France Part 5 - Driving Differences!

Hi, and here we are, two weeks and one day after leaving Shropshire. We are in the Loire Valley, on a camping site in the village of Bracieux, where we are stopping for three nights, something I am personally looking forward to. No driving for a couple of days. After being at the wheel for all of those two weeks and covering nearly 1500 miles, it does get tiring; we have also covered nearly 60 miles of walking, and that’s not too bad for us old un’s!

As with all maps, we are the blue dot!

In my last post I mentioned that I was a touch disappointed that as we were moving more inland, I hadn’t seen more rolling hills, and even further inland we still aren’t seeing any. In fact, the road reports are still the same. 150 miles inland from Nantes, the roads are still long, straight, smooth, and more importantly, still pothole-less; there are still some uneven surfaces, but very, very few potholes.

You can see for, and drive for miles

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So, let’s talk more French driving. What is so different, or not, as the case may be? Well, the thing I still find strange is that they have no gateway speed sign when entering a town. Seemingly, the town name sign is when you get yourself down to 50kmph, or 31mph, and so very similar to the UK, as are most of the speed limits. And so, when you see that sign to say you’re entering the town by its name, that is your warning, unless told otherwise.

The standard national speed limit on A-class-style roads as we get in the UK, is 80kmph or 50mph, and you will often get reminders of these limits; the sign will display the speed with the word ‘rappel’ underneath. This is good for me, because with the roads being so good and easy to drive, it is easy to increase the speed without realising, and why I use cruise control as much as possible, but there are times I don’t and drive to the road conditions, which are usually too fast!

Other speed signs, well, an A-class style road will go up to 90kmph, or 56mph, or it may go down to 70kmph, or 44mph, and it changes often and, from what I can see, often for no apparent reason, or nothing that my supposedly logical and logistical head can work out! An occasional sharper bend to slow you down, maybe a few driveway entrances, yet a couple of miles up the road you will come across more driveway entrances with no speed reduction.

In towns, you will get 30kmph signs and so 18mph, similar to those they have introduced in some parts of Scotland and in Wales. These limits come to an end with a white sign displaying the speed, a black diagonal line through it, and the word ‘fin’ displayed. And once again I struggle to see rhyme or reason. Twice now in a built-up area, the 30kmph advisory sign was displayed, only for the white ‘fin’ sign to be shown less than 100 metres after we had slowed down – I could not get that at all, and I could not see why, and how many drivers bother?

When I first started driving here, I thought the yellow diamond sign that seems to be displayed here, there, and everywhere was a driving change of speed warning; however, that is because they are often seen on the entry and exit to towns, and I assumed it was telling us to reduce or increase speed. But no, it simply means you are on a priority road and have the right of way. If it has a black line through it, it states ‘normal rules apply,’ which in my language means be bloody careful!

There seem to be more roundabouts in France; they are designed to be traffic-calming measures, and it would be difficult for the average driver to go round them too fast. I doubt Mr. Hamilton or Mr. Verstappen would have many problems negotiating them at many miles per hour; however, in Mary McHarg it is no more than 15 or 20 MPH, and so the calming measures work. And with those long quiet roads, they are still there, and what I believe would simply be a crossroads in the UK. However, I still find myself indicating to no one, as on some roads, there are no other cars to worry about!

We drove many miles on a dual carriageway yesterday, heading from Nantes towards Tours and Angers. And for many a mile all I could see in front of me, some 500 metres ahead was a red lorry. Obviously, they had their cruise control set at 60mph as well, as we never got any closer or any further away. But at times it was just the two of us in both directions, and that to me is a massive difference between France and the UK.

What else should I tell you? Well, you don’t seem to see so many fast drivers or so many muppets. Yes, you get kids, on the bane of my life, on e-scooters and on main roads too, and I mean young teenagers, probably with no idea of road sense. Rules are different in France compared to the UK, but on a main road with cars doing 50mph, I can’t see that in the rules. These scooters are a pain in the backside, and so, you know a little about me; I rarely use the word 'hate,' as for me it is too strong a word – but I hate e-scooters, and with a passion. They should be confiscated and crushed for scrap, with the scrap sold and the proceeds going to the NSPCC, and parents who buy them for their kids to use in public, as many do without a care in the world, should be jailed. Hopefully that tells you how much I dislike them!

Anything else before I close for the night? Well, you still get the occasional fast driver that has to get in front of you when two lanes go into one, just to squeeze in last minute and then sit in front of you for the next ten miles. You know the type?

But there are fewer of them; drivers seem to drive with more respect in France, and it is often the same with people in general, although that theory was blown out of the water a couple of times today, and hopefully for today only, but in the same bar/reception area of our campsite, when speaking with the bar or reception staff, two very fluent-speaking French people came to the desk, stood beside me, and started speaking to the person I was speaking with as if I weren't there and were totally rude and ignorant, which is another pet hate of mine.

What gives anyone, anywhere in the world, the right to just walk in on a conversation and interrupt as if there was no one there talking? Something was said on both occasions.

I’m still trying to work out which I detest the most, e-scooters or ignorance. I think it’s the latter!

So going back to France, part 1, I questioned if France was better equipped for us travelling homes than people in the UK had suggested to us. Well, that first night was simply a bad choice of a campsite, which can happen anywhere. Since then, we have seen different lovely sites and some wonderful aires too.

Although there is one comparison I must mention. After not showering for two days, we decided to stop at a campsite called Camping Le Bec de Cisse, in the lovely little town of Vouvray. This cost us just €15.44 for the night, and we got one of the last pitches, admittedly with no electricity; no problem. But it had all other facilities, including that much-needed warm shower. And here are some photos: quirky, close to the Loire, and a lovely site to stay on. I mention it as we have stayed on Aires for a similar price with no facilities except water and wastewater disposal, including a chemical point, all at the same price. Though remember here that some aires are free with electric hookups (EHU); it’s all about choice.

And for the wine lovers reading, Vouvray has its own wine. The area has many, many vineyards as you travel around it, but here’s the interesting part (at least it was for me:) there are seven villages around the town, Vouvray being one of them. And if you make wine in one of those seven villages, you can put Vouvray on the label; that’s just a bit of FYI, really!

The Vouvray wine and very bice too

Anyway, to finish with my motorhome tip of the day, it is probably to get a fly net-style door to hang up on the main door of the travelling vehicle. It is very warm tonight, and we need air to circulate; by having the net in place, we get fresh air without the mossies and bugs. The next post will be more about motorhomes themselves and my experiences

Thanks for reading

DJ