UKC

Me and my friend are looking for a long weekend bouldering holiday, and were thinking the obvious choice would be font.

I was just wondering what kind of price we would be looking at for the 2 of us driving to font and staying somewhere cheap, but bearable.

If anyone has suggestions of other locations that would be good for a long weekend, i'm more than open to suggestions!

In reply to Noxeal:

Hi, which bit are you struggling with here? Can I suggest you maybe do a tiny bit of the legwork yourself, then maybe someone else will fill in any missing pieces.

Do you own a car?
What mpg does it do?
Where do you live?
Go on Google maps and ask it the distance between your house and Nemours/bleau.
Divide 2x that number by the first number.
Then multiply that by the price of fuel per gallon.
Are you going to camp or stay in a Gite?

The only possible bit of this that I can't see you managing to work out yourself is the Peage. That seems to be about 20 Euros each way according to Google.

In reply to Noxeal:
Very roughly :
Ferry £80
Petrol £100
Tolls £40
Cheap gite/accommodation £100pp? I've only ever been for a week.
Spending money just cheap food unless you eat out.

In reply to Noxeal:
As above, and if you are unlucky, £75 excess for getting your smashed windscreen repaired if the smash and grab gangs are doing the car park rounds in the Forest. It's happened to mates of mine in previous years, but to be fair haven't heard much adverse news in recent years. It tends to go in phases so maybe they are all doing time at the moment?

Take care, keep money, passport and valuables with you, beware of remote car parks, don't leave anything on view in the car, and leave the glove box open.

Also don't exceed French motorway speed limits, the police are tough and appear to target GB plated cars. The road from Calais towards the Paris motorway junction is notorious for speed traps, and the on the spot fines are heavy.

In reply to Trangia:

Thanks for the warning, i doubt anybody with half a braincell would expend any energy getting into my mates car, pretty old VW fox doesnt really scream "rob me!"

All i really needed was a really quick estimate to throw infront of my mate to convince him, and yoi've helped a ton!

In reply to Noxeal:

Ignoring the poster above (most unhelpful comment ever) I find font for a week is roughly 250-300 quid all in! depends how you want to live!

Decent food and lots of beer, slightly more expensive!

I always find the most expensive bit is the campsite and fuel but they are unavoidable!

I recommend Musardiere for camping as you can walk to a good few crags so save the fuel!

Hope this helps

In reply to TheGeneralist:

Try not to be a dick your entire life, Bloke was only asking for help and advice. Won't kill you to post something useful.

In reply to Euan McKendrick:
In what way is it unhelpful to warn a Font newbie about the very real risk of car break ins at Font? OK my cynical post was somewhat tongue in cheek and added to the potential costs, but it does happen from time to time. I've had my car broken into there in a remote car park, at least two of my mates have had their cars broken into on two separate occasions. It's not only expensive, but it tends to ruin your holiday. All I was doing was making the OP aware, and suggesting some sensible precautions in addition to having endorsed Si dH's post.

And if you are on a tight budget, a speeding fine is the last thing you want.

In reply to Trangia:

No!!!! Not you!!! The 1st post after the original!

In reply to Euan McKendrick:

Ah! OK!

In reply to Noxeal:

I'd agree with McKEuan - around £300 for a week living a little frugally - bread and cheese morning noon and night. If I was going for a long weekend I'd probably stretch to using the tunnel (depending on where you live) as it does save a bit on driving but definitely saves on time so you can possibly make more of your time out there.

There has been a bit of a clamp down on camping in the forest so now I use the aire outside Milly if times are hard although a weekend in the back of a VW fox is probably going to make or break a friendship in equally bad ways but if you are on a tight budget you might get away with bivvying out... Musadiere is a nice campsite though and as others have said, is walking distance to a lot of good areas.

As an aside, check this out before you go - not read it fully but think it applies across France -
www.certifcat-air.gouv.fr
new rules on pollution levels for cars - I think you need a sticker to say how environmentally friendly your car is.

As another aside, the Liber-t tag direct debits your peage fees and reduces all the faff looking for Euros. www.saneftolling.co.uk. If you want a more accurate idea of fees, this site also has a link to the peage charges across france - autoroutes.fr.

Anyways, I hope this helps.

But also at least tell us
What colour your car is?
What tyre size you plan on travelling on?
Contiental or pirelli?
Do you skip leg day?
If not, how much leg work do you do? Take this number multiply it by X, divide this by the number by the radius of your tyre and then swap that number with the first number.
Gite or campsite?
How many pillows?
Down or synthetic?
Perhaps then we can help.

£300. Have a good trip.

Oh and don't speed either, it's really naughty.

In reply to McKEuan:

So I've given him the info he would need to work out a fairly decent estimate of the cost of his trip, and you've just plucked a random number out of your arse without knowing the two most important things about his trip:

* Where he is driving from and
* Whether he is staying in a Gite or Campsite.

And you called me the dick...

And your idea about saving the cost of a couple of miles petrol getting to the crag each day after coughing up for 600 miles driving. Awesome idea.




PS. Agree with the comments on car breakins. Don't leave anything of value in the car.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

And you've just proved my point.

Read my post it has the word, roughly, in there.

In case you're completely unaware that could also mean "estimate" or "average" not a solid quote.

And yes. It could save you fuel... Driving to a from crags every day could easily be quarter of a tank.

My point is you could've could've added to the thread by saying "when i went to font i spent......" Not just ridiculed the bloke and tried to look like Stephen Hawkins.

Oh and i guess he's driving from England.... Just a guess mind.

In reply to Noxeal:

Defo pay for euro break down cover if you have an old car. The bills can rocket in france if you need recovery and havent got the AA to sort it all for you. My bill was 3k and luckily the AA paid it. It did include a flight back to font with hotel and hire car to pick up my car from the garage once they had a sorted it. A week after I left.

Got a day in the forrest on the AA

Other than that, those F1 hotels are great if there is a few of you as they can sleep 3 for 30euros a night. Fuel about 100 and tolls are 19euros each way I think. Euro break down is about 70 for a week for their platinum one I think. And about 200euros for pastries and coffee, obviously.