Sounds like i will need to thrash the arse of my Alfa 156 if i want to have any chance of seeing anything other than your trail of dust.

Mr I, if you take it easy out of Calais and then stay away from the N138 you should avoid the coppers completely. Every year we make the same mistake at Rouen and end up heading down to Evreux. We have never seen any coppers on this road. Hence the miles might be a little longer, but there is some dual carriageway, with no police it takes about the same length of time.

I heard some horror stories last year about 1000 euro fines and the like. Also if you have any form of radar detector or even a dash sat nav that looks like a radar detector then i would leave it at home. Plod were taking it out of your car and getting you to reverse over it last year. They are highly illegal in France i think.

We have never made that mistake Mr I, but on the way back on the Monday, i am usualy shovelled behind the wheel at some god forsaken hour and somehow we end back up in calais about 4 hours later. I do remember getting hideously lost once, i have no idea where though. Hence being lost.

[quote Has that ever happened to anyone else?  

F

No. But coming back from PQ's in the black beastie last year we were stopped at a roundabout by some funny looking locals who wanted us to buy a brightly cuddly toy!  Gave em a handful euro's and we were on our way, still don't know what they were doing.

"Do you make the same mistake on the way back to Rouen, and take the wrong first exit off the dual carriageway thus driving into Rouen via the old industrial area?"

DO YOU MEAN TO SAY IT ISN'T COMPULSORY TO DO THAT?

Last year we tried ever so hard to just drive past Rouen without getting into the fabled "industrial area trap" but had to concede to defeat. I was a bustin' for an extended water leak too but that bloody bouncy rutted road made it so bad  I had to stop behind a strategically parked camion.  (I know, maybe too much info, but it all adds to the Le Mans Experience" dunnit?)

My mate has route guidance this year and I intend to be behind him at that point, see if IT does any better!

The RG is built in and doesn't look like a Radar detector thank God.

 

Bill

Fran, you must be right if you say so.

In fact if you say so and you are right, are we married?



That Peage incident reminds me....

The new M6 Toll road has a system of electronic barrier lifters that work when a "Tagged " vehicle comes through, but, and it is a BIG but, only if in certain marked lanes. Makes sense I suppose.
Our company vans have the electronic gismo in the windscreens since we need access to ALL the midlands Motorways.

I was driving into TOLL PLAZA southbound with a call on my blood* handsfree mobile which had lost its handsfreeability. The call was from our office from a bloke who had my customer on the phone and who was worriting about whether we would find him.

Trying to answer him and get into the right lane for GISMO I was using the handset, trying to be unobtrusive (the new mobiles law had just started) and trying to get in lane.

Inevitable innit?

I drove straight into a lane that I thought was showing the GISMO sign, no bugger in front either so "Aha, clear run through!"

BERDONNNNNNNGGGG!!!

Wrong, invalid GISMO lane and the barrier bar clattered  orf me windscreen.

Luckily the barrers are designed to spring forwards if some paperat hits 'em, but bloody hell how daft does it make you feel?

Especially if they ALWAYS report the incident to the vehicle owners......

 

Bill

Team DMC thought long and hard on this one. In the end we
decided on staying in Rouen. As we had a early afternoon
ferry and wanted to avoid the autoroute's and Plod as much
as possible.
 I guess the ultimate route if you have the time/money would be to go out from Plymouth to Spain and come in "under the radar" from the west.
Regards
Nick H
 

Ooohhhh, I remember the year the tunnel was closed.........and i still ended up in the industrial estate.

 

F