Routes Thru France?

Just joined the Club today, and thought I'd pick some brains.........

A couple of us are going on a week-long driving trip through France in June, ending up at the LeMans 24Hr GT race.  We intend to go from Calais, down towards Monaco, along the South coast and then up towards LeMans.  Might even take in a bit of Italy or Spain.

I'd love to hear from anyone who can recommend any routes, good (or bad) roads, places to stay or visit etc.

Cheers

Rob

Z3 2.8

If you don't have Sat/Nav as standard in your car, buy a portable unit - something like a colour Garmin Streetpilot III (get one with auto-routing).

They are easy to use and install (they just sit on the dash) and suprisingly accurate. If you hunt around you can get the SPIII (recommended) for around a £1,000 and the budget B&W V for £400.

Load in your scenic routes from your PC, it is remarkably easy (easier than using BMWs own Sat/Nav) and away you go. You can add other routes on the fly, so can deviate with no issue.

Fantastic touring fun - I use mine in the car and on the motorbike - best thing I did.

Forget about SatNav - it's just a toy for the gadget-concious - a Michelin map is far better.  Buy the red 16 miles/inch and add a few of the yellow 6 miles/inch  for areas of interest. 

Generally stay off the Autoroutes and main N roads, the D roads being about the best for driving and scenic pleasure.

Anywaher in the French alps is good - try the roads N of Nice around the Italian border, or the passes, such as the Col de l'Iseran and Col de Lauteret, not to mention the Petit-St. Bernard into Italy.  The list endless.

A good route south is the autoroute through Clermont-Ferrand towards Beziers - I travelled it last week by Z3 and it's a dream road - also toll-free.

What to see depends on your preferences, but a good selection is:

Aircraft & Space Museum at le Bourget airport - on the N19 in the N of Paris, but easy to find and lots of free parking.  We stayed in Senlis and drove down in half an hour.

Churches - try the Eglise de Ste-Therese at Liseaux (Normandy) or the Little Eglise Ste-Foy in the World Heritage village of Conques (Auvergne)

Chateaux abound - Near Paris try Versialles (all day experience!) and Melun (as used in Moonraker).  On the Loire there is Chenoncaux, Chinon, Chambord, and Azay-le-Rideau.  Near Limoges is Hautfort.

Also near Limoges is Oradour-sur-Glane, the village destroyed by the SS in 1944, and now a monument. 

I could go on for ever, but the best answer is to go and see.

I'll be at le Mans, camping in the lay-by Terre Rouge with a red Z3 - maybe see you there!

Wow.... Loads of help there, thanks!

Like the sound of SatNav, although it's a bit pricey for something I'd only use once or twice a year.  Still, you never know.

Some of those routes sound ideal, especially as we're planning to stop over  in Lyon, then down to Nice and across just into Italy, before doing Monte Carlo, Marseille etc on way to LeMans.

We plan to get to LeMans on the Saturday.  One British Racing (sorry, 'Boston') green Z3 and a blue Subaru...... Both looking very tired and very happy!  Hope to see some members there,

Keep those ideas coming...