 Poster: A snowHead
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We are driving to Bourg from Calais for the night on Sat the 25th March. Then heading up to Tignes first thing on the Sunday for a week. What's the least busy time for traffic heading up to Bourg? I have often got stuck in the afternoon adding hours onto the journey. Do we get the tunnel in the middle of Friday night say 03:00? Or get a 09:00 tunnel and hope traffic has thinned later on? I suspect it's bad all day but worth an ask! Its not French holidays.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I would say before 11am or after 1800. Whilst its not a low peak week, if the weather is nice there won't be that much traffic.
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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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I would say before 11am or after 1800
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+1. I'd aim to get there late - just in time to go to bed. Stop every two hours and make your last stop a dinner stop.
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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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@redthunder, drive overnight and ski on Saturday.
What are the check in times for your accommodation. Often you have to arrive before a certain time unless pre-arranged.
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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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I'm with @Layne, on this one just drive throught the night, but that depends on how many drivers you have. For us to get a 03:00 tunnel we'd have to leave home at 23:00 ish so no chance of any sleep before hand. May as well set off at 18:00 and just keep going. My wife and I usually take turns sleeping and driving.
Having said that we are driving to Les Arcs on the 27th and intend to leave home about 04:00 and get to Les Arcs about 19:00 if we don't encounter a lot of rain. Just planning what talking books to download - or several hours of "More or Less"
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Perhaps the OP already has accommodation booked in BSM? It's not a bad way to do the trip. I've driven through the night - solo - before now but always for some weeks, and do find myself good for very little the following day! I do agree that audio books are the answer!
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Hi
We are driving down to Val Thorens on Sunday 26th March. We are on the 6.20am Eurotunnel and then will drive down pretty much non-stop. Last year I did the same trip to La Plagne and was parked up at 18.00 beer in hand.
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We're driving to Vallandry the same day, our intention (as it is every year) is to hit Aime around 11am. Generally free flowing at this time
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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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@Griggs, you won't leave Calais before 8am French time. If you get to Val Thorens for your beer by 1800 you won't have done it legally.
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@pam w, Leaving Calais at 08:00 and getting to Val Thorens for 18:00 is 10 hours. Driving completely legally we've done it to Les Arcs in nine and a half hours quite often. It takes about the same time to get to Val Thorens. Google maps suggests 9:40 for the journey with quite a bit of roads works on the way at the moment. I cannot see Google advocating breaking the law.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@johnE, Agree you can do it within 10hours legally - however reality is often different depending on traffic, accidents, weather number of stops etc
Our record from Vallandry to South Northants is 13.5 hours, although bits of that weren't legal
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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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@Boris, My record from Les Arcs to Birmingham is 14:30, but all done legally. The big variable is not how fast you drive but how lucky you are with the tunnel. On the record journey we arrived at the tunnel and got straight onto a train. On other occaisions it has taken over 3 hours to get on a train. The second variable, of course is the UK motorways. Getting to the M25 after 22:00 is good, but then you discover they have closed the M42. Both went remarkably well on the record journey.
We normally allow 10 hours for the journey across France. This allows a couple of stops to change driver and have a visit to the toilet plus one refuelling stop.
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@johnE, agree about the tunnel - my non-legal bits were the M40 where I was closer to 80 than 70, rest was driven at speed limits. In a Discovery anything above 80 sees any time savings cancelled out by the need for an additional diesel stop 
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You know it makes sense.
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The key advantage of the overnight UK/Alps drive is that the sunrise wakes you up just as you would otherwise be becoming drowsy. The trouble is, that while your passengers may well be able to enjoy a 9am start on the pistes, and a full day, your ski skills will have deteriorated to beginner/drunkard grade, and it will not be that much fun. You will also be crashed out by 7pm while everyone else has a great first night out on the town. So, the trick is to contrive arrival to about 2pm, when no-one really fancies getting kitted up for skiing,
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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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I had planned to try my snow chains this afternoon - I suspect they might be a bit big for the current car and need some lashing up - but it's now started raining and I'm not that keen. Unlikely to need them in April but not unheard of - sometimes those very wet, heavy, April snow showers make the roads temporarily very slippery.
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Poster: A snowHead
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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, bit random that 
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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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Just planning my journey at the end of the month - not booked a crossing yet. Mulling it all over.
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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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If you’re booked to stay in Bourg then, as the first two replies said, after 6pm Saturday should be okay to have a good run up the last bit.
If you have more flexibility I’ve found leaving the UK mid afternoon Saturday, doing a couple of hours in France….then getting up and leaving promptly Sunday morning, gets us into resort early to mid afternoon Sunday…plenty of time to do a supermarket shop enroute, get settled in, any hire equipment collected etc…..and has consistently provided the quickest and most predictable journey.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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early to mid afternoon Sunday…plenty of time to do a supermarket shop enroute
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Many of the larger supermarkets in France are only open till 12.30 on Sunday, which is ok if you have room for your shopping and maybe a coolbox for anything that needs refrigerating
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@nbt, That’s a good point. The Casino one we usually use is open to 10pm, 7 days a week, but yes important to flag many do shut at lunchtime on a Sunday.
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Many of the larger supermarkets in France are only open till 12.30 on Sunday
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Unless it's changed since I was last there, which is possible as it was pre-Covid, many of the large supermarkets are closed all day Sunday, though those near ski resorts, often slightly smaller ones, tend to be open Sunday mornings.
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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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For example the big shopping centre just beside the road in Albertville is completely closed on Sundays. Just checked.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Wed 15-03-23 17:58; edited 1 time in total
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@crosbie, HAve considered the overnight drive, but personally know it would wipe me out for days. Even though I can share driving, I'm a crap passenger so wouldn't sleep.
With an overnight stop Friday we get into resort for an afternoon ski, which suits us. But does mean we need to take an additional day
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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But you won't have to go at half term any more, @Boris. I can't sleep in the car either - partly because my OH had a problem staying awake, which meant I was always half-alert when he was driving!
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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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Talking of BSM, one thing you can contrive is having arrived at BSM in time for dinner, you can ski from BSM the next day (funicular to Les Arcs), and around 4-5pm you can then head up to Tignes/VdI.
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| Layne wrote: |
@redthunder, drive overnight and ski on Saturday.
What are the check in times for your accommodation. Often you have to arrive before a certain time unless pre-arranged. |
I’ve done the all night drive in March and Xmas last year. It’s too much now for a days skiing straight away as I’m the only driver. Fell asleep on last chair of the day at Xmas in Val Thorens.
We are Getting 7 days skiing anyway as accommodation in Tignes is Sun to Sun. So will ski out of the car park on Sunday morning in Tignes. Then check in after a day on the slopes.
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You know it makes sense.
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| crosbie wrote: |
| Talking of BSM, one thing you can contrive is having arrived at BSM in time for dinner, you can ski from BSM the next day (funicular to Les Arcs), and around 4-5pm you can then head up to Tignes/VdI. |
The kids don’t own their own skiis so would make renting in two places a pain. Otherwise we would do that 
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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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@redthunder, well, you could rent at BSM (probably a tad cheaper & less busy), and drop the kit off on the way down, unless of course, you're expecting some mid-week tweaking/exchange to be necessary (or need to come back via BSM outside opening hours).
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FAQ
