General Driving in Europe. . . .

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General Driving in Europe. . . .

Driving in Paris is brilliant, way better than London or Birmingham. People seem to have a sense of where they actually want to go in Paris, and dont arse about so much, they just go. My GPS has been to Paris twice and has returned unscathed, even parked on the street! The 1st time I drove into Paris we didnt have satnav with us, getting in is no problem but getting out again is really difficult! The way they drive over huge curbs to skip traffic is great, although I wasnt that brave and my wheels wouldnt have liked it. I did follow a police car and 2 normal cars through a red light a couple of times though, why not there was noone coming hehe. Paris is my fave city in the world of all the ones ive been to, sublime....

Driving in France or any other country in the civilised world just show up how appauling our roads are though, I know the autoroutes have alot of tolls but I dont mind, its smooth quiet cruising for hours and 100s of k's and I like that.

Congrats on the MPG, my speed is usually so high in France I cant crack 35mpg hehe
 
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Got back from 3 weeks in France and Germany last weekend. I didn't use the h/lamp stickers; just put the height adjuster to the minimum but had the stickers in the door pocket if challenged.;)
The AA are wrong about the number of hi viz required. The ex pats I know out there say the rule is one for every seat in the vehicle and the driver's must be within the car. So I had mine in the door pocket and put the other 4 under the boot carpet (where the spare wheel goes on other cars!).

I did nearly 3500miles in the 3 weeks and averaged 36.7mpg. On the Autobahns it sat very nicely at 115mph on cruise :).
On the Autoroutes especially approaching Calais it is not worth speeding as the Gendarme are always on the A26 looking for silly Brits. Stick the cruise on for 130kph and watch the rest get caught at the next peage.:rolleyes:

Right priority isn't so prevelant these days in France but can still be found in villages and towns across the country.

Passed down the A12 in Bavaria where a small town's inhabitants have spread all over the world.:D:D The name of the town for those not aware is Wa*k.

The peripherique is no worse than the M25 and cities like Berlin and Munich etc are no worse than UK cities.
I do find though that the french do forget to finish the signposting sometimes leaving you high and dry. An example we found was coming up from the south and approaching Mont Lucon. The A road was closed and the sign posted pointed one way and then that was that :bang:. My Mk1 sat nav did well once I had stopped and turned to the right page(y)and we were soon on the right road again.

I'm now counting the days til we go again under with the T Jet.:cool::cool::cool:
 
Rather than starting a new thread, I thought I'd hijack this one if you didn't mind!

Driving to Italy in the summer with my brother, so we decided to head to Dunkirk and take it from there. We thought we'd try to avoid as many paying road tolls as possible. Apparently it's best to head towards Germany. Can anyone vouch for this?

It will mean (by a quick search on Google Maps) that we'll briefly drive through Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria on the way.

Also with regards to the beam stickers, just to confirm that they will be ok to stick onto plastic headlamp protectors? I seem to remember sticking some on my dad's SAAB headlamps, and they were really difficult to get off. I don't mind on the protectors, because I don't use them.

Any help is much appreciated!
 
Yep from the Calais are the best route to avoid motorway tolls is up towards Lille and over through Belguim etc into Germany. However if planning on entering Aurtia beware as they do have a charging system and from reports of other motorists you have to buy it before hand. Don't know where from etc but one driver I was talking to was fined 100Euros for not having paid.

Depends on the quality of the plastic and the glue as to if it will mark the protectors.
 
Thanks for that, will need to look into driving through Austria then.

I just re-read what I wrote and wasn't clear what I meant. I mean with regards to the beam pattern. I imagine it'll be ok to put the stickers on the headlamp protectors but I'd rather ask first rather than blinding on coming cars!
 
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