 Poster: A snowHead
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[color=blue][color=darkred]Hi,
Having always flown to our winter holiday destination, we have decided this year to drive with our 3 boys 18,15, and 4 years in the back - (mayb not the best idea!), but still that is what we are doing and I was wondering if anyone has stayed at le Val Moret in Magnet, and if so is this on the way as we have never driven in France before and want to make it as painless as possible - any help greatly appreciated! [/color][/color]
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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turneal12, Welcome to snowheads.
This is possibly one of THE most asked questions on here, rather than give you a whole load of links, put Stopover in the forum search click Search for all terms and then click Search topic title and message text and you will have a huge choice to read 
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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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turneal12, welcome to snowheads. Yes, I've stayed in the Val Moret - always gets good write ups on here.
When are you going? Unless it's at a very busy time like half term (in which case you definitely have to book, and have to think very hard about the timing of your journey all the way along) I find it's better not to book in advance - you never know quite when you want to stop. If the weather is horrible and you're worn out, you don't want to have to keep going till midnight to reach some pre-booked destination. Equally, if it's all going swimmingly, nobody's killed each other yet and you can do 81 mph in good vis, it's very annoying having to stop when you could do another few hours.
You do need to remember that conditions vary a lot - there were very major hold ups because of snow in northern France earlier in the season; one of my friends did 30 mph max for the whole of the last 200 miles into Calais. I drive back and forth to the Alps 4 times a year, at least, and I have learnt to be flexible in my planning.
Beware of people who assure you it's 10 hours from Calais......
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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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| Quote: |
Beware of people who assure you it's 10 hours from Calais....
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Yep it's only 8 
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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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It's about 9 hours if you drive to the speed limit and never stop. Blast through the peage at 80 mph, don't pee, don't eat, refuel in mid air.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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550 miles @ avgeraged 70mph equals around 8.0 hours. (plus a refuelling stop in Chambery)
If you could average the French speed limit say 80mph it comes down to under 7 hours.
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Depending on which bit of Courchevel, it's nearer 600 miles and you can't do 70 mph all the way. If it's wet, which it often is in the winter,you can't do 70 mph legally at any stage of the journey. To AVERAGE 70 mph you have to do a great deal more than 70 mph for good stretches of the journey.
If your average speed is the top French speed limit of about 80 mph you are by definition breaking the law a fair bit of the time.
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Get portable DVD players for the kids, two, infact considering the age gap, we share the driving and drive overnight, Calais to Andorra 12hrs actual driving time, 750 miles non stop other than fuel and toilets, 3 kids (11,11 & 3) & co driver sleep most of the way. We have driven to Andorra or the Alps every year for the past 14 yrs and never bothered to stop anywhere, always had that just want to press on and get there feeling as well as worrying about our car full of ski gear and luggage parked outside a hotel overnight.
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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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I don't bother about car parked outside hotel if necessary - life's too short to be always faffing about people stealing your stuff - but I do agree that a straight drive through is often preferable. But it can be dangerous to press on if conditions are bad (thick fog is the one thing that sends me off the motorway at any time of day or night) hence I never state categorically in advance whether I will drive through, or stop. I drive 90% of the way, so it's I who make the decision to go or stop.
We carry some picnic stuff in the car - ham and cheese rolls, drinks, chocolate. Saves quite a bit of time as well as money, and to make good time you do need to keep stops to a minimum.
However, as there is going to be no more snow in the whole of France until mid March at the earliest, we can maybe rule that out as a cause of delays. 
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We're planning to break our journey to Courchevel when we get to about Alberville. From the ferry at Zeebrugge, it will be late afternoon by the time we get down and it takes the time pressure off and the risk of driving up the mountain as light is falling and all the day skiers are racing back down the road.
Has anyone used the Etap Hotel by Albertville? It seems to get better reviews than the F1 and Accor digs are basic but functional in my view.
I notice there is some debate over the "best" route down, some suggest avoiding Lyon bt heading to Bourg en Bresse.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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some suggest avoiding Lyon bt heading to Bourg en Bresse
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I'd always prefer to avoid Lyon and go nowhere near the A6.
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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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Scottish Scrutineer, Have a look at at this, just east of Lyon. It's about 1 3/4 hours from Courchevel. I've used it a few times, nice thing is there is a restaurant next door (10 yards), much like an old Beefeater or Berni, obviously French though, which is open 11-11PM, food is fine, both for adults and kids, and reasonably priced.
Hotel is VERY basic, no en-suite, but pretty comfortable, well placed and cheap! It has a locked car park (disagree with pam w), cars do get broken into, and as such is good damage limitation.
Time difference in driving down in good / appauling conditions is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
I've had no problems, as yet, travelling round Lyon.
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cars do get broken into
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I know they do! I'm not saying that there isn't a risk leaving a car in a hotel car park - just that it's one I'm willing to run. We don't have anything very attractive to pinch, and the car itself is not top of the car thief's list, either.
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You know it makes sense.
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cars do get broken into
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I know they do! I'm not saying that there isn't a risk leaving a car in a hotel car park - just that it's one I'm willing to run. I insure against it, then forget it - we try to park in the parts well lit by lights from the hotel, but ultimately I'm not going to drive around for hours looking for a place with a satisfactory car park.
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Time difference in driving down in good / appauling conditions is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
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Hmm. That depends. Our friends who drove down just before Christmas (18 December) spent two hours totally stationary south of Calais, and then crawled for more many miles. The southern and Alpine bits were fine; they had to put chains on for the last bit, I think, but not a big problem as it was only the last 20 miles.
another visitor to our apartment, at half term, took 10 hours from here to Dijon (going north on the way home) a few years ago.
Those are exceptional conditions. We've not hit anything that bad, though we did once have to stop at 4 pm going north, when we had intended to drive through, because of blizzard conditions and nil visibility near Bourg en Bresse.
Regular drivers to the popular resorts at busy weekends have reported taking 4 and 5 hours just to get up to, or down from, resorts to the main valley roads.
Mostly, it's fine. We have winter tyres, if necessary I can put chains on in 5 minutes max, and we never travel on those peak days. Apart from the predictable delays to resort, when the weather closes in, the worst problems are caused by snow in northern France, where they are no better at dealing with it than we are in England. I have sat in stationary traffic round Paris (in the days when we used Le Havre) with an inch or so of snow causing paralysis, because of the volume of traffic.
It is simply not possible to be absolutely certain how long your journey is going to take - having a target and fretting when you don't hit it just furs up the arteries.
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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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| pam w wrote: |
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cars do get broken into
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I know they do! I'm not saying that there isn't a risk leaving a car in a hotel car park - just that it's one I'm willing to run. We don't have anything very attractive to pinch, and the car itself is not top of the car thief's list, either. |
I had my car broken into a while back, nicked my [day old] sarnis and half a bottle of Dr. Pepper - there was nothing of value in the car. TBF I had inadvertantly left a coat on the back seat, which they obviously thought was covering something valuable. Clear-up was a real PITA though.
As for time down, I'm not talking exceptional circumstances, just pretty appauling - snow and fog. I drove down on Christmas Eve (heavy snow), and reckon it added 2 1/2 hours to the journey... just my experiance. Yes, I do have 4x4 and winter tyres though.
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Poster: A snowHead
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having done many miles travelling long distance in the uk and mainland europe a sensible average to work against including fuel and rest stops is about 55mph max. Yes this can be bettered without doubt but this in my experience is the average to work from. if travelling in convoy drop this to 50mph to allow for the faff factor during each petrol or rest stop...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| ansta1 wrote: |
| having done many miles travelling long distance in the uk and mainland europe a sensible average to work against including fuel and rest stops is about 55mph max. Yes this can be bettered without doubt but this in my experience is the average to work from. if travelling in convoy drop this to 50mph to allow for the faff factor during each petrol or rest stop... |
Depends on how long you want it to take too, I've made Les Arcs (Vallandry) from Calais in less than 8 hours (600 miles), in good conditions apart from fog between Reims and Dijon. I didn't excessivly speed (not more than 10% over limit).
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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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allanm, absolutely. my longest route on motorbike was about 1200 miles this took 22 hours with only coffee,petrol, food and one puncture break but have done calais to south coast of france (650) miles in 9 hours also. it all depends on the people travelling, the vehicle and the route. personally i never plan to better the 55mph average on long journeys with either children or a second vehicle. Anything better than that is a bonus and extra beer or skiing time.
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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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| Quote: |
if travelling in convoy drop this to 50mph to allow for the faff factor during each petrol or rest stop...
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that's optimistic! I would take an awful lot of persuading to travel in convoy to the Alps. Faff factor goes up by a factor of LOADS. I've only done much shorter local journeys in convoy - I think it's unsafe, too, as too much concentration is focussed on what they're all up to.
The biggest difference in journey times, apart from terrible weather, is dates and timing. Travelling at a peak time (like half term) and getting the timing wrong could add an awful lot to the timing.
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