France....What a nice place.

[CraigMac]

Ive just returned from a lovely holiday in France. What a nice place to visit, the roads are like a billiard table..(Not that they are green, with a pocket in each corner) and the natives seem to have such great road sense and lane discipline.
The roads in this country are like driving over a ploughed field and the average motorist seems to drive in the lane that they like the most......

Has anyone else been there??

Regards

[A Yerbury]

they go a bit faster, they don't have automated cameras and there is less traffic. They all sem to speak this "French" which is dead romantic of them.

[Pugi]

Ive just returned from a lovely holiday in France. What a nice place to visit, the roads are like a billiard table..(Not that they are green, with a pocket in each corner) and the natives seem to have such great road sense and lane discipline.
The roads in this country are like driving over a ploughed field and the average motorist seems to drive in the lane that they like the most......

Has anyone else been there??

Regards

Sounds like most countries in western Europe. Unless anyone has noticed, the UK is the odd on in the bunch... :(

[CraigMac]

Alex,
You were there for a while and you must have noticed lots of things......
I was a bit dissapointed that I didnt see any of those women wearing fishnet stockings and those tight pencil skirts with a big split up the side.....and a beret......smoking provocativly.....but then again, I was with my wife and sons......and didn't stay out late at night.

Regards

[A Yerbury]

I did not see any either, I did see lots of elderly ladies in fur, smoking, wearing big sunglasses and carrying odd dogs, not the cliche I was looking for at all! these days women are all liberated and stuff so they don't make the effort they did in the good old days. It's really not on.

dissapointed.
Alex.

[spacemonkey]

I have seen many an old frenchie riding a bicycle smoking a gaulloise (sic more than likely but i can't be arsed to look it up, ok?) sporting a beret, but alas, no stripey top. That funny language they speak is awfully quaint and phlegmy. In fact I'm not suprised that it used to be our official language for a few hundred years.

Oh, and they are putting up 1100 odd speedy cams this year. I spotted 3 in Normandy in the Springtime from Cherbourg to Le Havre. Scumbags...

[A Yerbury]

it's still 3 not 300 though! and you have uk plates!? I employ the same tactic this side....

Alice.x

[Andy S]

:cool: Just for the info French are rolling out speed cameras as said. They have them on 70 or 90 Km bits of duel carrageway.
They, being french have there own type, not Gatso.

This fooled me at first, I got my brain tuned to the gatso shape. French type are big box units, about 1metre x 2 metres placed at ground level.

The rest about brill, smooth roads and good drivers is very true, even frog police are good.
I had problem with my chip & pin card, most garges would not take it, even supermarkets. The Brit banks have gone for different system to rest of main-land Europe, tosser banks! :mad:

But found the small petrol / garage places I think it's the "PPF" company type took my bank card. V odd :rolleyes:
Oh fuel is of course cheaper and better grade...just like the beer, wine, food...

[stef]

it's a matter of perception... whenever i get back on the other side of the channel, the swearometer hits the red in about 13mins of driving.
i never, NEVER, N E V E R got lost whilst driving in the UK.. got lost 4 times, during my last trip in France, and it is a regular occurance. and i am one of the natives..and the french LAPD are a bunch of low-life frustrated a**holes who couldnt get another job because of the sorry state of the unemployement..so they take it on the rest of the world. Death on the roads, although going down, is twice the number in France than it is in the UK..And the general populace is getting more and more miserable by the hour, when they come to realise that unlike 20years ago, they are not born with the right to their government sponsored 2.14 children, the megane scenic, the 5 bedroom detached and the german sheppard. And on top of that, Paris didnt get the olympics...can they get anymore miserable ? food is absolutely lovely though.. so where did you go Craig ? i'll have to try and find that hidden heaven, although i'll probably get lost again (no, none called you..).

[nik_the_brief]

I'm off there on Friday. Thought I'd try Brittany as they're bound to speak our lingo, nice of 'em to name a part specifically after us lot eh - apparently the food is crepe (although I always thought it was rather nice).

Taking my wife and sons as well but that won't prevent me from keeping an eye open for those cliched women you're all on about.

Will report back in early September.

[stef]

that's where i am from nik..
north coast, near Paimpol..
let me know if you need any advice as to places to visit/avoid, but i wouldnt count on the locals speaking your language.
to spot them, it's easy..they are the only ones NOT wearing striped shirts, or berets.. all those that do wear that uniform are tourists.

[stef]

you could even see Brest..

[LAURENT]

I don't know if I'm the only french on this nice Monster club but honestly some of you should go there more often.

I'm not going to criticize UK because it would be too easy. Just a bit more about France.
Our roads system is one of the best in the world. Smooth and fast road. If you don't like the roads just take the train and you will go faster than on a GSXR1000 !!
Our food is not the best in the world (I have been working around the world for many years ) but yes, easely better than the Food in UK.

People are more friendly than in UK if met outside a Pub. (True that the british are nice with a beer in hand)

Usualy the cars are preety nice with Bikes by shifting slightly to the right .

Police is probably the worst in the world . No sorry , not worst than in America where every cops thinks he is born to save the world and kill any foreigner.

You will find in France to most beautifull scenary of europe. The south of France is just fantastic for bikers with mountains ,lakes and ocean...

The girls in France will not wear a pink bra under a transparent black light shirt , with a mini skirt in the middle of winter queuing outside the disco. Yes a it is a matter of culture I suppose but in all honesty the British girls are worldwild well known for their lack of taste.
French girls are more classy , doesnt smell beer and will not be pregnant at 16 years old.

Well, France is a nice country , I believe we have few hundred thousand of British citizen leaving there for a good reason just ask them.

I forgot to talk about the weather , but just look outiside your window and you will understand, (don't forget we are in August)

Cheers

Laurent ( or froggy if you hate me)

[stef]

y'a pas d'lezards !

[MrsJel]

Sounds like most countries in western Europe. Unless anyone has noticed, the UK is the odd on in the bunch... :(
Have to say - Belgian road (E40) is just like being home. In fact, when we got off the loverly autobahn and it became whatever it was it was like we'd already come across on the channel tunnel. Agree about the french roads though, although when we went off the E40 around dunkirk it was worse than being at home the road was so uneven & broken up.

[CraigMac]

y'a pas d'lezards !


Stef,
We started out in Brittany, St Cast to be precise, but due to the inclement weather....It lashed down for about five days, we moved on to to the Loire valley, close to Saumer....Fantastic place....

Having spent nearly three weeks in France I managed to pick up a bit of the lingo......So Stef, do you want the Lizard dish passing to the left or the right??.
I never came across this dish whilst I was out there, sounds delicious!!

Regards.
Quick travel tip...
Nik, try to visit Dinan, whilst you are in Brittany, Nice place and dont forget to try the lizard, im led to believe its very nice and I think that the protocol is to pass the lizard to the person next to you.

[nik_the_brief]

Off to the south bit of Brittany (the region not Ms. Spears) - Carnac to be exact. Apparently like Stonehenge but without the building skills we Brits have.

I been there before as a nipper, like Yerbs I'm the victim of a Francophone pater who made us camp (in tents not the theatrical kind of camping) across the length and breadth of the country. He, of course, chose the easier option of kipping in the campervan that he drove us in.

He now lives on the banks of the Dordogne about 5 miles from St Emilion - very handy for stocking up on decent Claret. Went there last year but we thought we'd show the lads a bit more of the country rather than going there again this time round. By the looks of the weather forecast a bad choice as it's lovely down that way at the moment and p*ssing down in Brittany.

Is Confit du Canard particularly local to the Bordeaux region or can I pick it up in tins in Brittany too Stef? Gotta say it's the dogs (or is that the ducks) cojones!

Craig - That lizard sounds good, we had 'gator in Florida a couple of years ago (tastes like muddy, fishy chicken) so I expect it'll be similar. I'll see if they do them in crepes so I can kill two oiseaux with one menhir.

[stef]

you HAVE to have the garlic lizard, drawn in cognac, and swallowed whole..

I am sure you can pick that muck up in Brittany Nik, or pretty much everywhere else in the country. Carnac is nice, went there as a kid too. my first school trip in fact.
but i think the park is now closed. i am sure it reopened somewhere in Egypt, under new managment, with a sort of pharoah's twist to it.
If you fancy a day trip, i can recommend Pont-Aven, maybe 20-30miles west. thats where Gauguin used to have his crib when he was down with the impresionists massives. he set up an old school painting school. so the place is just full of galleries and master painters. really nice village though.
oh, and the local brew is not bad, Coreff, available in different flavours, but all of them washed with saltwater and seaweeds.

[nik_the_brief]

you HAVE to have the garlic lizard, drawn in cognac, and swallowed whole..


You mean you're NOT joking about the lizard!! :eek:

[spacemonkey]

Got to agree with Laurent there I'm afraid. I'm sure that every inhabitant of a Med Island must think that English girls are all prostitutes. We just hope that the French girls are....

[Emily]

Ive just returned from a lovely holiday in France. What a nice place to visit, the roads are like a billiard table..(Not that they are green, with a pocket in each corner) and the natives seem to have such great road sense and lane discipline.
The roads in this country are like driving over a ploughed field and the average motorist seems to drive in the lane that they like the most......

Has anyone else been there??

Regards

Funnily enough, we just got back from France on Saturday........The Vendee to be precise. I'm totally with you on the roads thing, they practically drive off the road in order to let you by. You could always tell which cars were British in a cue of traffic.....they're the ones that drive right up to the centre line with no intention of pulling over.

Also when we were going down the Autoroute we saw some coppers up ahead so we slowed down and pulled in behind them, 5 seconds later they put their lights on, we thought "oh bugger!", but low and behold they were only pulling into the hard shoulder to let us past!!! Madness!

French bikers are also a friendly lot, none of this sportsbikes only acknowledging sportsbikes business. In fact I had to stop myself from doing the 'little wave' when I was out on the bike yesterday. I never thought I'd here myself saying it but it holidaying in France (on the bike!) was a thoroughly pleasant experience.

Emily

[DesmoDog]

y'a pas d'lezards !

stef, I hope you were telling your fellow country man to read previous posts before going off on one. Brittany - I have a love hate relationship, well - I first went there and loved it, only to realise that the locals hated me, but loved my tourist cash. Opted to move on over to the Charente, only to find that some holiday show presenter told the whole world about it the following season. Cue locals groaning about Brit ex-pats buying up the houses, not that the Parisians didn't in the first place mind you (and they hate everyone).

I agree with the signs though - i think the basis is if you're not being told you're heading to another town, you must be on the right road for your destination. How many times have I been lost? My fault for getting close to the locals and driving on nothing bigger than an N road.

Still have to go back though. Well, once I get sick of Italy anyway.

[dean]

i've been to France for a few weeks too. Caravanning.

There are some lovely flyovers there, myself and my various offspring very much enjoyed lighting fires in upturned shopping trolleys and swimming in the various resevoirs (is resevoir french for swimming pool?, it sounds it) . This was my first attempt at caravanning in France and i have to say how impressed i was by the general layout of the flyovers and disused land.

So there, that's my two sonteems worth.

[CraigMac]

Dean,
Did you try the Lizard at all? I only found out about it after my return to these shores....
Stef swears by it!!!
But I think there is a bit of protocol to be observed whilst dining on it, somthing about passing it the left or right....maybe they copied us with passing the port..??

I think I may have passed you at one of your sites on the way back home, were you the family that was burning the cables for the copper wire to weigh in....
Your kids seemed to be having a great time on that trampoline, which looked just like a Renault 25, hey, they make there own fun!!! Your youngest has got a great aim, he must have been 20 yds away as he put that windscreen in with half a brick.
Forgive us for not stopping, but my good lady is a bit of a snob....and my kids were a bit scared.....

Regards and nice to see that your back home safe and well.

[bigredduke]

We have been to France each year for the last 7 years on annual summer hols, each time to a different region. northern France from the channel ports to say orleans is pretty uninteresting but there are some nice towns. Brittany reminds me of the west of ireland, celtic & green with fantastic seafood but the weather can be unreliable. I like the atlantic coast around biarritz, great beaches but again the weather can be changeable. Provence really is beautiful with some great villages. the french riveria is glamorous but too busy in august and expensive. we were near perpignan this year which is a great area, you have good beaches within 20 mins and fantastic mountain scenery in the Pyrenees to the west. Also, very close to Spain so nice to nip over for a couple of days.
Roads are good and driving is usually a pleasure in france. We did notice quite a few fixed speed cameras by the roadside but they are well signposted a few hundred metres in advance. the only sneaky bit to look out for is the mobile cameras usually on the parcel shelf of an unmarked police car (often an old bue peugeot 205 or similar) by the roadside. If you get snapped it's an immediate on-the-spot fine but no points (as yet).
good food is cheap in the supermarkets & local markets & make sure you take time to go wine tasting, you can get some great wine for very little, especially in 5 & 10 litre bag-in-a-boxes.

There are some fantastic roads for bikes, I'm going to take mine down on a trailer next year.

if anyone is considering the Perpignan area, send me a pm & I'll give you some details of good wine producers worth visiting!

[A Yerbury]

If any one is thinking of visiting France then I would be happy to forward the telephone number of my "travel agent" it's sort of his job I suppose?...he has magazines, books, maps the lot!!!


bon chance as they say in Denmark!!
Alexandre.xxx

[nik_the_brief]

They must have sold the last of that lizard Stef, searched high and low and couldn't find a single purveyor with any left. I asked everywhere and all I got was a few wry smiles, shrugged shoulders and the like. I even used the phrase you so kindly provided on this thread. perhaps I wasn't pronouncing it quite right.

Mindful of your advice I did, of course, make my own. It took the kids two days to catch even the one lizard but I followed your recipe, drowned the bugger in cognac then pan fried him in garlic butter. Gotta say you guys have NO taste when it comes to haute cuisine it was feckin horrible. I shouldn't be surprised really as you do only eat snails and frogs legs don't you?

Apart from that I loved France, especially the very generous speed limits, I blatted down the motorways at 130 most of the time (when in Rome and all that) but thought that 110 was a bit quick when it was raining. Suprisingly your countryfolk tend not to go at the limit but considerably slower, strange ah well vive la difference and all that. I presume the flashing headlights and shaken fists are some kind of quaint Gallic custom!

[stef]

Lizzard season does not start before well into october, and in fact, it is absolutely forbidden to catch, drawn in cognac and fry (or barbecue) any lizzards between the 24th of october and the 17th of october the following year (passing to the right or left changes with alternating years, but i dont want to engage in an arguement about deeply rooted regional variations. concrete boots are difficult to walk in, let alone swim with.). you were lucky not to get caught as this is a really, really serious crime.

Pet lizzards are exempt from this rule though, so there are loopholes to be exploited. usually, carying a jar of flies and a UV fluorescent tube will be enough to convince monsieur l'agent that you were long acquainted with the smoking remains.

now, you know.

so i guess i am the only one with a problem when it comes to my fellow country men's driving habits. I hope that, during your time there, you learned about the accepted protocol of aknowledging the welcoming waving fist by proudly moving your head forward, stretching your neck and pointing at the sky with your middle finger, arm stretched, whilst staring for a good 10 seconds, or more if you really like the look of them.