UKC

Due to a great lack of planning, I need to drive from Calais to near Perpignan for family holiday next Sunday. Will be arriving Calais 09.55

Can anyone who knows Paris give any suggestions for avoiding Le Tour traffic ? the logical route for me would go pretty close to Evry but I'm not sure this would be my best option on Sunday.

Many thanks

In reply to GrahamD:

Most of the traffic will head to the centre of Paris to watch them go round the loop.

As long as you stay East of Evry, you probably won't notice anything unusual, however, even if you went the other way around paris (via Versaille) you would probably only see lots of folks standing on the bridge over the main road where the course crosses.

It won't be like the UK - the french see the tour pretty regularly so you don't get every cyclist in teh country turning up to watch every stage.

It is also very unlikely to use any major roads.

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Thanks for that. Just pick one of the usual clock wise options round Paris then.

In reply to GrahamD:

We drive down to Catalunya (Northeast Spain) several times a year and never go through Paris.

From Calais we drive to Rouen and then past Chartres, joining the A71 motorway north of Orleans.

Doing it that way probably adds about an hour to the journey on a normal day but it's a much nicer drive and also saves a fair bit on tolls.

If you haven't been there, Rouen is a very impressive city, plus you also get a distant view of the magnificent cathedral of Chartres from the ring-road (of Chartres).

Pete.

In reply to Pete O'Donovan:

Chatres is indeed a sight to behold, but I've always thought Rouen a bit of a dump, but then I've only driven through it a few times.

One thing I would say is be aware of the underpasses if you drive through Rouen - they aren't signed as obviously as you'd think, and are very low if you've got anything on your roof!

In reply to Pete O'Donovan:

Useful idea, thanks. I've driven to Versaille for work via Rouen so I know that bit of the drive well enough, but never been to / around Chartres.

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Hmm - I'll have bikes on the roof but it is a low car !