The 2024/25 Live drive down chit-chat

A snowHead

Wow! Drive back to UK was brilliant… until we got to Calais tunnel terminal today. Never seen so many entitled, selfish people in one place.

Some sort of issue with check-in gates and clearly a lot of people returning on Easter Monday, queues back to the flyover. People driving over the roundabout, going the wrong way round it and even reversing the wrong way round!!!! People getting out of their cars to gesticulate with any of the staff present, was like a zoo.

Fair play to LeShuttle, we arrived shortly after 12 noon for a 13:36 crossing and weren’t even checked in by 1pm but they got us onto the train with 5 mins to spare.

A snowHead

@Specialman, We arrived at 12:15 and guilty of jumping roundabout to access the Flexiplus checkin from the flexiplus approach. We were just following other Flexiplus cars due to cars blocking the roundabout. The issue here lies with the silly system of trying to give priority to FP, by entering the roundabout from the left, and they assume other cars will not queue across the roundabout lane. I don’t see any non-Flexi cars do this and it would have not been easy from the right of the road

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We've always done drive from resort to Calais on the Saturday, overnight in the F1 Coquelles and then get up early for the train on the Sunday. Did the same this year, it was quiet as anything. And whilst it would be lovely to be away for an extra day, the BH Monday for recovering from the trip was a big plus this year for us.

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On the food bans, we'd not seen that update and brought back plenty of cheese and milk in our boot on Sunday. Hope the Customs police aren't reading this...

And on the way out we always have plenty of sandwiches etc and a pre-cooked (and slowly defrosting) bolognese in the boot. Never been stopped, and tolerate the risk of just having to dump it if the French customs want to inspect our boot.

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Clearly it does! (or at least my wife - she's the penny pincher who hates throwing away food as well as hating mountain supermarket prices!!)

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Drive back from Chatel very smooth (so far) arriving at Tunnel 1747 for 1954 booking. No earlier train offered. One of the staff asked me what letter I had as I was clocking who was allowed round. "R" - "OK you can go", though only P had been called. Very thin in the boarding lanes and ended up 2 trains earlier (1924) just waiting to go.

Only M20/M25/East London to deal with now, God help me.

After all it is free

Daughter and Boyfriend drove out week before Easter in our car packed with both their and our ski kit. Plan to fly out on Good Friday and meet them at Geneva and swap over almost derailed by storm earlier on in the week. Spent Friday evening at Albertville and on slopes at Tignes mid Saturday morning. Decided to full trigger early due to combination of factors including Tunnel closure at Moutier and left late yesterday afternoon with overnight stop in Beaune. Relatively straight forward drive back and wizzed through Euro Tunnel (20 minutes from check in to train departure). I wish all my trips were as painless as this….

This may be of interest to some, Popular UK–France ferry link to resume after 14-year gap

A daily ferry service between Poole and Cherbourg will resume this winter for the first time in over a decade, Brittany Ferries has confirmed.

The route, suspended each winter since 2011, will operate uninterrupted from Sunday, December 14, 2025, to Sunday, March 29, 2026.

The crossing between Poole and Cherbourg takes approximately four hours 30 minutes. Details of passenger bookings and timetables are expected to be released later this year.

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Worth noting that if you take the overnight to Ouistream with Brittany Ferries, you can can get a good nights sleep in a cabin, arrive in France, do the drive and then be in Three Valleys by late afternoon. It's a quicker drive than from Calais too (especially if you ignore the sat nav tendency to take you via the Paris ring road which is normally stacked).

I have done VT and Meribel from both Calais and Ouistreham. Ouistreham is a much better journey overall (shorter & less exhausting) in my experience.

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@Skeeezo, i have done the Portsmouth-Caen (overnight) sailing the last couple of easters when going to the 3valleys, and i agree i found it quite a relaxing drive through France. went via Le Mans/Clermont-Ferrand route last time, as i wanted to avoid Paris then, journey times are similar, but you have nicer scenery around the Auvergne region IMHO.

it is nice waking up in the cabin, catching breakfast on the ferry, and arriving in France for around 7am.

only downsides are if any of your party suffer from sea sickness, as it can get rough even at easter, we caught severe storms on the last crossing and my daughters suffered quite badly that time.
costs can be a bit higher as well with the ferry compared to dover-calais crossings, but if you are coming from the west of England, you can avoid the M25 and save some driving time uk side.

i have also been responsible in arranging the crossings for our last couple of "blokes" trips to the Le Mans 24hour race, and managed to persuade the chaps to go via the overnight ferry to Caen, and they have all been converted to this method, as we get to the track by mid morning on our first day of the trip.

Nice. Caen is perfect for a Le Mans trip.

Complete disclosure, I live and work in Southsea (Portsmouth) so it's a no brainer for me most of the time. We travel at least four or five times a year and only take the tunnel if our schedule absolutely requires it. By the time we factor in an overnight stop and fuel the price is negligible. Smile

You know it makes sense.

any en route lunch or supper recommendations please. I go Newhaven-Dieppe to Tyrol. I have a day camper. I either go down to Metz, or via Namur to Luxembourg, then A8 past Munich. I avoid toll roads as I am not in a rush. I would like a nice bistrot place for lunch or supper, then a safe sleep for a few hours. I don't mind a small detour. Nothing fancy needed. Thank you.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

We drove from Epernay to Alsace on the non-toll roads a couple of years ago. Had a really nice lunch in Ligny-en-Barrois (Le Cheval Blanc), plenty of parking for campers and a nice quiet spot. It was market day when we were there, which I think was a Friday.

A snowHead

Sorry for thread bump but horrible queues at Dover this morning leading to missed ferry and 2.5hr delay (07.50 to 10.15 ferry crossing AAGH).
Still miles from the Alps (yep aware of terrible snow conditions - season is getting shorter every year wink

and currently in hot debate with Mrs Doccam about should have gone Eurotunnel- and me insisting on the ferry this trip. How was that this morning? (Obviously I won’t tell her if Eurotunnel was running like greased weasel what’s not!) (trip down otherwise going very smooth)

A snowHead

@Doccam, while I do like a ferry crossing for a change, after about the first 10-mins I think "should have taken tunnel" Laughing

No idea on what queues were like yesterday, as a peak travel day with schools breaking up I'd imagine pretty busy.

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@Doccam, If it helps, son has just crossed Calais-Ashford and that was delayed even though it was really quiet that side. Queues going out however he said

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Please remind me to NEVER, EVER, take the ferry again!

Long delay on the approach to Dover.

Absurd delay, multiple long lanes of absolutely static traffic for passport control etc.
Nothing, nothing, is moving.
The long delay into Dover must be LOOONG by now.
Missed our ferry that we were here for over 90 minutes before, and every prospect of missing the next one scheduled for 2 hours later.

The sea is a millpond so that's not the reason.

When the new fingerprint etc system comes into play this will be worse, much worse.

The more e pensive Eurotunnel next time, every time (yes I know it's not perfect).

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@rungsp, oh dear.

DFDS saying 90 minute wait in the "buffer zone" but only a small queue at check in.

Guess it's just volume on a summer holiday Friday.

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@Layne, Le Shuttle also reporting delays of one hour at check-in and 30 minutes at border control.

After all it is free

@Hells Bells, 30 min delay at border control Calais yesterday; missed the earlier train we were moved to

Also, I’ve always wondered — why do some people bother bringing food with them in the car (apart from the price differences)?
Please don’t take it the wrong way — I actually really like British food, I love a proper English breakfast and some others (although I’ve only lived in Wales, so I’m not sure if there are regional differences).

But for example, why bring things like cheese?
I always thought France — especially in the Alps — has amazing cheese options. Or am I missing something?

I usually bring things like olive oil and a few basic items for the first day—just in case something happens and we don’t manage to get to Sherpa when we arrive.

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@Origen, yeah, definitely not as cheap as I think I remember it being. I do like the fact they have so much fruit and veg that looks infinitely fresher than in UK supermarkets.... maybe it's the market stall way of piling high that gives me the feels.

But even after all these years, we still forget that everything has to be weighed and stickered up. It's now tradition to get to the till and have to send the kids back to weigh everything Very Happy

I'm a sucker for French and Belgian beer and resort prices don't work for the quantities I drink so there's always a booze stop en-route. If the car isn't dragging the rear bumper then we're not on holiday Very Happy

Been a while folks but hello fellow snowHead

Am contemplating driving but times change and am after hints and tips for a single driver. Is it really feasible or is it foolish? Would be me and 2 teens so no hope of any help, except perhaps the navigating! I expect we'll visit some off the wall cheap French Sunweb offered resort so hopefully wouldn't hit the Tarantaise driving hellscape so ideas for simple to drive to resorts welcome - teens will need a good 100km of reds to keep them busy!

You know it makes sense.

I have driven solo quite frequently. Not foolish at all. Especially if you are not a day's driving from the channel ports. I make it a rule to stop after 2 hours on the road when one tends to drop into "autopilot" mode. Coffee and a walk about, especially at night. You are most unlikely to NEED any help with navigating but give the teens the job - they can take an interest in the whole undertaking and won't keep having to ask you how much longer...... The resorts reached by the motorway from Geneva to Chamonix (notably Chamonix and the PdS but also St Gervais, Les Contamines, Megeve and the Espace Diamant) will escape the "Tarentaise hellscape" but all bets are off if you're travelling at New Year or half term. Timing of arrival (either early in the morning or well into the evening) and departure (similar but even earlier in the morning) is important.

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@always29, am assuming it will be school holiday weeks?

i have done several trips with just myself and 2 teenage kids, and it is fairly straightforward for me, even as the solo driver, but i quite like driving (even in the uk, ok i am a masochist!!!) and long distances don't worry me.

but, we also tend to break it up with a Friday overnight stop on the way out, and the Saturday on the way back, in my opinion it adds to the holiday, and means we could avoid the main transfer rush as we would leave Albertville early Saturday morning to get up to resort for a Saturday ski!

you can also use this opportunity to do a big shop before heading up to your chosen resort, even now my girls love a trip to a French hypermarket, and i leave them in the cosmetics etc, whilst i am in the booze aisles Very Happy

the girls would be ensconced on either their music or watching Netflix on their iPad, we also used to have personal screens in the back for them in my old vehicle, or one of them would be in the passenger seat and we would have a chat on the way down

i am currently looking at the logistics of getting to Meribel for a pre Christmas trip with my youngest daughter, she has just finished her a-levels with no current plans for further education, so we can benefit from a couple of ski trips out of school holidays.

i was planning to go via the train, eurostar leg to paris was booked ages ago, but am getting itchy that i cannot book the sncf side of it at the moment.

i have priced up a return via Eurotunnel, and to be honest even with fuel and tolls, when you break it down for two passengers it is not much different to the train fare, going on previous sncf fares, and i can use the current Eurostar tickets on future trips.
so may just go for this method, as i will have my car with me, and just load up and go!

i cannot really help with any alternative to the main tarantaise resorts, we tend to go to the 3v's, but there seems to be a lot of recommendations on here for some of the smaller resorts situated in the maurienne valley.

A snowHead

@terrygasson and @Origen thanks for the feedback!

Would indeed be school holiday times and I've missed the boat it would seem for sensible priced flights, I've also looked at the train but impossible to guage prices as like you say the SNCF side isn't up yet. The idea of having the car for a big grocery stock up is also part of the driving plan as it would be a very budget trip!

A snowHead

@always29, no worries.

yes, they do not make it easy to travel by train, especially with families, solo travel it can make financial sense.

i have looked at 3 different options for the 2 of us, either return to Geneva with BA via Heathrow with baggage allowance and then hire a car, Eurotunnel and drive all the way, and a train via Paris (using historical prices). with all 3 coming in to similar prices when you take into account all the other ancillary costs, transfers etc, so for me it will make sense to drive.

also, i would also get a toll doofer for the car, if you have not got one already, there are several different providers, with different fees etc, i have the emovis one.

there may be deals online, or with your method of cross channel provider, that gives you a discount etc.

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I've also driven solo a number of times, including one trip from Geneva to Oxford in a day. Plenty of breaks and coffee.

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@always29, even though we do family trips, I'm the sole driver. I like it, and aside from a hit of convo with the family, I tend to spend most of it either playing tunes or just watching the scenery as everyone else is asleep.

For tolls I'd recommend a tag -have done it without past two times but waking a co-pilot teenager to sort card payments seems a lot more hassle than it's worth

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i am trying to figure out the route from Geneva to Tignes.
I am among thre options :
the usual route from the highways Annecy-Chambery-Albertville
the route to Chamonix and from the to Albertville
or from Annecy direkt to Ugine and then Albertville...

Any opinions?
I know the route from Chamonix to Albertville is nice but with a lot of curves. How is from Annecy to Albertville?

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@turms2, the route from annecy to albertville is fairly straight, apart from around the lake (lovely views of the lake), but not much that you would notice, and all flat level.

it is fairly straightforward by going from geneva to annecy via the autoroute, then annecy/ugine/albertville/moutiers then on to BSM and then tignes.

there is also the non autoroute to annecy from geneva if you want, i used to drive this route most weekends when i carried out transfers from the 3v's to geneva

obviously all this depends on the journey dates, as main holiday periods can get very busy.

not sure why you would go anywhere near chamonix coming from geneva to tignes??

After all it is free

@terrygasson,
i think i will take the Route Geneve - Annecy - Albertville.

It might sound a bit silly, but I’d like to avoid the highway as much as possible. Completely avoiding it isn’t ideal, but I’d prefer to skip the section up to Chambéry.

Over the past few weeks, my car hasn’t been running at its best (I have to take it in for another service tomorrow), and I know that in France, my breakdown assistance is not allowed cover incidents on highways.

So I’m trying to reduce my time on the highway without adding too much travel time. I’m planning to drive next Saturday, right in the middle of the high season.

According to TomTom and Google Maps, the route via Annecy – Chambéry – Albertville is pretty much the same as going directly from Annecy to Ugine and then on to Albertville (at least from the perspective of time)

@turms2, the autoroute section from geneva to annecy is quite short, certainly no need to go as far as chambery. or if you want to avoid the autoroutes altogether, you can take the d1201 go via pont de la caille (lovely old bridge), cruiselles, stick on the "green" road signs to annecy from geneva aiport, follows similar route, but obviously slower as it goes through towns.

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I usually see on my satnav that the Annecy-Ugine-Albertville route is about 10 minutes slower than Annecy-Chambery-Albertville, with typical traffic volumes. I usually take the route around the lake unless than 10 minutes increased journey time stretches to 20 minutes or more, as I prefer the scenery, road tolls are slightly cheaper and the shorter journey means less petrol or electrons usage.

Help!!

The 2024/25 Live drive down chit-chat

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