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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@MotownJunk,
Happy hols all
After all it is free
After all it is free
@Boris, You too!
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Quote:
You may need to visit the Villaroger Ski Station, a la Hammond in a Old episode to complete the journey Laughing good lunch down there right at the bottom of lift system too.
Boris, I went past a XC skier above 1800 earlier. Not your lad by any chance?
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@Owlette, unlikely - he went out but over to the Peisey area at top of valley
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Jealous of all heading out this week- Penultimate day’s skiing of nearly 5 week trip for us with fabulous Spring conditions at Valloire today. Spring has sprung and perfect for extended rosé lunch- paid for by daughter number two for her holiday with us! No total energy Diesel available length of Maurienne this pm - annoyed we drove past long queues yesterday. The motorway service station at Mondale had some but at 2.74€ a litre
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Diesel is readily available if driving down, but at a price. Weirdly the cheapest we say was at the Aime supermarket and no queue - I guess as everyone had filled up around Albertville just in case!
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@MotownJunk, where are you staying? We are in Lanslebourg in the the Napoleon quarter - used to be a barracks apparently.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@altis, just replied on the Maurienne thread
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Boris wrote:
Diesel is readily available if driving down, but at a price. Weirdly the cheapest we say was at the Aime supermarket and no queue - I guess as everyone had filled up around Albertville just in case!
Thanks. That's useful to know. We depart UK on Weds and could just about make it all the way on one tank, so really need to fill up before we go up the hill to Avoriaz. I hope to find an equivalent to your Aime supermarket.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
All of the total energy aires on the autoroute were still 2.09 for diesel driving back yesterday morning. Others were 2.20-2.40.
@garyyb, Looks like the last Total Energies before Avoriaz is at Aire de Bourg - Jasseron on A40.
Very useful tool for planning fuel stops here https://plein-moins-cher.fr/#ttt2 can tag route and shows all fuel stations prices. Not very intuitive and quite slow, works ok on full screen not sure how it would work on a mobile
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Noticed that the ESSO in Chalons-en-Champagne was €1.99 for petrol. Didn’t catch the diesel price
Returned home today; the joy of French autoroutes annulled by wacky races and contra flows back in the UK
Filled up at Total motorway services just south of Reims this afternoon. Still 2.09 and no obvious shortage.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Lovely slick return yesterday, 12 hours Meribel Mottaret to Southampton. Fuel everywhere we needed, but more expensive than usual. No delays for train at Calais. Awesome week had by all.
After all it is free
After all it is free
En route just South of Troyes heading North. Quite a few Total stations were out of fuel, including two which showed availableon the map yesterday. Filled up at an Intermarche but paid €2.29 /l for diesel
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Some contradictory information on fuel availability!
We are not due to leave until Saturday but I’m already making plans just to stay until I know for sure I’ll get home.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@Jonny996, One supermarket that I tried yesterday had run out of E10 but other than that was fine, paid €2.00 at Ferney-Voltaire and €1.98 at Laon.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Our last fuel stop was at LeClerc Champfleury but there were some roadside reports of Unleaded E10-95 (and E5-98 ) being unavailable nearer to Calais.
Eurotunnel running smoothly.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Several had no 95 petrol on Northern part of A26. Especially the Total ones. Suggest you fill up before you need to.
Major result at Calais. We had a good run and arrived 2 hours before the 2120 DFDS which was the one before our booked 2245. Busy for French border check but once through we were loaded immediately. Seemed a bit odd as it was 1h15m before our sailing. We've just left the port at 2015 so 2 ferries earlier. Should be home by 2245.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
A bonus with the ferry was the 5 day ticket for £149 was £300 cheaper than tunnel for same dates/times. That will pay for the tolls and diesel, even at current higher prices!
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@Owlette, additional feedback on my drive down from Calais to Andorra:
- As suggested here and to avoid the expensive tunnel (Duplex) on the west side of Paris, we went east. I think we saved €12 in tolls doing so, and it was not longer. We followed Waze and oddly enough ended up using the "Peripherique" (Paris ring road), rather than a suburban motorway. It was congested but kept moving and did not add time overall. Maybe in a busier saturday, weekday, the itinerary would have been different.
- We pushed all the way to Limoges (~700km from Calais) and the last hour of driving felt a bit too much (even though we swapped drivers). Chateauroux (which we considered) would have been an hour earlier and would have felt just right. That said, Limoges has lots of super-convenient stopover hotels and restaurant options. We got to the restaurant at 9:15pm and felt very welcome. It also meant that the rest of the drive on the following day was lighter (~450km). So maybe, i would do this again (and hoping the channel crossing would not delay us by 2hrs this time!)
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Just to keep you all updated we’re home now, whuch seems a while after we left the resort. We left after skiing on Sunday, drive to a ibis somewhere near Dijon overnight and then got to Ouistreham in time for a late lunch before an afternoon crossing. At work today after staying overnight closer to there.
Fuel availability seemed ok - Total Energie were sometimrs sold out, and signs warned you when the next availability of diesel was, but there didn’t seem anything morecthan an inconvenience and to make sure you fill up well before you need to.
All in all I found it easier than I was expecting - driving in France is mostly straightforward. I’d happily do it again.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
We drove back from les arcs yesterday and it really was a journey of two halfs
First half
We left arc 1600 almost on the dot of 10:00 in bright sunshine and a tank full of diesel. My wife opted for the first shift to bourg en brasse, I did a short stint to short of Dijon my wife took us to beyond Rheims while I had a sleep and I then finished off the drive to the tunnel.
We got there at 19:15 and were allocated a crossing an hour before we’d booked. The drive was really easy in bright sunshine. We still had fuel in the tank for another 100 miles; sadly insufficient to get home. A gentle southerly zephyr and keeping a cruising speed a bit below the speed limit meant that we didn’t need a fuel stop.
Second half
Quick stop for something to eat then we joined the queue for immigration. One and quarter hours later we eventually got through uk immigration having missed two trains.
French immigration was no problem at all but many cars were being stopped at the uk border for over 10 minutes for reasons we didn’t understand. I suspected it was the use of sniffer dogs to detect illicit cheese smuggling but saw no evidence for it.
We put a splash of fuel in the car straight off the train. 4 hours later we were home at 1:00. I’d thought it would be 23:00 when we were given the earlier crossing. Lengthy sections of motorway closures transformed a 3 hour journey to a 4 hour one. The general standard of driving in the uk is much lower than France. On the motorways you’d find drivers driving in the outside lane when the 3 lanes to their left were empty and at one point when we were in a long line of traffic driving along the A22 a car just pulled out of a side road and we were only saved by good brakes and the car behind being the advised 2 seconds further back.
I used to say the the uk side of the drive was one third of the distance but two thirds the hassle now think I should revise that to three quarters the hassle.
Any way now safely home after a lovely couple weeks in les arcs.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 8-04-26 11:32; edited 1 time in total
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@johnE, safely back, that's what matters, but agreed on all accounts - we did the journey back from La Plagne over two days as I was sole driver, but it was when we got back to the UK that it just seemed to kill the good vibes; the traffic flowed fine and we were back to Rugby in under 3hrs, but it felt chaotic, everyone chasing the smallest gaps and just feeling pressured. After driving all across France and up to the midlands, I got within a mile of the house before some tw*t in the wrong lane of a roundabout decided they wanted to turn right and not carry on ahead..... Sod's Law that the worst driving is in the UK.
I'm just going through fuel receipts and my Toyota app to tally up the fuel economy but I think we did about 46mpg all told, which I'm very happy with considering we weren't hanging around on the autoroutes and the car was *slightly* heavier once we'd visited E.Leclerc in Reims for a wine shop
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
We drove back from les arcs yesterday and it really was a journey of two halfs
First half
We left arc 1600 almost on the dot of 10:00 in bright sunshine and a tank full of diesel. My wife opted for the first shift to bourg en brasse, I did a short stint to short of Dijon my wife took us to beyond Rheims while I had a sleep and I then finished off the drive to the tunnel.
We got there at 19:15 and were allocated a crossing an hour before we’d booked. The drive was really easy in bright sunshine. We still had fuel in the tank for another 100 miles; sadly insufficient to get home. A gentle southerly zephyr and keeping a cruising speed a bit below the speed limit meant that we didn’t need a fuel stop.
Second half
Quick stop for something to eat then we joined the queue for immigration. One and quarter hours later we eventually got through uk immigration having missed two trains.
French immigration was no problem at all but many cars were being stopped at the uk border for over 10 minutes for reasons we didn’t understand. I suspected it was the use of sniffer dogs to detect illicit cheese smuggling but saw no evidence for it.
We put a splash of fuel in the car straight off the train. 4 hours later we were home at 1:00. I’d thought it would be 23:00 when we were given the earlier crossing. Lengthy sections of motorway closures transformed a 3 hour journey to a 4 hour one. The general standard of driving in the uk is much lower than France. On the motorways you’d find drivers driving in the outside lane when the 3 lanes to their left were empty and at one point when we were in a long line of traffic driving along the A22 a car just pulled out of a side road and we were only saved by good brakes and the car behind being the advised 2 seconds further back.
I used to say the the uk side of the drive was one third of the instance but two thirds the hassle now behaves I should revise that to three quarters the hassle.
Any way now safely home after a lovely couple weeks in les arcs.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@rjs, ok, last time we travelled back we had a text or email from Le Shuttle n forming us. Not seen any notice this time around
After all it is free
After all it is free
[quote="Boris"]Are there restrictions on taking cheese into UK? There was a period last year when it was banned due to foot and mouth, thought that had ended.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
