a roof in British Racing Green.

If you are on a journey, then the auto routes are fab, as long as you are not on them every day when the bills stack up quickly.

2 hours from Calais there is a fab gite, run by Aga: www.La-besace.fr
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As mentioned, go to Viamichelin website and you can put in not just the route but car details, fuel price, and preferences such as to use autoroutes or not. You'll usually get 2-3 routes suggested with details for each, including distance, drive time, fuel cost and toll costs.

There are a number of suppliers for the toll tags, with each having slightly different charge schedules. So it's worth taking a look and seeing which is best for you. These include Emovis UK, Bip&Go and APRR's Mango Mobilités. There are various others that other SnowHeads have mentioned as well.

If you haven't driven down before, or it's been some time, I wrote a blog piece about things to do ahead of your actual journey, with links to AA and RAC pages etc. titled Self Drive to the Swiss Alps: Preparation - most of it applies equally to the French Alps (other than the Swiss vignette requirement).

A favourite overnight of many SnowHeads is le Val Moret motel/restaurant just past Troyes and only 5 minutes from the Autoroute. It has a swimming pool and sauna and a good but unpretentious restaurant. I like that we can park our car right outside the rooms. It's part of the Logis de France group and if you sign up to the ETIK loyalty scheme you can get points towards a euro discount voucher. It's 428Kms / 4 hours drivetime from Eurotunnel Calais.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I always go Via Lille Luxembourg and bipassing Geneva and usually stop overnight just south of Lux in Thionville ..a room in one of the Formula 1 hotels can be had for about £40 for a double room.t takes a bit longer and an extra100k but from Brum you would have to stop overnight anyway
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Quote:

but from Brum you would have to stop overnight anyway

???
I've done the journey, perhaps 50 times and apart from once when we broke down have never stopped overnight. If you leave Brimingham about 06:00 you can easily be in Les Arcs by 22:00 using the tunnel. Or if you leave after work on the Friday you can be on the slopes Saturday morning. It takes between 14 and 16 hours depending on the holdups at the tunnel.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I think whether you opt to stop overnight or do it in one go, the decision is very much down to the vehicle; budget; personal stamina; making maximum ski time a priority, or not ; and the number of drivers available. How well a non-stop journey goes is also very much affected by the weather. We've done it both ways but always with at least 2 drivers, and at most 5. Over time, we've tended towards making the overnight part of the holiday and become scrupulous about changing driver every 2 hours or so.

We've done non-stop return journeys and thought "Well, that was easy." but we've also hit terrible rain/sleet/freezing fog en route and been really glad we opted to stop overnight. As it stands, I find that around 5-6pm when we stop, I feel that I could happily press on, but it's not until I've unwound, had a drink and a swim that I realise how stressed/fatigued I was. And as we're finishing our nice dinner, reflect that we'd still be in the car.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
So now I am not so sure about the saying ’google is your friend’..it should be Snowheads is your friend!!

So much tried and tested feedback.. I have retired early so may be leaning towards the side of making the journey part of the holiday. @LaForet, I am liking your way of thinking Very Happy
Thank you to all with the wisdom of your experiences.
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@MogulMonkey, if you're trying to avoid the airports, another very relaxing option is to go by train.
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However you plan one of those trips, with winter weather and all the uncertainty that entails, you need to be prepared to change your plans and stop, maybe overnight, rather than press on. I've done the drive lots of times, often on my own, and often without an overnight stop (from Portsmouth, travelling on Eurotunnel). I don't find driving stressful but I do stop religiously every two hours for a coffee and some fresh air. All the research shows a rapid drop off in concentration after two hours, especially at night, and anyone who claims this doesn't apply to them is an idiot. But I've had to make unplanned stops because of fog (horrible freezing fog, had to go into Dijon in the murk and find a hotel) and because of snow which closed all but one lane of the motorway, near Bourg en Bresse and it was just not worth pressing on at 30 mph. Have also planned to stop around Reims, driving north, found the first hotel I tried full and decided not to bother - beautiful clear night, very easy driving conditions, good audiobook to listen to, nobody else to consult. It all depends.....
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We are driving to the Alps on Thursday Very Happy .

How much is diesel in Dunkirk? Is it worth arriving there almost on empty? Puzzled
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Down in the Isere diesel is btween 2.00 and 2.10€ per litre so cheaper than in UK
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@Bergmeister, Link here to the current price of fuel in France https://www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr/. We generally fill up at the last services on the A26 before Calais, St Hilaire-Cottes, just because it's convenient and normally below UK prices and it means I don't have to refuel in UK at motorway prices.

If you are into trying to save some serious money on fuel then for the last few weeks Geant Casino has had a special offer on where they reduce the effective cost per litre to €0.85 per litre on friday and saturday.

It works like this.
Fill up at their pumps, make sure you have a receipt.
Take receipt and card you paid with to customer services in store.
They give you a voucher equivalent to the difference between the price you paid and 85cents per litre.
Use that voucher on a spend of more than 120 euros before the sunday lunchtime.

Current maximum is based on 40 litres fuel so approx 45 euros cash back.

We've used this twice so far this year and hope they keep it up for the next few weeks. This is a link to participating stores this week https://www.geantcasino.fr/landing/carburant-a-1e/
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@MogulMonkey, ViaMichelin.Com will give you the cost of tolls on your route or you can be pedantic and look up the individual stages on the various toll companies websites.

Please don't overlook the big advantage of driving - Flexibility

Your normal T/O holiday is travel Saturday, 6 days skiing, travel home Saturday, do the laundry on Sunday, back to work Monday.

By driving and taking an extra day off work you can turn 6 days skiing into 8 days skiing. Pre-book lift passes.

Take the Friday off work, start travel really early hours of the morning, get to within 20-30 miles of resort and stay in a cheap valley hotel overnight, up early Saturday morning drive up to resort, pick up gear if rented and go skiing. Check in to accommodation late afternoon.

On the Saturday, check out of accommodation, go skiing, late afternoon leave and drive 2-3 hours north then do the bulk of the journey home on the Sunday.
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Quote:

stay in a cheap valley hotel overnight

Just be aware that whilst this plan is a Really Good Plan, you won't be the only person with it....... if it's a busy week, such as half term, all the hotels (and not just the cheap ones) within striking distance of the resort will be booked months in advance for that Friday night.
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On the question of tolls, for those driving for a one week ski holiday the overwhelming consideration is usually journey time. This makes the autoroute the obvious choice.

Now with fuel costs rising around 50% the case for choosing the toll route is even stronger.
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On one journey in heavy snow from France to Switzerland, we elected to take the longer motorway route around Geneva rather than crossing the Jura mountains and at around 5am suddenly encountered a large truck jack-knifed across the autoroute, blocking all lanes - in this position no lights were visible (the driver was ok). Since then, unsurprisingly, we strongly agree with @LaForet on the "2 hours per driver" technique and having done this many times over the years, we have found that having a toll doofer allows the driver to slow down at a toll lane without stopping and then speed up again without waking the sleeping passenger/s which makes a big difference in subsequent driver alertness.

However, the flexibility of having your own transport may have to be balanced against the reliability of your car - I have had a fuel pump fail in an otherwise utterly reliable car which I managed to get repaired in Switzerland rather than repatriated (which appears to be the default option) - it is definitely worth considering breakdown insurance!

Lastly, I hate to ask (because it usually generates a flurry of different views) but have you considered, irrespective of whether you have 4 wheel drive or not, if your tyres are suitable for the alpine portion of your drive (perhaps all-season or winter to cope with heavy rain/slush/ice/snow) and do you need snow chains to get up or down to the resort? I did the drive on summer tyres when much younger and skidded around resort on overnight ice but have used all-season tyres for many years now with snow chains on standby (only used a couple of times in anger - but boy did we need them on those occasions).


Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Mon 4-07-22 11:03; edited 1 time in total
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oui4ski wrote:

However, the flexibility of having your own transport may have to be balanced against the reliability of your car - I have had a fuel pump fail in an otherwise utterly reliable car which I managed to get repaired in Switzerland rather than repatriated (which appears to be the default option) - it is definitely worth considering breakdown insurance!

Lastly, I hate to ask (because it usually generates a flurry of different views) but have you considered, irrespective of whether you have 4 wheel drive or not, if your tyres are suitable for the alpine portion of your drive (perhaps all-season or winter to cope with heavy rain/slush/ice/snow) and do you need snow chains to get up or down to the resort? I did the drive on summer tyres when much younger and skidded around resort on overnight ice but have used all-season tyres for many years now with snow chains on standby (only used a couple of times in anger - but boy did we need them on those occasions).


The original question was about going in March and I did 2500m round Europe in March and found that snow tyres were not necessary, more sun tan lotion!,...but I still have them on and I have driven out to the Alps, in January mainly, over the last 10 years (except last) and have only had to use chains once ...I still take them with me.
I have only done France a few times , mainly going to Italy so through Germany. This year I went out to Italy and then on to the 3 Valleys and came back over the Jura , stopped overnight just before Lux . and then drove back to the UK ..I am on my own and found the drive pretty easy ..of course with stops ...
Driving in Europe is so much more pleasant than in the UK ..so much less traffic ...I have one advantage though ..I am retired and an not in a rush!
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
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Having done the journey repeatedly, and using the excellent "Emovis Tag" available in the UK (https://www.emovis-tag.co.uk/) I can say with some certainty that a return trip in a standard car is £153.50.

This assumes taking all possible toll roads between Calais and BSM in the fastest and most efficient manner possible.

My fuel costs for the return journey Manchester to Serre Chevalier in April 2022 were £370.81 for a 1.6 Diesel Berlingo with four 95 kg persons onboard.

Even with fuel costs where they are, I wouldn't even dream of flying given the current situation. I retain the Berlingo in an MOT'ed and maintained state purely for skiing and continue to get great value and flexibility from it in the winter months.

With four adults on board, the fuel, tolls and ferry become cheaper than the flights and car hire/transfer, and on a personal level I can drive Manchester to Lyon only stopping for fuel every 3.5 hours and dinner on the ferry.

In December we came up with a driving share plan for Manchester to Val Disere, the others fell asleep and I lost track of time and didn't realise how far I'd driven from Calais until we saw the signs for Les Arcs 2000.

My only regret in March/April 2022 was that I ran the journey with winter tires which were not required, but this is always a gamble and I will continue to only drive to the Alps on M+S rated tires.


Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much on Tue 5-07-22 10:17; edited 1 time in total
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Just checked my invoice from my Easter trip, was £150 for a return trip Calais to BSM.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Did my outward trip on the French m-ways using the bip&go tag, but did the return on the (free) German/Belgian autoroutes(Sat 19 March)

I had read some negative reports on the volume of traffic & driving standards but was pleasantly surprised, so worth considering (YMMV however Toofy Grin )

I guess with the cost of fuel etc the free routes may be busier next season
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 Poster: A snowHead
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£390 plus ferry for Uk to Val di Fassa via Karlsruhe and then on to the 3 valleys via the very expensive Italian autostradas and the Frejus tunnel and back to home ...2600 miles in total
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@Bergmeister, We filled up with diesel on the motorway just south of Rheims yesterday and the price was 2.09€ per litre. In UK currency £1.80. For our car this is £11 less than filling up in the UK. Though French motorway service station don't have quite the excessive markup as Uk ones I expect fuel to be less expensive at the hypermarkets.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
We've done South Yorkshire to Tignes a couple of times (would have been more apart from Covid).

Costs - as others have said it's about £150.
Benefits - super easy chilled out driving (particularly if your car has adaptive cruise control....literally the best feature ever invented on my car). I'd also say predictable (as much you can ever be). Certainly far more predictable than getting stuck behind someone on a local road or going through a town.

We've avoided Lyon on the way down both times and cut across from Dijon to Geneva / Annecy (all on tolls). Not sure whether that made it quicker but sat nav thought so both times so we trusted that. We've done 15 hours door to door with 2 drivers on the tunnel and having plenty of proper stops (we could have shaved at least an hour off but we'd have been knackered).

First year, we were going to fly into Chambery as usual but fancied a change and someone recommended a road trip as a nicer experience. Turns out that our flight would have been delayed for 37 hours because of fog in Chambery (was lovely and sunny when we drove through it). I can't see us going back to flying if we're doing France. Combination of easy driving and tiny airports / long transfers makes the trade off an easy decision for us.

Only thing to consider are how you're likely to be if the weather is really bad (we had fog from our front door to about 2 hours into France last time and I was sick of it by the time it cleared). Didn't hugely hold us up as we could still do 70 most of the time but 6 hours of fog isn't great (I drove 4 of that and was glad of breakfast as it was clearing).

Our consideration was trying to work out how long our reasonable worst case trip would be. For us, best case was about 14 hours. Worst case we figured 2 hours delay at the tunnel (for whatever reason), 2 hours extra getting up the mountains if the snow was bad, needed chains putting on etc. Still gave us 18 hours which we thought would be doable for us (2 of us, both enjoy driving, big Volvo estate, comfy seats etc etc - depends what your setup is I guess though).

I think next time we go, we'll pack everything up and leave on Friday night after we've done skiing. We spoke to some lads in our apartments doing it last year and they were driving up to Dijon or something (leaving at about 4ish). I think, for us, it'd be worth doing that and getting a night in an IBIS or something just to shorten the drive back home on the Saturday.
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France currently has a larger fuel price subsidy than the UK.
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Quote:

we'll pack everything up and leave on Friday night after we've done skiing. We spoke to some lads in our apartments doing it last year and they were driving up to Dijon or something

that makes sense, but you can also leave after skiing on Saturday - though that requires organisation to get out of accommodation. The key thing is to avoid arriving in the resort mid afternoon on a Saturday or leaving on Saturday morning and hitting max traffic.
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We've tried every variant. Driving through the night, stopping half way, leaving after work, leaving early etc... We try and avoid doing Saturday/Saturday for obvious reasons. Driving from Manchester we found the best way was a 0400 departure on a friday and gun it to the crossing and go steady, usually landing in a resort for 22:30 ish.

Last time we left on a saturday was Tigne in December. We hit the road at 0400 again to avoid civilians.
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Fuel in Luxembourg is currently 1.96 euros.

Though we have the option coming from Austria of tolls ie turning south at Karlsruhe I just dont see the advantage for us.

We tried it once, roughly 50 euros, and no significant time saving. Yes the roads were much quieter, but boring as hell. Its roughly the same time on sat nav as going N to Namur and west to Dunkirk/Calais.

I topped up last week in Worgl, and it was 1.99. Here in Kirchberg/Kitz is roughly 2.06.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
pam w wrote:
Quote:

we'll pack everything up and leave on Friday night after we've done skiing. We spoke to some lads in our apartments doing it last year and they were driving up to Dijon or something

that makes sense, but you can also leave after skiing on Saturday - though that requires organisation to get out of accommodation. The key thing is to avoid arriving in the resort mid afternoon on a Saturday or leaving on Saturday morning and hitting max traffic.


Yeah - we're very much in the Sunday - Friday skiing category unfortunately. It's me & my dad and I'm using up ALL the brownie points at home as it is leaving my wife with a 3 year old and a dog to contend with.

We left at stupid o'clock on Saturday morning coming back (basically, packed everything up, cleaned the apartment then went to bed for a few hours...then up at 1am and off by 2....meant we've been absolutely ruined by the time we got halfway through France and needed half an hour in a rest area car park asleep at about 6am).

For us, just makes sense to pack up on that last day, get out of the resort and take a bite out of the trip back home....I think it's a mix of skiing and knowing that we'll be hitting London at lunchtime on Saturday that makes the trip back worse than the trip down.
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The last few years our tolls have been: £158.18 (La Clusaz, 2019), £181.50 (Val Thorens, 2019), £142.43 (Les Contamines 2020) and £156.84 (Val Thorens 2022). No idea why there was a huge difference to VT in 2019, trying to remember if we did any massive detours but don't recall!) but French motorways are a piece of cake compared to UK ones and you can cover a lot of distance painlessly.
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Timc wrote:


If you are into trying to save some serious money on fuel then for the last few weeks Geant Casino has had a special offer on where they reduce the effective cost per litre to €0.85 per litre on friday and saturday.


We've used this twice so far this year and hope they keep it up for the next few weeks. This is a link to participating stores this week https://www.geantcasino.fr/landing/carburant-a-1e/


This is a superb tip, thank you @Timc
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