Le Shuttle - under the English Channel/La Manche

There used to be only one way to go to Europe from the UK with your car and that was by ferry boat. Ferries have gotten much better over the years, but they still depend on the weather. Having experienced Force 8 Gales many years ago, we opted to avoid the surface of the ocean and go beneath it. Eurotunnel offers what is probably the fastest and most efficient method of crossing to Europe. You must arrive 30 minutes before scheduled departure while the crossing takes 35 minutes. So in a minimum of 65 minutes you have not only crossed the Channel but have also gone through passport and customs control and can immediately start the long drive south across France. You drive on to the train and stay in your vehicle during the crossing.

We paid £98 for a return trip that stipulated we could not depart before 5 p.m. going to France and must start our return from France before 10:00 a.m. These restrictions suited our plan to use B&Bs on the French side in both directions. A full, unrestricted return costs nearly £300. The one way penalty for changing our ticket was £30 (but we would still be limited by the time of day).

French Autoroutes

Many French autoroutes (a.k.a. motorways or freeways) have tolls (peage). For long distance travel there really is no other choice unless you have plenty of time to spare, so factor in the toll costs. A few autoroutes, such a A75 south of Clermont Ferrand, do not charge. The site helps to calculate toll charges.

Bed & Breakfast (Chambre d'Hote)

Many French B&Bs are inexpensive and offer good simple accommodation. It pays to use a reputable guide when selecting B&Bs as these screen out undesirable places. We used Alastair Sawday's Guide. A good B&B need not cost more than 50 Euros a night.

Self Catering

This is a very popular form of accommodation in France, particularly in the resort areas. Standards do, of course, vary enormously so it pays to research places using the internet and publications. Go for the online guides that publish the most information. For example, our apartment in Nissan was advertised on two sites. Alastair Sawday had minimal information whereas Vacation Villas carried complete information. We booked using the latter. However, the owners now have their own site here.

Beaches

A good beach is very important to us. After years of Texas sand bars, we rather like beaches that are backed by rocks and cliffs. We also love clean, clear water. So some of the beaches we visited passed the test, others did not. We particularly liked those around Argeles-sur-Mer (though they do get very crowded in summer) but also liked the rocky coves at Collioure and Cap d'Agde. Perhaps because they reminded us of Texas, the beaches around Gruissan were somewhat disappointing.

Guides and Maps

We found our Rough Guide of France to be a disappointing publication. If we had believed all we read we probably wouldn't have discovered half the places we really liked. Perhaps the writers have become jaded with all the development?

By contrast, the Michelin Green Guides are reliable sources of information but it is frustrating that they list places alphabetically rather than geographically. That you have to know what you are looking for rather defeats the purpose of the guide.

Michelin maps are also very good, but for more detailed mapping, we recommend the Series Bleu 1:25,000 scale maps. These even show all the tourist attractions (such as camp sites) and do a much better job at this than the UK equivalent scale series.

We also used our Route 66 mapping software (at times in conunction with our GPS unit).

What about public transport?

Budget airlines such as Ryanair and Flybe offer flights from the UK to regional airports in Languedoc-Roussilon.

French Railways (SNCF) have excellent long distance services and can be very cost competitive (even with the airlines).

We saw very few buses but they do exist.