Crossing France on the motorways

France has got a very efficient network of motorways. There are 11 392 km of motorways. About 8000 km of these are toll roads.

Today, we crossed France, from Guingamp to my hometown of Chambéry: 1000 km, 980  of which were on motorways.

I love driving on French motorways. It is a quick way to move around. They are well maintained. They feel safe. There’s not too much traffic if you avoid Paris and the few who have a lot of traffic. Some people think they are expensive. But you get the services you pay for, don’t you? I don’t mind paying if I get a good service. We left at 3am and arrived at 1.30 pm. That’s not bad considering many people were on the roads for their holidays. The only traffic jam we saw was in Lyon: people going towards the south. But we were on a bridge overlooking that road.

One of the downsides is that you don’t see much of the country. On our way, we went through many beautiful and historic places: Tours, the Loire Valley and its castles, Bourges, Lyon… But if we had avoided the toll roads, it would have taken several days for the journey. But we’ve arrived safely and quickly for a bit of holidays in the beautiful Savoie.