UK to Perpignan

Generally I pick the start & end then use mapping SW to drag the route away from the Toll / M`ways while keeping it in the general direction. Its a good distance & avoiding tolls could make for some big days.
Routes: preparing your routes on french motorways - ASFA
FROM62100 Calais, France
TO66000 Perpignan, France
> Modify the research
> Calculate the return route

Distance: 1134.95km dont 1117.98 km on motorways
Time: 11H04
Traffic Impact: +01H25
Cost: 151.47 EUR
Toll 44.3 EUR | Fuel 107.17 EUR

 

Keep off the RN roads and stick to the Ds- departmentals. They are just as good but quieter and more scenic.
There are many good routes down. Through the alps to the coast then west. Or perhaps west through the Dordogne and Lot then traverse the Pyrenees. Even if you go down the middle- the shortest but least interesting route there is the Auvergne, the Gorges du Tarn and the Millau bridge. Do try a different route up that you came down on.
Take your time to enjoy it all. It is a great trip.

 

Try the website Via Michelin, its good for working out routes n tolls

 

Get the ferry to Santander, Pamplona, Jaca then Perpignan. The N260 is a great road. Then just head back up to Calais via the 'follow your nose' route.

 

Doing similar in may only staying in figures south of Perpignan. On route to a friends wedding in Madrid. Plenty of miles and sunshine! Enjoy your trip which ever road you take.

 

It's on a toll road, but, make sure you take in the Millau Viaduct

 

Much depends on how much time you have available. Most of Northern France from Calais to Paris is prairie-like & pretty boring. The Millau Bridge is a must if you haven't been over it before. France is a much bigger country in reality than seems on a map & if you avoid the auto-routes the N roads take you through a lot of villages & towns which can slow progress significantly. Brittany Ferries operate from Portsmouth to Santander & Bilbao (I think it takes 24 hours ish). You can relax on the ferry, have a few drinks & then have a fantastic ride over the Pyrenees to Perpignan. That would be my choice.

 

There's a very simple answer to this question.

Buy the requisite yellow Michelin maps covering your route (you'll need 3 or 4).
Follow any yellow roads on them (these are the D roads, the départementales) and you can't really go wrong. Deliberately seek out roads that look twisty, and anything that follows a river (always great for swervery).

Pouring over maps is half the fun - bollox to all this Sat Nav lark (though for finding your hotel - assuming you book one and don't just stop when you get tired/it gets dark - they can be handy, I'll grant you). And if you get a bit lost, so what?

I'll bet you can order those maps online, though you'l generally find them at any half decent petrol station in France, especially the one of the area you are in.

Using the red Michelin "whole of France" map is less good, as many of the more interesting roads aren't marked at that scale. A good thing to have in your luggage though, if you need a quick simple route (but that is likely to be on the RNs and you don't want to spend too much time on those unless you want to chat to lots of gendarmes).

 

Don't listen to glidd, he's a luddite:wink: Buy a satnav (any old thing will do, mine cost £90) and disable toll roads for the first half of the journey, then disable motorways altogether for the second half. Job jobbed. And follow your nose; if a road looks good, take it, the satnav will put you right afterwards.

 

That's what I'd do... but then I've done loads of France already.

Key point though - DO IT! If you've not put miles in across Europe you are really, really, missing out. Riding in France, etc. is the best.

 

Another Luddite here, I love pouring over the maps, spotting places you might want to go through, seeking the interesting roads, seeing the whole potential of the journey In front of you. SatNav is brilliant for many things but planning? Can't beat spreading the map in front of you.
Millau is a must, even in a car it is a must. Loads of good hotels easily found, don't speed through villages and towns. Lots to see around Perpignan, a trip to Carcassonne is well worth it as well.

 

I refuse to buy a map; I've spent a bloody fortune on maps over the years, and now all that information is freely available on the interweb. Strange, cos I really wanted to be a cartographer when I was a nipper...

 

I usually spend weeks pawing over maps, as part of the planning and build up the excitement, pick places to visit and highlight the good roads, then once over there I very quickly get fed up of stopping at junctions and checking the maps, so on goes the sat nav and, as already said, switch motorways and toll roads OFF. I've found that changing other settings can be good too. eg, sat nav will look for the fastest route, but if you set it to "direct route" it will send you cross country which can be interesting (can sometimes lead you down dirt tracks but you don't have to follow it that closely).

This site does some useful maps for motorcycles http://www.mapsman.com/

Enjoy :smile:

 

Tell me about it:frown:

 

Rob, your forum's broken

 

+1 vote for Santander ferry. 16 hrs then onto brilliant roads through the Pyrenees, then up through France for the return. Aim for Caen though not Calais far more inviting roads, takes in the massive Central and avoid Paris and the Pas de Calais (boring!)

As a bonus, through Normandy you can dwell a while at many of the d day battlefield sites.

Doing this run this year!

 

Maps. Thats what. I could have done tonight. Got the maps out. Did some planning. Ar no hold one, even I was that bored

 

I have bought Michelin yellow maps from Amazon, but do get a red one two for the overview. If you have a Satnav turn off the speed camera warnings.

D roads are where you want to be, enjoy.

i quite fancy the ferry to Santander ride up to Caen, catch the afternoon ferry back to Portsmouth and sit down in the buffet restaurant and gorge yourself silly.