Best way to the Alps from London?

diy

Standard Car licence should cover you on a vehicle up to 3,500kg. e.g. a typical 6 birth coach built


Get a copy of the aires guide for which sites have showers and toilets. You should still only be looking at 15 Euro per night max. Peak season. If you are going to a camp site for the week, then don't bother with a motorhome - its pointless, just get a cabin or something.

Toll roads can be pricey for larger vehicles - and pointless since you'll still only be driving at about 65mph

With regard to saying over in unofficial stops - at first appearance it does look like people are rule breaking, but I'd check back to see how many were still there at 11pm. Most of the sites empty out by that time and I've not seen too many people parking in no motorhome zones after the 10:30 or 11pm restriction. You do occasionally see the odd caravan parked at aires, but the police normally tell them to move.

The bathrooms in most 25' 3.2tonne motorhomes like the above are normally fine for a shower and loo;

Steve-XcT

diy wrote:

Standard Car licence should cover you on a vehicle up to 3,500kg. e.g. a typical 6 birth coach

I think it depends when you got your license.
I know mine covers class C but that's cos I'm an old fogey.
My recollection (and at my age it's sometimes best not to rely on those) is that at some point it changed and the automatic 3.5T was taken away ???

diy

No thats C1 7,500kg or C1E (with trailer), i.e. if you passed your driving license before 1st Jan 1997 you got C1 and C1E after you are stuck with 3,500kg.

You wont need C1 to drive a typical coach built unless its a tag axle (6 wheels), as they are around 4,500kg. But there are lots of restrictions in France for vehicles over 3,500kg, so it would be worth avoiding. Seriously though a 25' , 3,500kg coach built will be plenty of room.

You do have to fuel them at the end of the day and a typical coach built is fitted with a 2.2 diesel engine with less that 140 bhp. Though there are some with 3.0 litre engines. makes sod all difference they are slow and the engines have to be worked for anything resembling a hill

Steve-XcT

diy wrote:

No thats C1 7,500kg or C1E (with trailer), i.e. if you passed your driving license before 1st Jan 1997 you got C1 and C1E after you are stuck with 3,500kg.

You wont need C1 to drive a typical coach built unless its a tag axle (6 wheels), as they are around 4,500kg. But there are lots of restrictions in France for vehicles over 3,500kg, so it would be worth avoiding. Seriously though a 25' , 3,500kg coach built will be plenty of room.

You do have to fuel them at the end of the day and a typical coach built is fitted with a 2.2 diesel engine with less that 140 bhp. Though there are some with 3.0 litre engines. makes sod all difference they are slow and the engines have to be worked for anything resembling a hill

I did cover myself with saying best not to rely on memory at my age :P
Sounds right now you say it as 2T is a large car..so the lorry I hired must have been 7.5T

diy

The above example has a dry weight of 2.9T, that doesn't leave much spare on a 3.5T ticket, by the time you allow for people, luggage, bikes, gas, and half full water tanks.

You aren't supposed to drive with water in the tank, but I normally leave about 10 - 15l in mine so that you can flush the loo etc.

durhamwasp

Just seen this thread.

Have driven to the alps many times (from Durham) and its definitely the cheapest way, taking the ferry from Dover. If you have 4 or 5 splitting the motorway tolls then you are sorted.

We have done trips to Ventoux, Alpe d'Huez, Galibier as a 3,500kg van of 6 people with the bikes packed in and never had any problems (Fiat Swift Escape 624) 5 beds, plus 1 sleeping on the floor. Bike rack for 4 on the back, plus 2 bikes laid on the overheard cab bed while travelling.

Diesel is cheap as chips in France, Aires are brilliant, but even proper campsites are half the price of the UK. Or, look at municipal campsites at around €20 a night all in. Check out the following links for municipal sites and Aires:

Municipal: http://www.camping-municipal.org/

Aire: http://www.campingcar-infos.com/index1.htm

Check out our site for details (link below)

diy

You do have to be careful with plod, carrying 6 in a van built for 5. You could get points and a fine. I'm sure you knew that, though.

Steve-XcT

diy wrote:

You do have to be careful with plod, carrying 6 in a van built for 5. You could get points and a fine. I'm sure you knew that, though.

There's a French joke (the details of which escape me) about the Belgian cops who stop a guy with 5 in an Audi Quattro.... and 2 in a Fiat Uno ... and has something to do with how you get 205 people in a small Peugeot...