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Driving to 3 Valleys

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi Quick question, I'm planning on driving down over night to the alps in janaury need to maxiumise time on the slopes and keep costs down there will be two of us driving but to save time is there a Dart Type tag for use on french toll roads? if there is Do you need a French bank account/credit card?


Also Ive got a BMW 530D (so fitting chains isnt really an option) so thinking would have to use another car. But would you need chains to get the brides les bains its only 600M and assume it would take a pretty big dump to block the road up form albertavile. what does everyone think?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
mikekimber24, welcome to snowheads.

There is a wealth of information about this if you do a search. On the Dart type tag - yes there is, no you don't need a french account /credit card - there was a piece in the Mail on Sunday about it today (waits to be flamed as a MoS reader.... but I don't care Razz ). If I can dig the paper out of the recycling I'll post something up

edit: www.saneftolling.co.uk

You don't need much snow to need chains, it's not about the roads being blocked it's the lack of traction on snow covered roads.


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Sun 11-09-11 16:22; edited 1 time in total
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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?
mikekimber24, welcome to SHs. snowHead It's generally an OK drive down, especially in a nice car Cool though you might not save much money given the cost of fuel and tolls. But of course there's always the risk of disruption at any stage of the journey (in northern France they cope no better with snow than we do in England) and if it's snowy down in the Alps you could find that you are not allowed to proceed without chains, especially if it's a busy day (ie a Saturday). Are you staying in Brides les Bains? Certainly less chance of needing chains to get to Brides than to get up into the valleys. It will often be raining there when it's snowing higher up.

It's not impossible though; I once spent a couple of hours, stuck on the motorway not far from Albertville with 3 kids desperate to get onto the slopes, when the drivers of our coach tried in vain to fit chains!

the péage tag is convenient, but not a huge time saver - and it costs a little bit more. Using a credit card is very easy, especially with two people so you don't need to jump out.
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Yeah got a fuel card so ideally want to use my car. So no chains but could fit snowsocks has anyone actualy tried tried these. i know the french police probably would acept them on the way up to a resort but could you get to brides les bains on them if it snowed?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
mikekimber24, Easily. IMO snowsocks are better than chains anyway and a hell of a lot easier to fit. Chances of you needing chains/socks in Brides if you're not driving any higher is a few days days a season. Snowsocks are officially unrecognised (as a snowchain) but I've used them in La Tania and C1850 without any problem from the Gendarmes. You'd have to be seriously unlucky to have bad enough weather to be stopped and inspected that low down anyway.

My only concern would be that your car is RWD; assuming you've got summer tyres on I would put snowsocks on all 4 wheels to ensure you've got drive as well as steering/braking. If it's late and below zero (with possible black ice) when you arrive I'd probably also put them on as a precaution once you get out of Moutiers. You don't need to worry about the road from Albertville, it's well maintained.
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Quote:

You'd have to be seriously unlucky to have bad enough weather to be stopped and inspected that low down anyway.

no you wouldn't, you'd be in for an epic holiday with fantastic snow!!!!
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
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pam w, Very Happy
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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!
Raceplate, mikekimber24, I think AutoSock is approved by the both the French and Germans

http://www.autosock.com/default.aspx?did=9079022

http://www.autosock.com/default.aspx?did=9079028

but don't really understand enough about who officially approves what to be absolutely sure.
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slikedges, wow, that's good news! Looks quite recent? No more mucking around with chains, ever!

I've just had a quick look on the snow sock and weiss sock websites and they're not mentioning French approval yet so maybe it's only Autosock who have officially obtained it? I've used weiss socks before because the supplier is a tiny detour on the way to the Dover ferry. Anyway, I don't think it'll matter; they all look so similar I can't see the Gendarmes getting that picky about exact brands.

Thanks for the update Very Happy
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So decision made then. 4 snow socks it is. Ive got one more question as need to work out how to sort work out, how long does it take from rocking up at dover to being on the motorway out of calais?
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You need to be at Dover at least 30 minutes before departure, but the queues to actually check in on a Friday night can be long I would get there at least 60 minutes before departure. There is also the very real potential of serious holdups getting to Dover. For this reason I usually leave at least 4.5 or 5 hours before scheduled dpearture. The crossing itself takes just over 90 minutes then there is about 30 minutes before you get off (usually waiting for the driver in front to return to his car). So basically allow 3 hours from arriving at the roundabout in Dover to leaving the port in Calais. Everything then gets easy. It is about a 9-10 hour drive the other side. Leaving home at 19:00 we are usually skiing by noon

A telepeage thing is barely faster than paying by credit/debit card but if you are on your own it does save the ungainly scramble across to the other window (there are 8 palces where this is necessary, but for the bulk of the night ie from Rheims to Lyon there are none.. It does cost more as well. I always use my debit card for payment.

It will cost about £100 in ferry crossing, tolls will cost about 70 euro each way and fuel 85. Without allowing for travel in the UK, possible parking charges in Brides le Bains and the not insubstantial cost of eating on the ferry it will cost less than £400 for the round trip. I gather that the telecabine to Meribel from Brides lea Bains is very slow and many people prefer to drive up in the morning.

Hope this helps

John
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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.
mikekimber24, you're welcome rolling eyes
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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
Ah cheers for that . Although you can use clubcard points for euro tunnel? So does anyone know on friday night how long from eurotunnel door to french motorway is likely to be ?
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Ah cheers for that . Although you can use clubcard points for euro tunnel? So does anyone know on friday night how long from eurotunnel door to french motorway is likely to be ?
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
mikekimber24, ? Clubcard points for the tunnel is dead easy but book early as they do limited slots. The tunnel french side exits straight onto the motorway, literally drive off no, customs or anything (all done UK side)
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I would stick to Eurotunnel, we use clubcard points but would still use it if we had to pay after having so much trouble in the past with bad weather on the ferries at that time of year.
Used autosocks on our S-max through some serious snow, the only thing to stop us was ground clearance on the car (that's just getting to the main road at home!).
Although the manual says we can't use chains on the size of tyres on our car, we have used them on wet grass without problem (got a cheap pair in Andorra for £12) It's the clearance between tyre and suspension that is usually the problem but "some " chains are ok, as the manufacturer cannot be certain what chains are used, they just say "none"
We stopped, fitted the socks and drove off before the car next to us even had one chain on, and they stopped before us.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
eurotunnel is very quick (till anything goes wrong, but that can happen with any of the options). Book early with Tesco clubcard points, but there never seems to be any problem changing the booking, right up to 24 hours after your booking. You pay the extra if you swap to a more expensive crossing, which is why I always book the most expensive of the day in the first place - so I run less risk of having to part with any real money. wink I've done lots of Tesco crossings and lots of changes, but never been told yet that all the Tesco slots are full (though I don't travel at peak times).

Don't forget you will lose an hour on the way out, and only get it back when you come home.

You can get horrendous delays, no matter how you travel. It's winter, snow happens, and even a light drizzle will pull the French motorway speed limit down to under 69 mph.

Some cars will need more than 85 euros of petrol for that journey - and the cost of tolls creeps up, too.

We see very few autosocks on our forays to the French alps but the only time I followed a car with autosox (which were on the front wheels only) up a snowy hill, it was doing fine and it had no doubt taken him less time to put them on than it had taken me to put chains on top of my snow tyres (after serious loss of traction).
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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?
I know its probably needs a new thred, but shat does everyone thing of speeding in france.

I assume keep the speer under 50km/h above the limit of the fines jump up?
Fixed speed camera dont mater? Although use to be really well signed posted but thought they were taking to signs down.
Coppers with camera most likey on the stretch of road between calais and reimes on a friday night and grenoble to albertvile? ( if i was trying to catch brits thats where id go?)
Also over night on a thursday/friday has anyone seen a copper sitting at the side of the road?
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mikekimber24, what do we think of speeding in Frnace - don't. You have a speedometer or satnav, the speed limits sre signposted so stick to it.

Are you seriously suggesting that you would do 49km/h above a 130 limit? and only then to keep the fines down?

Whatever. rolling eyes

Anyway - do a search o here and you'll find numerous discussions about it.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
No i wouldnt, i dont have a problem with going a bit above the limit 90 tops wouldnt ever drive at 110 whole way there appart from obvious need to stop all the time to refuel and extra cost dont think u would save that much time. It was more a wuestion of are the french activly looking to nick english drivers on way down on a friday night doing 10 mph over the limit
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mikekimber24, no idea then. but it's odd that you should have said "I assume keep the speer (sic) under 50km/h above the limit " .

I'm totally confused, You say " don't have a problem with going a bit above the limit 90 tops " and "wouldnt ever drive at 110 whole way there " - do you know that the limit (in the dry) is mostly 130km/h on the motorway. why would you think you'd be over the limit at 90?
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Mph/kph
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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!
Though id better clarify what i was getting at. I dont intentionaly speed. And wasnt sugesting doing 179kph all the way there on cruise control and paying the 90 euros a time. ( afterall its not the gumball) my question was htat should you get clocked over the speed limit by a small margin french fines are comparable to uk fines in the same way that over 96 in uk requires to go to court? My question was do the french police officers lay in wait for uk drivers outside calais doing 82 mph?
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Hi does anyone know i u can use the olymipic cable car to get from brides to meribel if the weather is bad? Only going for weekend so woul only have bqckpqck worth of clothes?
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Quote:

I dont intentionaly speed

So you wouldn't ever be doing anything like 50 kph over the limit? So your question is irrelevant.

It does seem sometimes as though they are specially lying in wait for british drivers, but maybe that's paranoid nonsense. You certainly don't have to be going v fast to get nicked (especially when the road is wet and the limit drops). the only fine I got was doing about 38 mph in a village where, although there was no signs up, I should have known the limit was 30 in anywhere with a name. the place was deserted (it didn't even have a boulagerie or a café, it didn't look like it had been inhabited since the war), the road was wide and straight - the policeman was sitting on the side of the road in an unmarked car with a speed gun. he helpfully told me where the nearest cashpoint was, and held on to our passports to make sure I didn't do a runner.
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mikekimber24, it's a good few years since I stayed in Brides so things may be different now. We only took the bubble once. It took 25 mins to get to Meribel, then you were still at the bottom of all the other lifts so another 10-15 minutes uplift before doing any skiing.

For the rest of the week we drove to La Tania and parked at the side of the red run (free car park) and took the bubble up from there.

As for Rozzers on the autoroute, we drove to Chamonix through the night in August this year and saw no evidence of any police activity anywhere. Cruise was set at 90.
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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.
You may not get much snow around Brides Less Bains normally, but if you could get it, and it could be big time. I've had to make my way there to hole up overnight in January a few years back, when I couldn't get beyond Moutiers when heading for Val D'Isere. There was a serious amount of snow, and I was glad I had chains for extra traction.
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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
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
Does anyone know if u can use the olympic gondola with a small amoint of luggage if weather is bad and park in brides lea bains?
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