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How to make an ejut of yourself in France - Part 1Aug 06 '02 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Some advice for travellers from Britain to France not that comprehensive but based on my personal experience This review is designed to assist visitors to France with some practical advice for making the trip across to France from Britain. We have driven to France from England for many years now, sometimes we plan our route in detail other times we just go were we please !. I love the fact that after a short sea crossing from England there is such a dramatic change in culture. When I leave Britain I want to see and experience a different culture, I don’t like the globalisation of travel, culture and business. I speak enough French to survive so the language is not a major obstacle. The French are a proud people and lets face it they have much to be proud of, and they expect visitors to attempt to speak a few words of French. In my experience they will meet you more than half way if you make any effort to speak their language. ! (Could you imagine it if the shoe was on the other foot ? ) If you can’t speak French get your phrase book out and have ago.. in my experience after they have rolled on the floor laughing they just love to show you how good their English is ! I remember my first attempt to drive in France after crossing to Cherbourg from Portsmouth. I had about 20 minutes of blunders and mild panic as I got used to driving on “the wrong side” of the road and around this relatively busy coastal port. The roads look very different.. solitary traffic lights blink unexpectedly at you.. and people stroll along with baguettes under their arms… road markings and signs take some getting used to. In fact the wife was so terrified on our first visit she insisted on us booking into the nearest hotel to the ferry for the first couple of nights ! So after several practice rides around the Cherbourg one way system.. and a few less hairs on the head we reached the road south out of town. Another less than useful tip, I discovered was to follow the stream of traffic leaving the ferry, which is fine unless the first car gets lost ! Sixteen vehicles turning into a dead end cna create problems ! Its no wonder the French think the English are crazeeeee. We followed the road south from Cherbourg and I was convinced for many miles I had taken the wrong road because it was so quiet. In Normandy and the west, one of the first things that is likely to hit you is the startling absence of traffic when compared to southern England. Off course not all roads in France are quiet but the country is several times larger the Britain with about the same population so there is generally more space on the roads. The northernmost regions of France is more industrial and the traffic tends to be a bit heavier but with so much more space on the roads it is possible to plan a nice quiet route even through these regions. The shortest cross channel links are from Dover and Ramsgate at the eastern end of the English Channel (Le Manche) to Calais and Boulogne. To the west the English Channel is wider and the crossing longer, and it becomes possible to do an overnight sea crossing and break the long drive from our home in Northern England. The Calais crossing resembles a vast bus service with large ferries docking every few minutes at peak season and acres of “voitures”, trucks, and caravans are hardly the ideal start to your French visit. My preferred crossing would always be via Brittany Ferries (or maybe P&O) to one of the Normandy ports Cherbourg, Havre, Caen, or St Malo and Roscoff in Brittany. These western ports are not exclusively built around mass Cross Channel traffic and after the boat has docked they quickly resume their normal day-to-day activity. Roscoff in the west of Brittany is a charming “one horse” port, St Malo and Cherbourg are important ports but are still emphatically French and interesting. The shorter “cattle truck” crossings in the east are mainly run by English operators and IMO are pretty grim.. (my daughter caught food poisoning after a sea crossing a few years back and I have a long memory) but to the west Brittany Ferries are French owned and crossing with them is a good way to get a bit of a feel for all things French before landing. (and as you would expect the food is rather better). Taking the Channel Tunnel is also an interesting way to reach France.. especially if you are taking the Eurostar train London to Paris. This train is essentially the French TGV (Train Grande Vitesse - High Speed Train) with a paint job but it is a slick high speed airline style service. The French are justifiably proud of this service which dominates European rail travel. The journey from London takes about an hour to do 100 miles and it takes about 20 minutes through the Tunnel but then on the French side the train reaches “full steam” and the 200 miles to Paris takes a breathtaking 1 hour !! And it is very smooth ! As a experiment I turned one of those light weight plastic bottles on its end empty and stood it without falling over for a full ten minutes. (I know I’m sad) We took an option to upgrade our tickets to First Class on one return journey and were thoroughly pampered by the “air hostesses” and also entertained by a fellow passenger who was an Imelda Marcos look a like.. complete with heavies and food tasters ! The Envergure hotel group are renowned throughout France for their budget motels. Formula 1 is one their chains found right across France, Spain and now more common but also more expensive in Britain. A room can cost as little as £15.00…$20. On reaching most major towns and cities you will see numerous signs to their nearest hotel. Although I enjoy a posh hotel like everyone there is something about these budget hotels that appeals to me. Nobody stays in these hotels for anything other than business and en route to a destination, so there is little pretence about the place or the people who stay in them. During normal hours you can usually find someone in the reception but out of hours its a credit card in the slot job. Our last stay in one of these was unplanned at the Rennes hotel enroute to southern Brittany, when I got my distances wrong. The first thing you notice is that these hotels are not your standard multi-storey, “oh non” the French do things differently. This particular one was a block of pre-fabricated (fibre glass) rooms a couple of stories high and about 20 rooms across bolted together into a steel frame. Everything inside your room is built in and designed to make maximum use of the space. There was a bunk bed directly over our bed. No private showers here, these are shared and again are a completely built in. In the morning you head to what doubles for the reception area for your bagguette and cafe. No fancy restaurant serving elaborate petit dejeuner..oh non, non, non.. seulement baguettes, confiture et cafe et au revoir ! I expect in the States they just call this a cheap motel or something but to us Brits an economy hotel chain is a novelty ! In their own curious way these basic motels bring you close to French life.. maybe its fighting your way through to the front of the shower queue or huddling next to madame drinking her early morning café but there is no doubt this is the working France. But if you won’t to be posh, any tourist office or “syndicate de initiative” will be glad to assist. There is plenty of roadside accommodation throughout France of vary standards. The newer French motorways are excellent. The French delight in making each motorway bridge different, many have artworks or interesting tile designs. Similarly their roundabouts are often showplaces for civic monuments, artworks, in Brittany we found one with a fishing boat plonked in the middle. The French didn't quite get the concept of roundabouts for awhile.. and everyone would join the vehicular merry-go-round without stopping and this lead to some pretty nasty messes...and lots of "sacre bleu"'s But now they have installed "Vous n'avez pas le priorite" signs at the approaches to all roundabours and most folk will now stop ! A few miles south of Calais on the motorway (freeway) there is a service station powered by a huge wind turbine it appears to be about twice as high as the station is wide, but this could be an exaggeration. The French are also rather fond of death defying gradients over their bridges, and there is a notable example of this Le Pont du Normandie just out of Havre within a couple of miles of the Ferry Port ! This one starts with a little bump about half a mile long just to get you in the mood and then the main bridge takes off at about the same trajectory as a 747 ! Another notable one spans the Loire near Nantes. The kids and I love em.. but the good lady goes very quiet and a curious shade of green. Travelling on French roads in rarely dull ! If you have plenty of time I would recommend staying off the motorways with their tolls, they are very quick and generally in good nick but they are boring. A large number of old French roads were built by the Romans and are long and straight, so you travel reasonably quickly but there is always a town with accommodation or a café to eat within easy reach ! We have travelled to France with out making reservations and just stayed in Chambre D’ Hote (B&B) “en passage” without serious problems. I don’t drive with a house on wheels in tow but in twenty years of French car travel we have never been forced to sleep in our car through lack of accommodation. So if your tempted to take a chance and just go to France.. I hope all this hasn't put you off completely !  |
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