Thanks for that I was planning on it being around £200 either way on fuel, with whatever the tolls are on top, having never done it we are sailing from Dover at 1915hrs so would assume we will be clear of Calais by 2230hrs there time if not before, we are travelling down on a Tuesday night so am hoping not to see much traffic for the firest part of the journey. One of the routes which seems to keep coming up is to go from Calais on the A16 but then turn on to the A28 towards Rouen then the A13 onto the A154 then onto n154, n12 , n154 and onto the A10 then A71 , A75, A9 which looks very similar to route you used hoping to fill up UK then 2 fill ups on route so looking to fill up from 300 - 350 miles in France then again around 600 - 650 miles. Wish me luck lol
Yep that’s the route, it will be a bit more expensive from Calais €30 ish Calais-Paris e-w, maybe going thru the night it might make sense to go via a26-a1-Paris-Orleans, once you get to Paris it’s well signposted to Orleans…I think that would be my suggestion now knowing your on the night shift, lol
Just as a quickie do the toll booths take cash? UK debit cards? Same with petrol stations as some people / websites say yes others say no. Oh via Paris would that take me on the Boulevard Peripherique (excuse spelling)
Yeah but your only on it for a bit as you go a1-a3-peripherique-a6a-a10, we used cash when we went for the paege as ii was the simplest way, I’m sure they all take uk cards now as there was a problem a few years ago, alot of the supermarkets at night are auto, i had a drama a few years ago, i was visiting family on my motorbike and got to a supermarket at lunchtime (ghost town lol) and it wouldn’t accept my uk card so I had to look sheepish & friendly & get a local to use her card & I gave her the cash, like I said I’m sure this is now sorted, services along your route will be no problem (they will ask for payment method before you fill up) & to be honest the amount you will save its hardly worth messing around especially if your on a mission. We had plenty of time so we did go for minor tours to find fuel but at night it can be a bit of a pallava if you don’t know the area :–) good luck
Can you use cash at peages in the night■■? To use cash do you have to use the manned toll booths or do the unmanned ones accept cash too?
Yep you can use cash in the unmanned Paege, its a reverse cashpoint sort of thing’(cash into slot) 
It’s easier (if available as some are auto only) to use the manned paege incase you have a drama, 
its always good to stop in the first services and grab a coffee and some change for the cheap paeges as they also have a bin to throw coins into similar to uk bridge tolls,
do they just take coins then the cash booths? Just wondering as some of the longer stretches of toll would be over 20E?
Go here : www.saneftolling.co.uk and they take it from your Uk bank account
Edit to try and get link to work.
thanks for that Kerbut but for a one off trip its a bit pricey!
Cash and coins at automated tolls.
Can’t you take the train or Easyjet? My mum and dad took us to Argeles when I was 10 and then it was an overnight sleeper but I think it’s a lot quicker nowadays…
Or you could fly there maybe in and hour and a half?
Re planes - we don’t like them and I mean don’t like them when we went to Tenerife none of the daughters (3 of them) my wife or I took to flying at all made us all really ill!! Furthermore by the time we have paid for flights and baggage and then car hire for ten days it would cost more!!! We wanted to try the self drive thing, next year when we have more time we will take a day or three to get there followed by a day or three to get home.
My wife and I travel into France to the ole chateau twice a year. We use cash and our normal bank cards wherever we go. As I recall, you have to let your bank know you will be abroad especially if you use Barclays. This is an anti fraud measure. For refuelling, you won’t have any problems as most stations except for the very small town ones have an automate pump at night which will accept Visa and M/Card. If you only have a Maestro card, then you may have a problem. As long as you have the magic Visa sign on your card and inform your bank you will be using it in France during such and such a date, then you can use it for anything. Tolls, shopping, restaurants anything. You can even draw cash if you tell the bank.
As to the route, I would go the quickest route even if it means Paris. Remember, just because you are booked on the 1915 doesn’t mean you will catch that boat! If you arrive early, you will be put on the next available ferry. But assuming you land around 2200 local time, then you will be hitting Gay Paree about 1am. You won’t find any traffic problems at that time of the morning.
Thanks for that - thats put a few issues to bed that we had, great idea to advise bank will do that tomorrow. Does anyone know if the stickers you can buy on ebay for GB number plates are legal, they are the euro stars with GB underneath■■?
I went over for three years on the trot in the same car and didn’t even have a GB sticker on. Buy a magnetic one here (which is what we did in the end) and then put it away once you get back … they’re cheaper here. Our GB sticker sits on the side of the fridge for 49 weeks of the year
TheBear:
I went over for three years on the trot in the same car and didn’t even have a GB sticker on. Buy a magnetic one here (which is what we did in the end) and then put it away once you get back … they’re cheaper here. Our GB sticker sits on the side of the fridge for 49 weeks of the year
Make sure you do put a GB sticker on your car, unless you have the new style GB number plate that have them on. If Monsieur le Gendarme is in a bad mood, he will fine you 