[slackline]

Off-peak ferry crossings Dover <---> Dunkerquer at £18 for sailings prior to 17^th December 2008 from Norfolk Line.

Pretty damn cheap if you can plan your trip that far in advance and don't mind travelling over-night 

[Jim]

Have never paid more than £60 for a return ferry to france and not all of them have been in the middle of the night either

[lagerstarfish]

The A104/N104 etc. method is my favourite. On some maps, the route is actually marked/highlighted as Le Francilienne.
On the way there there is one particularly badly signposted bit. Where you turn off the A1, just after CDG airport and you are on some kind of large sliproad - the signs for the A104/Marne disappear until the very last minute (ie above the point where the lanes are split with big concrete barriers). I think (?) that of the 4 lanes available to you, it is the 2nd from the left (3rd from right in euros) that is the correct one. Anyone else know for sure?

New overhead signs are now in place, making this bit much nicer 

[slackline]

Norfolk Line are offering £24 off mid-week ferries from Dover-Dunkirk with £10 discount if you book before 24/07/2009 if anyone's planning a trip over on the cheap.

[Will Hunt]

Latest AA guidance says you need:

Original registration document - does this actually mean the original registration document from the DVLA?!

Breathalyser. It then says:

All drivers should possess a breathalyser. However, as of the 25th January 2013 a driver can not be penalised for not carrying one. The fine has been postponed indefinitely. The breathalyser has to be a certified by the French
authorities, showing an ‘NF’ number. The official text states that one unused breathalyser should be produced. We
recommend that two single-use breathalysers are carried, so if one is used or damaged you will still have a
replacement to produce.

And elsewhere:

We have received notification of the indefinite postponement of being fined for not carrying a
breathalyser (An on the spot fine of €11 was due to be implemented on 1 March 2013).

Which reads to me as "You absolutely do not need to bother getting a breathalyser".

What's the deal?

[Duma]

You don't need a breathalyser. You should carry the vo5. (not a copy)

[tomtom]

Don't forget to remove the UKIP sticker from your car - and if they don't understand, shout.

[Will Hunt]

Oui oui monsieur. J'aime le baguette.

[lagerstarfish]

mention my name and they'll offer to drive your car back to the gite for you if you've had too many

[Will Hunt]

On this subject, can anyone recommend an offline Euro GPS app for a smartphone? Last time we were driving round the outskirts of Paris at one in the morning, with a useless road map, screaming at each other about some place called Marne and it was a horrible experience for everyone concerned. Then Ben drove into a large concrete curb, got air, and popped a tyre. So if I can avoid that it would be smashing.

[GCW]

Once satnav has planned the route, tell it to travel via mitry-mory

Whatever system you use, this is still solid gold. The Pregnant Horse Parabola has never failed me once.

[AlistairB]

On this subject, can anyone recommend an offline Euro GPS app for a smartphone?

HERE maps did the job for us and has also previously got me from San Jose to Bishop. Even knows where Supermarkets and such are offline, I've been pretty impressed. You can choose what to download based on regions, countries or continents.

[dave]

Can't you cache maps in Googlemaps to use offline these days?

[tomtom]

Can't you cache maps in Googlemaps to use offline these days?

This ^^

[slackline]

On this subject, can anyone recommend an offline Euro GPS app for a smartphone? Last time we were driving round the outskirts of Paris at one in the morning, with a useless road map, screaming at each other about some place called Marne and it was a horrible experience for everyone concerned. Then Ben drove into a large concrete curb, got air, and popped a tyre. So if I can avoid that it would be smashing.

Use the brilliant OSMAnd as you can load the UKbouldering POIs into it to aid navigation.  There are two versions in the Play Store a free one with some restrictions and a paid version (costs roughly two fuck-alls, although it was on sale for £0.10 around xmas, think I posted about the offer in the "Theres an App for That" thread, but its worth supporting OpenStreetMaps I think ).  Alternatively you can also install  from the F-Droid Repository.

I used this to find our way down from the Jebel Burdah in Wadi Rum when we were a little late (4hrs) descending due to navigational problems on the climb (got lost and completely off-route and found our own way to the ridge).  Someone had recorded the trail  to/from the Bridge of Burdah using GPS and added it to the map and in conjunction with a headtorch and foot prints in the sand we found our way down safely. 

[slackline]

Can't you cache maps in Googlemaps to use offline these days?

This ^^

...is a ballache as you can only cache a limited amount and then have to think about it each time you're heading away.  With OSMAnd you have to download in advance (theres no way round this for any map/GPS application), but its by country/region so you do a job lot in one go and forget about it.  The maps can be stored on an external microSD to avoid eating into your internal storage whilst GoogleMaps uses internal (or did last time I used it).

Plus you can't add the UKBouldering POIs to Google Maps.

[fried]

Useful app, not sure if it's been posted before.

http://www.sytadin.fr/

I still maintain that if you hit Paris between 10am - 4pm or after 8pm you're quicker taking the peripherique.

[Jim]

Useful app, not sure if it's been posted before.

http://www.sytadin.fr/

I still maintain that if you hit Paris between 10am - 4pm or after 8pm you're quicker taking the peripherique.

Having done the peripherique a few times now I would tend to agree

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Google Maps offline has improved but still isn't brilliant. it's easier to use than previously, now just search for somewhere, click on the bar and you should have a 'download' option. Slackers is right I don't think you can store offline maps on the SD card. Offline maps do expire however you can set them to auto update in settings. 'Keep' looks good, it's what was the Nokia Maps but I think it is now owned by BMW and others.

[finbarrr]

after a few late night traffic jams in paris, i almost always bypass paris via (104) marne la valee, it's easy if you don't look at the map. as soon as you are off the a1 onto the 104 to marne la vallee, just follow the signs "A6 lyon" until you see "Melun" then follow that and the signs for fontainebleau proper.
if you want to go to Milly or Nemour, follow the signs for A6 Lyon a bit longer until their respective turnoffs

[Footwork]

On this subject, can anyone recommend an offline Euro GPS app for a smartphone? Last time we were driving round the outskirts of Paris at one in the morning, with a useless road map, screaming at each other about some place called Marne and it was a horrible experience for everyone concerned. Then Ben drove into a large concrete curb, got air, and popped a tyre. So if I can avoid that it would be smashing.

Actually it was Melun.

Horrible experience? The highlight was asking drug dealers somewhere south of Calais where we could get petrol before the 10km worth left evaporated. Sam spent the whole trip happily dozing in the back until a small 'bump' woke him up 

[highrepute]

Getting lost on the way to font  is as much a part of the experience as getting shutdown on red10, spending all day in decathlon, drinking those little bottle of beer and eating sanding brie and gherkin baguettes.

I recall thinking we'd mastered it and not bothering with maps (this was pre satnav) or reading road signs on the drive back. It was only when one of us pointed out the window and said "I don't remember seeing that before!?" on seeing the Eiffel Tower that we realised we'd gone wrong.

[Will Hunt]

It was only when one of us pointed out the window and said "I don't remember seeing that before!?" on seeing the Eiffel Tower that we realised we'd gone wrong.

 

[dave]

A1 -> A104 -> N104 -> A6 is the way to go.

[SA Chris]

Navigating the peripherique with a Collins map in my lap, on my tod, driving in a right hand drive van for the first time in a city at 5pm on a Friday must have taken years off my life. I kept ending up on the sliproad exits as I was hugging the far right, and had to push back into the traffic each time. In spite of the state of some of the vehicles mine was definitely older and heavier, so they usually relented after a lot of beeping.