Nice plans

Summer hols dreaming...

Can someone who has done the journey please advise how long it will take from Calais to Nice/Monaco/Menton. Am thinking of 2 days, 8.30am ish train from Folkestone, A26 towards Reims, overnighting someplace near Troyes, and getting to Nice mid - late afternoon the following day.

Reasonable? Realistic? Yes I know it's slogging it down the autoroute but the idea is to get there quick and then a more interesting ride home.

Thanks

Edski

[dyzio]

Yes, I've done similar distances, but if you're leaving so early, perhaps you could ride a bit further on the first day. It's only 250 miles to Troyes and that leaves you with 520 miles on the second day (or did I miss something?).

[fizzwheel]

We went from Folkestone to Milau Viaduct in two days. We stopped at Orlean's on the first night at about 7 ish after getting a similar train depature to you and we were away again at about 10 am, getting to Millau for about 9pm.

If I were doing it again I'd take 3 days and it takes some of the pace out of it, depends what sort of speed you are happy travelling on the motorway at, we werent exactly sticking to the speed limits...

OK so not your actual journey but similar milleage ( you are doing more ) hope that helps give some idea...

We did Millau back to southern side of Paris in 8hrs, basically Ed go as far as you can on the first day, hoping for an easier 2nd day.

Originally Posted by dyzio

Yes, I've done similar distances, but if you're leaving so early, perhaps you could ride a bit further on the first day. It's only 250 miles to Troyes and that leaves you with 520 miles on the second day (or did I miss something?).

No you didn't, you are right - I was thinking of last year, we stopped overnight at Mussy sur Seine, that was on the way to Bourg St Maurice (which isn't as far, and you go off in a different direction) but we got the ferry late morning and didn't get to France until lunchtime, so yes with an earlier start there's a lot more scope to get further south. So someplace around Dijon then, I guess, the further south the better. Dijon's do-able in a day - is 568km, leaves 660km the next day, so a bit further south - Macon? - would be about right, that's 680km/420 miles - equivalent of York to Penzance. I reckon that's OK, a bit more than I had thought, but do-able.

Andy - yes, it's further than it looks/sounds.

Fizz - I hear you - I don't want to get there feeling completely knackered.

[dyzio]

We did Zeebrugge do Dijon 2 years ago, also around 350 miles, but on the toll free roads , you should be fine on the motorway.

I've done Laon (1:45hrs south of Calais on the A26) to Nice in 8 hours. It was in the days before the French started cracking down on speed though.

Splitting it into two days is advisable nowadays, but if you can push on to Lyon on day one, it'll give you a bit of the evening at your destination to have a meal, unpack and chill out instead of arriving and flopping into bed. I'm assuming from your OP you are staying overnight near Folkestone and not leaving Shrewsbury at 3 in the morning?

My experience of this route is all in the car BTW.

PS: One thing I learned going to Portugal which was similar distances, was to split the ride into 1 hour legs. So if you are travelling at 130kph on the Autoroute, then keep one of your trip meters free, reset every stop, and stop every 130kms without fail and at least have a coffee and fuel up at each stop. That way you can cover 650kms in 5 legs and 7-8 hours riding, including a good hour for lunch.

The first hour is easy and you don't need to stop but you do anyway because you promised yourself you would, the second hour is easy too, by the time you do your third stop you're thinking "bugger me, I'm over half way to my overnight stop, only two more legs to go, and so far it's been easy". Instead of feeling like a 650kms slog, it feels like 5 individual 1 hour rides.

[dyzio]

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

It was in the days before the French started cracking down on speed though.

When did this happen?

Originally Posted by dyzio

When did this happen?

Soon after Sarkozy got in, which was about 4-5 years ago. Most French folk pretty much stick to 130kph now, whereas 160kph used to be the norm, and I spent much of that particular journey south in a queue of traffic travelling at 180+

It's not just enforcement that's stepped up, it's punishment too. A second offence of being more than 30mph above the limit, has a maximum sentence of 3-4000 euros fine and 3 months in jail!!

There are about 10 static cameras between Lyon and Reims and radar traps are pretty common too.