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Spent a week on holiday in France. The joy of driving and actually enjoying the drive through various departments is something not to be missed. Have seen lots of cyclists and given them plenty of room to enjoy the same roads. We do have a lot to learn in the UK.
For the most part I agree but the drivers in the SW around Bayonne and Biarritz are some of the most aggressive I've encountered. Never figured out why, but it gets worse every year.
I love driving in France, I especially like thier attitude to passing on the motorway, rarely do you see lane hogging.
Not sure they're fundamentally better at it, but they've got 2.5 times the land mass we do with a similar population and an excellent, but very expensive toll based motorway system.
I see the same sort of friendly, non-agro driving in the quieter, rural areas of the UK, whereas driving in Paris is like fighting through a flock of angry grizzly bears.
It really is a joy. However you can spot the swiss drivers a mile away. Absolute bellends
Rural France is really nice to drive in, as are the motorways, but the cities are absolute chaos.
Swiss? Its the Luxe you have to watch for. I mean in a country 4 x 4 miles square it's probably difficult to get up a head of steam, but when theyre on holiday them and the belgiques rag it down the A6!
after driving 1500 miles over the last 2 weeks in France I'd disagree with a lot of that.
We rode from Les Gets to Morzine a few times down the road with my Mrs and kids and we had a few cars get extremely close to us.
It's great being somewhere with great infrastructure and a low population density though going to the alps the dull flat 5hrs in the middle is a killer. Throw in trying to get anywhere quickly if you get off an auto route it's not all roses.
after driving 1500 miles over the last 2 weeks in France I'd disagree with a lot of that.
We rode from Les Gets to Morzine a few times down the road with my Mrs and kids and we had a few cars get extremely close to us.
We did exactly the same. We rode Les Get to Morzine a few times and the only cars that came close to us had big GB stickers.
I have just come back from the South, did around 1600 miles.
As above, it's only the space that makes you think that they can drive. Aggressive nasty bastards when it's busy...how many tank up behind you, sit on your bumper flashing their lights - when there is absolutely nowhere you can go because of the volume of traffic.
Cut in right in front of you a lot as well. I had more near misses than I ever get over here.
At least the kids put a big A on their car so you know who to avoid.
going to the alps the dull flat 5hrs in the middle is a killer.
God, yes. Three pages of the map with absolutely NOTHING ON THEM!
There is a 'bridleway' from gets to morzine which cuts out most of the road
Driving through France (all the way in fact - Dieppe to Andorra) was pretty good, and the French seem to have a knack for making turns on roads with the perfect curvature for driving (or carving around on a road bike).
Most drivers seemed pretty good, although some insane blokes in vans. It's also reassuring/sad to see that Audi drivers usually being bellends is a universal thing.
Drivers in Andorra seem to like going very quickly on steep narrow roads, but they've been pretty good at passing wide for cyclists. What I did notice was the various team buses from certain nations (MTB world cup and Vuelta are in town) overtaking very differently. Most of the French team buses were driven by maniacs, but maniacs who gave me plenty of room. Got very little space given by the Russians or Czechs, but the Americans seemed very hesitant to pass and waited ages for a decent straight bit. Funnily enough, the closest pass was from the GB team van...
Ha! What about the European "I MUST OVERTAKE THAT CAR IN FRONT OF ME" thing? 😆 Even if the road is narrow and you are doing the max speed limit - if there is a car behind you they will be overtaking you for sure. Even if the next thing they do is to slow down to the maximum speed limit...
But the thing to love - no 'pay and display' car parking cr*p!
I generally did enjoy driving in France when I was in Normandy for a week.
Lane discipline on motorways and dual carraigeways is much better. But wow!, they really like to tailgate if someone dawdles in the wrong lane
Rural France is really nice to drive in, as are the motorways, but the cities are absolute chaos.
Yep.
I had to deploy the pan-European chin-flick insult to some guy in Rouen last year. He was hanging out the window of his car at one point, but a police car pulled up between us thankfully.
I hope it wasn't my father in-law Danny? He has been known to protest on occasion!
The chin-flick is a handy gesture to have in you bag of tricks. Although I'd advise against deploying in places like Marseilles and Naples. You could end waking up next to a horses head!!
Oh yeah, back to the point.
I absolutely hate it when arriving back in the UK and pulling up on that M20 car park..
Swiss? Its the Luxe you have to watch for. I mean in a country 4 x 4 miles square it's probably difficult to get up a head of steam, but when theyre on holiday them and the belgiques rag it down the A6!
bah... I resent that statement. The roads are slow in Luxembourg because of all the bastard lorries driving crap across Europe and using our nice roads and cheap fuel but blocking one lane of our 2-lane motorways (no idea what the government were thinking there). That said, Luxembourgers tend to be relatively rapid at all times as there were no speed cameras here until this year and even then there's about 5 in the whole country and police camera locations are listed on the news.
Sadly, French speeding tickets are enforceable here so we have to be careful.
Belgians, however, are terrible drivers. Given you can get a 500ml can of trappist triple ale at their motorway services though, there could be a reason for that
But wow!, they really like to tailgate if someone dawdles in the wrong lane
That drove me absolutely ballistic the first time Mrs Pondo and I went over there, right up until I realised it doesn't always seem that it's a sign of aggravation or you being in the wrong lane - they're just happy to park right on your bumper, and quite often when they go past they seem quite happy. Doesn't bother me now.
Back at half ten last night after a 900 mile round trip to Noirmoutier, the cycling infrastructure is so good on the islands we didn't have much interaction with traffic, but driving over there is really pretty sound.
@medoramas....
In Italy in some of the villages around Lake Garda , at least, there are a few pay n display car parks, but the real beauty of those is that once you have put your 1euro minimum in, the machines accept all small denominations and just add however many extra minutes you need.
None of this pocket full of brown coins lark , or asking the next bloke in the queue if he's got a quid worth of change.
They do seem to make a better job of clear Autre Direction signs than our sporadic Other Routes, I like that.