Club Arnage

I'm sure they will sort this out soon but worth keeping an eye on.

http://www.itv.com/news/2016-05-23/britons-stranded-in-france-due-to-fuel-shortage/

Contigency plans already in place, I'm more worried about getting off the ferry.

1st strike starts Thursday ( 26th ), might be worth checking the issues then to get an idea of what is being targeted, especially cross channel services and road blocks.
However crossings are a bit difficult and expensive to change now.
Expect the latter to be centred around Paris LM week.

300 miles to a tank? Please my diesel will do alot more  :P Trains now on strike to.

Looks like Brittany have cancelled some of their sailings for this round of strikes fingers crossed it all gets settled before the next one which I think is scheduled for the 14th June  :(

http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/routes/sailing-updates

Would you like to know what the nation of the workshy is complaining about this time?

Currently, companies in France have to justify in court plans to cut their workforce due to economic downturn. The new law (loi de travail) would allow them to cite falling orders or sales, or operating losses as sufficient cause for laying off staff .... Welcome to the real world guys.

The work laws here are particularly medieval and heavily weighted against employers, especially small ones so the new law is a step, and only a step, in the right direction. However, if you're protected by the amazingly kushy laws here as an employee I can kind of understand why they would be worried, they'd actually have to work and do a half decent job for once before retiring at 55 on a 90% salary .... How France is not a third-world economy never ceases to amaze me, oh yeah, that's because it gets an enormous subsidy from the EU. Rant over.

prices for july have also risen as I was about to book a ferry to go back then but its gone up about £30! Mother is panicing as shes over at the moment. She has a full car and told her to just fill the jerry cans in the garage up as back up.

the BBC have this on their website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36366912

A strike over new labour laws has spread to all of France's eight oil refineries, the CGT union says, in an escalating dispute with the government.

An estimated 20% of petrol stations have either run dry or are low on supplies.

Clashes broke out at one refinery early on Tuesday when police broke up a picket at Fos-sur-Mer in Marseille.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls insisted the labour laws would stand, and that further pickets would be broken up.

"That's enough. It's unbearable to see this sort of thing," he told French radio. "The CGT will come up against an extremely firm response from the government. We'll carry on clearing sites blocked by this organisation."

Interesting link that show which fuel stations are out of stock

http://penurie.mon-essence.fr/w/

My garden tractor is stranded! No jerry cans allowed now. I suppose you call that the coup de grass. Currently there is a 30 euro limit on the pumps here at Le Mans, and rather than go through it all over again perhaps having a look here might be helpful.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=25&t=1596637

Thinking of going in the diesel if I have to, as I can do St Malo/LM/Chunnel easily on a tank.

Have checked the Brittany website, it's FOC to change the car details up to 5 days ahead, after that £25.

looks like i should fill my pickup with gerry cans in Germany and see how rich i can get :-) >:D >:D >:D

Same here, might just make it border to border with the diesel but certainly not with the M (maximum range of 450 km if i don't push my foot down).

Ah, therein lies the appeal of the BMW diesel engine which sips from the china teacup of diesel that is my fuel tank.
Currently averaging a range of 760 miles from a full tank - 68 miles per gallon.
Last fill up in Folkestone pre-shuttle and to LM and back to North Lincolnshire with plenty still slopping about in the tank.

which engine Steve? Ive not given my bmw a massive good run yet but I had 350 ish to half a tank on a run to Dover so Its not to bad being a cylinder if I go steady  :angel:

Certainly not the same as my vectra which did Chester - The Nurburgring via Luxembourg then a few laps of the ring lol Was near 750 miles to that tank

You can tell its nearly time for Le Mans as the French have caught the "English disease".  Shame as French diesel is so cheap - I usually go back with a tankfull, but I have 350 miles to do, and with the 'van on the back its only 250 to the tank, so I'll be begging

As for BMWs, we all know they can do Berlin to Poland in one tank  ;D

To be fair it's only sixty miles to the border...

It's just a 320d Kev but does everything it needs to and has been completely reliable over three years and, to date 142,000 miles. New one due in July and I've been thinking of going down the Mark Webber route and having the 330e hybrid.

Apart from lemans there is the small matter of the football euros at the same time so I imagine the politicos will either quash the revolution, or more likely just buckle rather than deal with the embarrassment of the country grinding to a halt during a major international event.
Hold on a minute, workers not working when the footy is on, have they all got tickets for the match lol ;D

I might be wrong but I do not think I have ever seen the barbarian game of football mentioned on this site, I should perhaps correct that as the game is not really 'barbarian' probably more kitten club. Bloody overpaid bladder kicking pussies... well it is not rugby, is it!

My previous Audi cars have all been petrol and only living a couple of miles from the docks meant that I was not using much fuel before alighting in France, however, I would still burn almost a tank in the week. My latest model is Diesel and now I burn half a tank! what a saving, especially as there is only a couple of pence a litre difference in price!

So I will fill up in sunny Guernsey and hopefully have enough.

>Martini...LB

Foot Ball??  ..... Err..... No sorry, Not something that I have heard about before now.

But on the fuel side:

My old beast only manages about 17 mpg, and driven very modestly perhaps 23, so that isn't good in these circumstances. And what about Big Irta eh?

So how is France going to manage 250,000 race fans (wasn't that the number last year)?

All it will need is half a dozen out of fuel breakdowns to cause a real problem around race time.

Aricus

I nearly had a 320d but the timing chain issues scared me and I drove the 325d and loved the extra umph. Mapping it once home and it will basically be a mapped 330d (same engine 325d / 330d just mapped different for insurance and tax ;))

I was very tempted with a BMW 320d or 520d but the timing chain worried me - is this now fixed on new ones?

I do like the urge of the bigger 325d and 330d, and any of these seem to be chipable, so even more grunt.  My motoring is very modest these days as I generally commute on the train but......

I NEED A DIESEL TO GET TO LE MANS AND BACK ON ONE TANK 'COS FRANCE HAS MEDIEVAL LABOUR LAWS.

PLEASE HELP.  :'( :'(

unless it gets solved I'm going to consider hiring a car.

Does Hertz have a secret supply?   ;D

just the fact that apart from the race fans, and this will be my 13th  straight year at lemans there will be hundreds of thousands of pigs bladder kicker fans travelling around the country.......................or not if tgehre is no transport.
I mean they wont want hordes of bored frustrated footy fans just loitering about around the local bars because they cant get to the match, what could possibly go wrong lol

Dont worry about chains - take it to bmw they will check the recall register and sort it if affected with the car vin. The extra power got me and the grunt will be brilliant once done. As mines currently being fixed wasnt enough time to do it before the trip sadly

I'd been weighing this up in my head, we've got the option of a 200 bhp diesel 47mpg Renaultsport Megane or a Mazda Rx8 231bhp at about 18-19mpg. Im swinging more towards the Rx8, mainly as petrol seems to be more available, diesel is like finding hens teeth but the looks of it.

I've got a 330d, no need to chip that one. More than enough power & torque and goes up to 40 mpg on the highway.
Would have loved to take the gas guzzling M beast to Le Mans this year but with 14-18 mpg it won't even make it half way to Paris  >:(.

Can't really imagine though the French government won't break the strikes with that footy thing coming up in 2 weeks. Getting back home from the testday might be a challenge, the race shouldn't be a problem (I hope).

There's an app you can download which gives real time ( well almost ) fuel availability.

Essence Pas Chere, on iTunes, think theres a google version.

Nothing to lose by having it if the problems are still around at LM.

If everyone going is awfully worried about fuel consumption, about making it in/out of France without worrying about running dry, and only able to get miniscule amounts of fuel in the rare places that have any, it would be ever so slightly ironic that we're going to watch the world's greatest motor race.....

MG Mark

brilliant thanks Barry

I don't think it has on it the unaffected stations, just the ones with issues, that have been reported.
The petrol station at the Auchun near Boulogne isn't marked so presumably has all fuel, or nobody has done a report on it.
So it might be a bit inacurate, but might help someone out a jam.

Things are slowly starting to get better I believe. It won't last, the Gov't here will more than likely give in to the CGT (as that is the usual approach here, proving that there is no democracy in France) as there is no way on God's green earth they will live down this if it stretches into the Euro whotzit thinggy. It's been an interesting few days though, that's for sure. My prediction, all back to normal by next Monday and the proposed new loi de travail will be 'sent back for further debate' and quietly buried 3-6 months later.

Which M?

Aricus

Got 600 miles out of the volvo last weekend - lakes and back on one tank..

Feel sorry for Perdu and GaryFrogeye; Midgets and Sprites are not renowned for their tank size..

Well, I wont get anywhere near 600 miles out of either the MGA or the 350Z....but it'll probably be more than Gary or Bill.

Mind you, on the basis that Gary eschews all servicing and fluid top ups (to the car...) anyway, I'd be amazed to find that he bothers with fuel either.....

MG Mark

E60 M5

Today's strike article on the Beeb says, amongst other things",

"However, on 14 June, when French senators begin discussing the reform package, the unions plan to stage a "powerful national demonstration" in Paris."

That'll be Tuesday 14th which is travel day for many people. I've no idea whether there will be any collateral damage but I'd guess ports/ferry staff and maybe immigration people may take some form of action. Hope not though...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36395905

Agreed. It is not too difficult to outwit silly French fuel shortages. It is the ferries/ports which must be of greatest concern. Hopefully matters will be resolved in time. I am amazed that in my 27 previous trips to LM I have never once been affected by industrial action.

Put them on a trailer????

Current feedback I'm getting from the LM area is that there aren't any shortages.

I'll know better when I get there a week tomorrow for the test weekend, if any updates are needed I'll post them from there.

P&O say the problems are over, but.....

Phew.....panic over, no need to top up before getting on ferry, take fuel reserves, restrict driving during weekend, make sure breakdown cover covers running out of fuel, discover there is not actually a problem......relax...... all cool....... enjoy.......

Unless they sort out the problem before there will be more industrial action starting on Tuesday 14th.   >:(

I was planning on taking the one on the right, but may need to go in the one on the left...
(http://images.pistonheads.com/nimg/34197/insight_003-L.jpg)

(http://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-carpool/honda-insight-ph-carpool (http://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-carpool/honda-insight-ph-carpool))

Most stations here now have fuel again - diesel and petrol both gone up about 18 cents per litre though.

All seems to be ok apart from Total in Le Man now for fuel

I don't remember any problems, but I also don't know about the sewage problems - can you expand (without any graphic detail)

Aricus

The toilet block leaked into the pond beside the entrance road to BSJ. As I only had a tent the campsite bods put me on the narrow strip of grass between the road and the pond. The smell from the sewage going into the pond had people walking by remarking repeatedly on the stench. It got bad enough that, on the Saturday night during the race, the sewage wagon came by to try and drain the pond. The pond which, being only feet away from, gave me a bug that pretty much ruined the entire trip because I recovered near to going home and left during the race to get an earlier train.

At which point I got to the station only to find a reduced TGV service owing to industrial action.

Confucious say "Never drink from pond on raceday."  ;D

There is a story which many have heard from when we used to camp on MB, me in my caravan, the WANCS (RIP) in the RV and GAB and others dotted round in tents. Our favoured spot was behind the semi permanent bogs. One day the shot lorry didn't show and the cess pit concrete lid floated off and the contents rose up to visit us. It was a pretty big pond and my mates motorbikes were parked behind the caravan and they had to paddle in it to rescue their bikes. Very unpleasant. Once the lorry eventually came the WANCS were able to use their dirty shower water to wash the solids back down the hole. Up till then we hadn't usually been that happy to see the sh*t lorry turn up but after that there was an act of worship every time it arrived.

'He who cooks carrots and pees in same pot very insanitary.'

Many years ago, somewhere towards MacDonalds I slipped whilst climbing  a fence over a ditch and nearly fell in.  There were more Richard the Thirds than a Leicester carpark  ;D

One thing I did notice last year was that nobody was allowed to camp on that roadside strip next to the pond. I also noticed that, for the first time as far as I know, BSJ had its own medical centre.

Were there any problems with the ferries?

I didn't hear about any , but  as we are travelling on the 14th which is the next action day it may well be different :(.

Chunnel was ok, think P & O were, Brittany ferries usually running an hour late, except into Le Havre which were cancelled.

The next general strike is the 14th June. Le Havre will be closed but Caen, Dieppe and St. Malo will suffer an hour or two of delays. Calais I know not. Also the SNCF have a rolling two day strike in operation on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

To change the subject a bit, I've only just found out that the roads are closed from early doors on Thursday instead of noon.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that they were not going to re open the roads between the wednesday and thursday sessions, but I can't find any confirmation for this.

The Ferrari challenge practice starts at 10am on Thursday which would account for early closure/not re-opening.

Just have to hope that Calais is open and dont get delayed too much.

We have booked rooms in Rouen on the Tuesday night which makes for a good break in the journey so it would be nuisance to get there late and not get a chance for a few beers!

Found where I read about the road closure.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122729

Heavens to mergatroids ee-fen....'never too late...'just gotta catch up...

If anyone is flying in for testday or the race, expect problems there too :
http://thepointsguy.com/2016/05/atc-is-striking-again-in-france/


Just heard on the radio that strikes are affection railroad traffic also today. No Thalys and disruptions on Eurostar so far.

Nice to note this place retains its penchant for genius metaphor.

Trains have agreed to strike but no resolution date has been issued :(

I will have to add one of those to my gadget list...

>Martini...LB

Brittany ferries to Le Havre cancelled again today.
Delays on the Cherbourg routes.

My mate once decided to do the trip using his microlight. Trouble is the authorities wouldn't let him cross the channel without a bouyancy device in case he had to ditch in the briny. He actually made two floats using grp but it wouldn't take off with them fitted so he reverted to his Hyabusa and set a record Cambridge / Le Mans / Cambridge time that we haven't managed to beat yet!

Had a chat with Brittany Ferries for those interested. Next general strike Tuesday 14th and Le Have won't run. Others will have an hour or two delay. Railways have a rolling Tuesday and Wednesday strike but about 80% of Eurostar ran. It's difficult to predict just what will happen.

Lynx,

Many thanks for letting us know.

So, as I'm on the 14th overnight Pompy/Caen run with a few others here, do we guess that we need to pack a few extra beers into the car for drinking whilst waiting for boarding, or (less likely) we get an extra hour in the bar?

If the former, and we are waiting to board I will put a CA flag in the back window of my blue e39 BMW M5 if anyone is waiting and fancies coming by for a beer.

Aricus

Cheers.  I'll let Mrs W know about the need for beer on the Tues Caen Ferry.

I'll arrive in Le Mans as and when Fri by the sounds of it 8)

Based on the ability to get beer on that particular crossing the last few years probably best to take your own anyway.

I don't think so Aricus since you'll board and there'll be a delay the other side on arrival I think, so more time on board for the full English more like. That's a complete guess by the way, but logically I can't see why they would delay the departure. Might just slow the ferry down giving more time for zzzzzzs though. The strike a week or so back knocked out three days Portsmout/Le Havre though to be on the gloomy side. Still, you should be better off than me Aricus; I'm doing Prescott on Sunday with the XKSS, take the ferry Monday and arrive of course on the 14th - strike day  ::)

As regards the beer on board the Portsmouth/Caen, it has always been beyond my capacity to drink them dry  ;D

Many years ago, on Newhaven/Dieppe, we may have drunk the bar dry about an hour out of Newhaven, but its more likely the bar closed because it was time for the crew to have a rest under the "old" French labour laws.  Fortunately, I had acquired a case of beer from duty free earlier.  That was also shut, but being assaulted by all and sundry.

I think its too early to predict what will happen race week, but if France start losing the football, it could all go pear shaped.  I'm taking emergency rations for Tuesday.  And don't forget that the public road of the circuit doesn't reopen on Thursday, so shopping is going to be under plan B.

And good luck at Shelsley.

SWMBO just phoned. She has gone to Nancy to see the family while I play cameras this weekend. She has just phoned to say her train tomorrow is cancelled. Seems the trains are playing silly buggers all the time then. Just on my way to the cellar to find some good wine.

On the Tuesday night Pompey - Caen boat too, Clio - CA flag will be atop the load in the rear.

It sounds as if we might be delayed but not massively, breakfast in Falaise a little later than usual maybe and some extra kip time whilst crossing?

Heres hoping

A little tip for your breakfast. On the Falaise bypass turn right for Putanges Pont Ecrepin and stop there at a little logis by the river. Lovely spot by the river, it's called the Lion Verd. I have used that route for over 25 years now and if you go on through Ranes, Pre-en Pail, and on down you end up at St. Saturnin. Never a BiB in sight.

This sounds like a really good tip, thanks!

Aricus

Looks good, Le Lion Verd and the route, thanks for the pointers, we'll be giving 'em a go!

Didn't see any fuel shortages last weekend. Just 1 gas station which was closed on the route through Rouen.
Radio reported today that French unions were blocking the French/Belgian border in Rekkem today. Might be worth to watch if you're coming into France from Belgium, Holland or above.

I filled up at the Arnage SuperU on Wednesday, def not seen any fuel issues around the LM area.

Brittany Ferries mail a moment or two ago.....

   
Sailing Modification

We are sorry to advise that due to a general strike in France, the port workers in Caen are taking industrial action. As a result, your sailing on Tuesday 14 June will be delayed and will now depart Portsmouth at 00h30, arriving into Caen at 08h00. Latest check-in 23h45. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

And probably the bar will definitely be shut/out of beer  :'(

What's that in real money Ian, an hour or two slippage, or more significant?

Now that is a really good question.

Either:

1 - Brittany Ferries have excellent resource management, and they have reprofiled their timetable based on intelligence on the anticipated disruption,

Or

2 - They are undertaking some early customer expectation setting, and there could be changes and more significant impact to come,

Or

3 - They aren't that good at customer management or resource management and they have done a "best guess" on what happened last time.

Aricus

Fuel has reappeared, but the general strike is set for Tuesday.  Hollande etc have got grumpy, as they're still on full terrorist alert, and there's a couple of games on football on.

Just remember, its against all French rules to upset a GPU like Le Mans, so they may have Tuesday off, but they'll soon be engrossed in the footy.  Just have  backup plan in case they don't  ;D