 Poster: A snowHead
|
| Mountain Haddock wrote: |
hyweljenkins,
I will grant you that they are very useful for navigating city one way systems. |
Don't try that in Sheffield!
I bought a TomTom for my DB who, to quote our daughter, "couldn't find his way out of a wet paper bag". He once rang me on his posh new car phone  when working away. He was trying to get home to Basingstoke from Chester, while towing a large twin axle caravan - not too hard you'd think? The disussion went something like this
"Hello ... have you got a map handy?"
"hmm, yes, why?"
"can you tell me where I am?"
"Give us a clue?"
"Err, I think I have gone the wrong way"
"No, I need a better clue than that"
"Well I got on a motorway and I just went under a long tunnel... and I think I can see the Liver Building and it's 5pm"
Silence, stiffling a giggle
"Are you still there....oi - stop laughing & tell me where to go...."
Surprisingly I managed to remotely guide him out of Liverpool towards the M6 south 
As for me, I do use a Satnav sometimes - my job takes me to many different places and it give me traffic & ETA guidance and saves a fair bit of stopping to check the map. Having said that I always check out the route it suggests beforehand, usually with Googlemaps. If there is a road problem I can also very quickly use it to look at diversion options as it will tell me mileage and time for each option compared with the original.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| PJSki wrote: |
Don't forget to take snow chains. |
What - in the summer??? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
Nick May, take no notice, it was a (poor) joke.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| Hurtle wrote: |
| Nick May, take no notice, it was a (poor) joke. |
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| Blimey, stone the crows etc. Not that long ago there was no Autoroute via Reims and it meant circumnavigating Paris (we all made huuuge mistakes then). Then, when you reached the mountains, the fast roads stopped and you had to fiddle your way on single lane, badly sign-posted, accident black-spot roads that could be blocked for hours if you timed it badly. Albertville Olympics changed all that, autoroutes are 1000% better and there's even a handy little tunnel under the sea to speed things up. We used maps, sat nav hadn't been invented yet I don't remember the journey being THAT much more painful than it is today. |
Ok I'll live with the jokes. - I'm not embarrased to say I've only just recently driven abroad for the very first time. So I've only been to one place so far and have absolutely next to zero experience of driving anywhere outside the UK ................. So, ER...what's an autoroute?
Never heard of it. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| Nick May wrote: |
| Hurtle wrote: |
| Nick May, take no notice, it was a (poor) joke. |
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| Blimey, stone the crows etc. Not that long ago there was no Autoroute via Reims and it meant circumnavigating Paris (we all made huuuge mistakes then). Then, when you reached the mountains, the fast roads stopped and you had to fiddle your way on single lane, badly sign-posted, accident black-spot roads that could be blocked for hours if you timed it badly. Albertville Olympics changed all that, autoroutes are 1000% better and there's even a handy little tunnel under the sea to speed things up. We used maps, sat nav hadn't been invented yet I don't remember the journey being THAT much more painful than it is today. |
Ok I'll live with the jokes. - I'm not embarrased to say I've only just recently driven abroad for the very first time. So I've only been to one place so far and have absolutely next to zero experience of driving anywhere outside the UK ................. So, ER...what's an autoroute?
Never heard of it. |
French motorway type toll road.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
I have used a TomTom One to drive to Tignes. It was perfectly fine.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| boardiac wrote: |
| I have used a TomTom One to drive to Tignes. It was perfectly fine. |
Thanks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was on a coach to Les Arcs after new year and the driver's followed the sat nav up to Vallandry even after I pointed out near the bottom that it was was the wrong way. Coach drivers don't like that, and they said the sat nav showed a route through.
I couldn't shake that feeling of 'I told you so' all week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| andytb wrote: |
I was on a coach to Les Arcs after new year and the driver's followed the sat nav up to Vallandry even after I pointed out near the bottom that it was was the wrong way. Coach drivers don't like that, and they said the sat nav showed a route through.
I couldn't shake that feeling of 'I told you so' all week. |
That's a common mistake. Did the coach go all the way up to Vallandry and then try to drive along the blue Foret piste towards Arc 1800?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| rob@rar wrote: |
| andytb wrote: |
I was on a coach to Les Arcs after new year and the driver's followed the sat nav up to Vallandry even after I pointed out near the bottom that it was was the wrong way. Coach drivers don't like that, and they said the sat nav showed a route through.
I couldn't shake that feeling of 'I told you so' all week. |
That's a common mistake. Did the coach go all the way up to Vallandry and then try to drive along the blue Foret piste towards Arc 1800? |
Hilarious as that would have been the drivers got the message when we passed two other coaches in the group coming back down the hill. A not so quick turn in the road and we were on our way.
The drivers then tried to turn right through Landry rather than going back up to the main road. Didn't fit through the narrow bit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
I use my Clarion MAX983HD SatNav to go to Tignes regularly. It is ace.
The point is if yours is any good / the maps are any good. In my experience the portable types are not as good as the proper one's.
None of them know the weather, unless you have TMC and the database knows the road is closed due to snow / accident or whatever.
TMC is usually best on major roads. Again it depends on your provider.
Saying that, in the summer you will be OK. If the road is blocked with snow please let me know - I'll get myself out there quick 
2 weeks ago the glacier was in great shape!
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| Split1950 wrote: |
2 weeks ago the glacier was in great shape! |
Sounds encouraging, Thanks!
Do you park in that gigantic car park in Val Claret for the Glacier lift when you arrive? Someone told me that spaces there had to be booked in advance of the trip, but I would have thought that was unlikely. I would have thought you could just turn up and pay to use the carpark on arrival, - like in the UK.
Can you confirm that?
Thanks
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the summer the car parks are all free in Tignes.
Use the one by the funnicular in Val Claret (not the 950 space multistorey one - its a bit far to walk in the summer with all your gear). If I search for Tignes on my satnav under POI's and ski resorts, it is where it drops you off anyway.
The glacier opens at 7.15am and it is well worth getting there at that time to buy your ticket and get up there.
We were surprised how many people were up there and also how much skiing you can do.
You can ski down as far as the Vanoise chair, ride that up, then take the big cable car again to the top.
There are several t bars and drags higher up. Most of the runs are Reds and Blacks 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
my tom tom chooses some very peculiar routes round here sometimes - and on smaller roads the display sometimes indicates that we are in the middle of nowhere and not on a road at all. The rather confident lady who tells us what to do goes very quiet at such moments. And I larf and larf!
As far as the main routes down are concerned, then provided you programme the tom tom correctly to use the toll roads (if that's what you want) then it should be fine - though it's always worth checking which way it's going. My point was that it is wholly unnecessary to have a sat nav for a route which only requires a few place names. Our main route down from Calais just needs following Reims, Lyon, Geneva, Chamonix, Albertville, Les Saisies, in that order (not that we actually go to Lyon, Chamonix or Albertville). Even daft women drivers can remember 6 names - or write them on a wee piece of paper if they have a poor memory.
For the close stuff, as the stories above illustrate, they're not always wholly reliable. Perhaps I should shell out for a new map of France - though the small roads round here haven't changed since I bought the machine, that's for sure. My tomtom doesn't know that the motorway from Geneva down to Annecy is now open, but I do, so that's OK. Used with a degree of commonsense AND A MAP - not like those dopey coach drivers - sat navs are great. I have found the Tomtom useful for estimating timing of fast, motorway, journeys (saves mental arithmetic) but it's hopeless for that purpose in the mountains, as it seems to assume you can drive at the national speed limit on the smallest, steepest and windiest of roads.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
pam w,
| Quote: |
| my tom tom chooses some very peculiar routes round here sometimes |
You need to use it locally?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
no, i don't need to use it, but i sometimes switch it on just to see what oddities she comes up with. That way, you get to know their little ways - it's useful to know how far you can trust them. I just ignore what she says, usually, though one day when I have a few days to spare i might try going to Geneva airport her way. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| Split1950 wrote: |
In the summer the car parks are all free in Tignes.
Use the one by the funnicular in Val Claret (not the 950 space multistorey one - its a bit far to walk in the summer with all your gear). If I search for Tignes on my satnav under POI's and ski resorts, it is where it drops you off anyway.
The glacier opens at 7.15am and it is well worth getting there at that time to buy your ticket and get up there.
We were surprised how many people were up there and also how much skiing you can do.
You can ski down as far as the Vanoise chair, ride that up, then take the big cable car again to the top.
There are several t bars and drags higher up. Most of the runs are Reds and Blacks |
Very informative. - Thanks
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
| pam w wrote: |
Our main route down from Calais just needs following Reims, Lyon, Geneva, Chamonix, Albertville, Les Saisies, in that order (not that we actually go to Lyon, Chamonix or Albertville). Even daft women drivers can remember 6 names - or write them on a wee piece of paper if they have a poor memory.
|
Done that... well scribbled them on the back of an envelope anyway.
- Thanks
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
Nick May, not that it's really relevant to what I was about to say, but are you thinking of driving there and back again on your own?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Yes. Just did it in fact - straight after that last post.
Sitting in Tigne in a WiFi equipped cafe right now.
The G.P.S. did exhibit a couple of shall we say.....foibles along the way - so I overuled it then.
But on the whole it was a great help.
No sign of any of those mountain passes and roads blocked by heavy snowfall (unfortunately)
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Nick May, right. Doesn't matter then as it's irrelevant now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nick May, welcome to France. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| rob@rar wrote: |
| andytb wrote: |
I was on a coach to Les Arcs after new year and the driver's followed the sat nav up to Vallandry even after I pointed out near the bottom that it was was the wrong way. Coach drivers don't like that, and they said the sat nav showed a route through.
I couldn't shake that feeling of 'I told you so' all week. |
That's a common mistake. Did the coach go all the way up to Vallandry and then try to drive along the blue Foret piste towards Arc 1800? |
Always good for practising the rue nationale quatres vingts dix neuf when telling parisiennes how to get to 1800... I probably did 2/3 a saturday at peak weeks...
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| VolklAttivaS5 wrote: |
| right. Doesn't matter then as it's irrelevant now. |
What were you about to say? - Just curious.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Satnav is also good for warning you of the speed cams on the autoroutes - just isn't right having them on motorways!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
