On the road again...(or: driving in France!)

 

Sooooo...driving in France has been "fun", with definite highs and lows...and lots of laughs! (And I absolutely love this photo of my 3 travel buddies hanging out of our trusty Citroen SpaceTourer!!)

The roads in France are in great shape...no potholes, no litter, really nice.  It has taken us a bit to get used to speed limits in km, not mph.  When you see that the speed limit is 130km, it's kind of freaky (but it's only 80 mph)!  The road system in France is interesting.  There are toll roads (the A roads, as in A51 or A701).  When driving these roads, you go through a toll gate where you pull a ticket out of the machine.  When you exit the toll road, you go through another toll gate, insert your ticket, and tap with your credit card to pay.  Obviously the longer you have stayed on the main road, the larger your toll is.  We have paid between 2 euros and 22 euros.  It was a bit daunting at first...now we just zip through like pros!

If you want to go at a more leisurely pace, you can drive the back roads with no tolls...these meander through one cute town after another.  We have been doing a mix of the two types of roads.

There are also great roadside stops along the toll roads.  You can get gas, use the lavatory, do a little grocery shopping, and eat a wide variety of cooked to order food (crepes/gallettes, sausage/frittes, hot or cold sandwiches, get a coffee (or glass of wine) etc. at these "truck stops".  Most restaurants in towns close between 2-7pm, so these roadstops can be a handy place to get a meal.

A crepe shop inside the roadstop...we got lunch here one day!

Hot sandwich shop on the left, crepes on the right, small grocery store ahead on the left, and (clean) restrooms ahead on the right.

Another interesting thing is that there are no billboards/ad along the highways...The only large signage is indicating local sites to visit (chateaux, national parks, etc).  It all just looks so clean and uncluttered.  Although we have passed several McDonalds, there are not big signs advertising McDonalds or Burger King along the roadsides...no advertising billboards at all! 

We have not figured out how to get the GPS in the car to "talk to us" in English, so we have been using our phones' GPS for driving directions.  Driving directions might be like: 

• in 400 meters, at the roundabout, take the first exit onto N51 to Avignon...
• in 2 miles, at the roundabout, take the 2nd exit to continue straight on N51...  
• in 22 miles, at the roundabout, take the 4th exit onto Rue Charles de Gaulle...
• at the first roundabout take the 1st exit onto Boulevard Louis Pasteur...
• and on...and on!

You get the idea, LOTS of roundabouts!!!  While odd at first, we have all decided this is actually great, it make for very smooth traffic flow...you never have to come to a full stop and wait for a stop light!  And, if you miss your exit at the roundabout, you can just continue on and get re-routed to the next roundabout where you can cut over...hard to explain here, but super simple to navigate.  Don't get me wrong...I'm certainly not saying that there have been no marital disputes between driver/navigator...(if you know what I mean! 😉). Really, the only times it has been challenging to drive in France is when we have pulled into a town during it's Market Day...with GPS telling us to turn onto street that are closed to vehicles!

There are a few rules of the road that are slightly different here also.  The speed limits are different (lower) when it is raining. We encountered the famous Provençal “mistral” winds and there were actually signs warning of “violent winds, adjust your speed”.  Stop lights are not located on the actual corners of intersections….they are placed a bit back, so if you pull to the corner to stop (as we do at home) you can’t see when the light changes! (In this event be prepared for an abrupt “beep” from the angry Frenchman behind you!!). And speed limits change quite quickly…you can be driving in an 80kph zone then abruptly it changes to 50kph. I’ve read too many stories of people getting speeding tickets mailed to them months after they return home, so I’m a bit concerned about this one!  Also, there is no “right turn on red” here…but there is something called “priorité a drôit” (priority to the right). This means that even if you are in a larger road, cross traffic coming from the right has priority (unless marked differently).

So if you are planning a Tour de France of your own, don't hesitate to rent a car and drive yourself!