Driving UK to Andalucía - any must see France/Spain en route?

Hi folks,

I am of course Googling and asking people I know, but this forum never fails to be a rich seam of info!

I am driving down to Almeria from Portsmouth, then back up to Calais, in late July/early August.
I have maybe 3 or 4 days each way that I can use to explore on the way.

I will have my 15yr Son with me - who is happy with physical adventure and cultural education, so nothing off the cards.

I had thought some sort of mountain hike one day in Pyrenees, heard Orlean was pretty.
Not really looked into a lot yet.

Any absolute must-see stuff on the routes, or spectacles at least worth a drive past?

We may camp on the way, or B&B - or sleep in the car, we don’t care.


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If you are traveling through the South of France en route then the Verdon Gorge is certainly worth a look.

Personally I’d have to see the Millau viaduct I believe still the tallest bridge in the world.

https://housing.com/news/wp-content/...compressed.jpg

https://i0.wp.com/theconstructor.org...au-viaduct.jpg

I expect there are many, many sights to see but the three that immediately leap out at me are:

U-boat pens at St. Nazaire (if you are interested in military history)

Barcelona.

As CM has just perfectly illustrated - Millau Viaduct - stunning piece of engineering. Possibly not the most direct route between Spain and Calais but probably worth the diversion.

Oradour sur Glane memorial is somewhere that I think everyone should visit while travelling through France.

Rocamadour is also worth visiting.


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Originally Posted by Wimm

As CM has just perfectly illustrated - Millau Viaduct - stunning piece of engineering. Possibly not the most direct route between Spain and Calais but probably worth the diversion.

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Surprisingly google maps puts the difference between the quickest route & via Millau Viaduct to be only 15 minutes.

Nothing in a 21 hour journey, if it’s accurate.

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Originally Posted by Captain Morgan

Surprisingly google maps puts the difference between the quickest route & via Millau Viaduct to be only 15 minutes.

Nothing in a 21 hour journey, if it’s accurate.

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Definitely worth the detour then.

Plus one for Millau Viaducts did it just after it opened,and many times since. It is a beautiful structure and really special if the clouds are below.

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Originally Posted by aa388

Oradour sur Glane memorial is somewhere that I think everyone should visit while travelling through France.

Rocamadour is also worth visiting.


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The Dordogne is lovely if you have time.

Also if you get to Granada the Alhambra. It is spectacular, unfortunately spoilt by amount of tourism ( since becoming World Heritage Site) but well worth a visit. There is also a Wild West town used for Spaghetti Westerns near Almeria wh8ch can be worth a visit.

France


Tours former capital of France lovely town to visit (hard to google for info though,try it)

Le Man old town and the circuit even when its empty it reeks of motorsport,there is a museum

In between on the B roads army's of sunflowers keep watch,I always avoid the motorway its a joy riding though the small sleepy villages.

In summer French towns have light and music shows on the cathedrals and old buildings.

Nancy has one of the best and a fantastic art museum nearby.

If you go to Millau go under and stay at the town its quaint.

Little known fact veterans get in free to a lot of state museums and the like.





Mondays in Europe a lot of places are closed


Spain


Avoid Granada it was horrible touristy last year.

Go to Cordoba instead, the Roman bridge with a museum at the end and lots of old buildings and sites to see.

Smaller Spanish towns and citys are a joy

Tremp,Cuenca (stunning),Soria,Seguria de la sierra,Sagunto massive castle,Tarragona (a favourite) hard to find a boring road.even the motorways in some areas are twistier than our B roads.

Just a thought here: would you consider taking a ferry either one way or return to Bilbao or even Santander?

R

Not mentioned yet I believe is the Castle of Guedelon if your lad has any interest in history, or traditional craftsmanship.
Oradour sur Glane is harrowing. Probably not the place to start your holidays.
You mentioned Orleans, I would suggest Chartres for its cathedral. Le Mans is mentioned for its Motor racing heritage, but the old part of Le Mans is so beautifully preserved that it was used for the filming of Cyrano among others (the one with Depardieu).
Millau viaduc is spectacular, and you can rent canoes and paddle down the Tarn underneath. Quite sporty in winter because of whitewater, it is more tranquil in summer, especially if we have a draught.
In the Pyrénées, if you find yourself near Luchon, try and go to Superbagnères and get your lad on a paraglider flight
(no connection to the link, just given as an example)

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Originally Posted by ralphy

Just a thought here: would you consider taking a ferry either one way or return to Bilbao or even Santander?

R

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I had, but were mega-bucks. About 500notes was the cheapest (although I will end up spending more on the way, I bet!)


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Looks like first night in Angouleme, then head down into Pyrenees. Try to do something on the Route Thermale and Super-Bagneres areas.
Probs another night up there.

Maybe get near to Valencia for the final night on the southward journey - but not really looked at that yet.


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Having driven back/forth to Cataluna for the past 20 years (now selling up!) would def recommend avoiding any roads near Paris

The most direct to enter Spain is via Lyon (not the shortest but motorway all the way (Emovis Tag (Harrogate) recommended, saves you waiting at the toll booths - drive straight through)

At times, for a change, we select via Rouen/Orleans/Clermont Ferand, but the enjoyable part only starts after C.F., the Auvergne is stunning (see my thread re Hotel Capelle in Millau) but the first half very boring... and slightly shorter - we reckon 12 hours Calais/Girona either way, seems pretty accurate every time.
There is also a quite decent Novotel in Clermont.

We chose via Rouen this time to avoid 'Route de Soleil' A26 - where a huge amount of southbound traffic appears in the summer months, including loads from Germany/Holland/Belgium etc, all it takes is a minor traffic accident and the queues take ages to dissolve....

Watch your speed, although we hardly ever see the French Police on their bikes any more, they are out there with their 'hairdryers' through the side windows - often sitting semi-concealed behind small buildings or hedges.... We have a left few hundred Euros behind :-)


Have fun - it's a busy time of the year,

Cheers, Peter

p.s. from Saturday noon / 22:00 Sunday evening, only trucks carrying foods are allowed on the French m'ways !

I take my time and avoid all the motorways, it depends if its getting there or the journey,for me its the journey.

Lower speed limits even on long open roads and more speed cameras is just one reason I prefer Spain.

I would never go to France in August,to crowded and roads can be dangerous.

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Originally Posted by ingenioren

Having driven back/forth to Cataluna for the past 20 years …

p.s. from Saturday noon / 22:00 Sunday evening, only trucks carrying foods are allowed on the French m'ways !

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Thanks for this.
I’ll be coming into Caen, so my route South is sort of pre-determined.

Coming back I am heading to Calais, but hopefully as am northbound all should be well.
I imagine I will go via Montpelier, C-F and up.
I would like to see Versailles and maybe just train it into central Paris - I know driving there is crap

I have driven around the peripherique in Paris before - and it was proper dodgems!


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Driving in Paris nowadays is best avoided. The last few mayors had dogmatic Greens that made changes to reduce traffic in Paris.
Whilst the goal was commendable, I call them dogmatic because the implementation was woeful, creating absurd bus corridors, one way streets, etc. that brought cars to a standstill for hours on end. Furthermore, since nothing of value was done to increase parking spaces for commuters around the stations outside Paris, it didn't give them any alternative but to use their cars.
Results is that while Parisians may use their car less, traffic jams are significantly worse than they were in my days and air quality has degraded accordingly.
The périphérique though is a bit of a cliché: it's only a dodgem if you do not know what everyone else does, and thus behave differently. There are two things you have to know when driving there: 1) that cars coming onto the périphérique have the right of way, unlike on a motorway and 2) motorcycles are filtering between the two leftmost lanes, and at speed, so you must check your mirrors very regularly when you're on one of those lanes. I personally prefer to remain in the rightmost one because while I am slowed down by cars joining the ring, they usually move out quickly from what they consider the slow lane, and those that come from another lane usually do so because they're taking the next exit. Ah, and the speed limit is an awkward 70 km/h.

I would drive through as much of the Cevennes national park as I could if I was you,its stunning.

I went after seeing photos from a French Motorcyclist riding in Autumn it was just so beautiful all around.


https://www.francethisway.com/places...tionalparc.php




Located in the south of the Massif Central, the Cévennes National Park covers 321,380 hectares, stretching to the south-east of Lozère and the north-west of Gard. Its highest point is Mount Lozère, at the top of Finiels at an altitude of 1,699 metres. The Cévennes National Park is full of wild, unspoilt countryside dotted with torrents, rivers and streams, and is home to a rich and diverse range of flora and fauna, which is why it has been listed as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

The Tarn and Jonte gorges, the granite massif of Mount Lozère, the Cévennes ledge between Florac and Saint-Jean-du-Gard, the caves of Aven Armand and Dargilan, the blockfield of Nîmes-le-Vieux, and the Aigoual Massif, along with the Bramabiau Chasm, the meteorological observatory site at Mount Aigoual and Le Minier Pass, are some of the wonderful sights to see here. There are also lots of great hikes, for example along the Stevenson Trail, a famous hiking trail (GR 70) through the Cévennes, which the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson followed in Autumn 1878 accompanied by his donkey Modestine.

Don't miss the Park House, based in Florac Castle in Lozère, which provides visitors with information and documents about the Cévennes area, as well as a permanent exhibition - "Passengers of the landscape" - all about the natural environments of the Cévennes National Park.

As you travel the picturesque little roads lined with the beech and pine groves and oak groves, heather-covered moors, pastures and chestnut tree groves, you can admire the typical architecture of the Cévennes, dominated by granite, limestone and schist. You can also visit sites about the history and culture of the Cévennes, like the La Roque silk factory in Molezon, with its "Threads of Memory" exhibition about sericulture, the Cévennes Museum in Le Vigan and the Cévennes Valley Museum in Saint-Jean-du-Gard, both dedicated to the popular arts and traditions of the Cévennes... Finally, be sure to try regional products such as honey, cooked meats and Pélardon (a cheese made from unpasteurised goat's milk), as well as typical Cévennes dishes like Bajana, a traditional chestnut soup!