Driving in France - Lesson 3

Let's talk about France's great network of motorways. They link all the main centres, and you can stay on them for hundreds of kilometres.

The motorways are a great way to get from A to B if you have limited time - you can cover a large distance very quickly by sitting on 130 kph for a few hours (110 kph if it's raining).  They are not so good if you want to see things on the way.  They can also be not so good if your finances are struggling - many of them are toll roads.

Fortunately our GPS allows us to select a route that avoids toll roads, so we have been weighing up our available time vs what we want to see on the way before deciding our route.  One dramatic comparison was in the south of France, where the GPS route using toll roads was 300 km and was going to take 3 hours, and the route avoiding toll roads was 200 km and was going to take 4 hours.  Gives you an idea of how hilly, windy, and narrow-road-through-villagey the 200 km route was, and also a feel for what Sue calls 'cross-country'.

Every few kms on the motorway, there is an 'aire', or rest area.  An aire can be anything from a simple picnic area to a full-blown petrol station and multi-choice restaurant.  Was nice to hear Brooke Fraser during one of our stops - didn't know she featured on French radio playlists.