Bloody toll roads and bridges in France

The missus was away last week in Holland with work. Some bad news as she lost some colleagues on the MH17 crash and she was worked off her feet well into the early hours every day. She needed a break and it was roasting in Paris with temperatures in the high 30s on Friday. We decided to go to the coast in Normandy to Honfleur and Deauville. Absolutely fantastic and the weather was so much cooler and fresher.

What I couldn't believe was the number of toll roads and bridges. We hit four tolls on the way there (200km), a few driving around for a couple of days and at least 5 on the way back. I can understand paying towards the bridges and one road that really saved us some time as it was a short cut missing out Paris (like the M6 toll misses Brum), but 11 or 12 tolls in 2 days was too much.

Anyway, back in Paris and it's about 28C all week

And full of the fucking French as well

Paulpowersleftfoot wrote:And full of the fucking French as well

    

Ah, that's the joys of privatisation for you, mate.  You could probably do the same journey on public roads, but they're in a mess and it'll take you three times longer.

I went to Ireland last year and pretty much all the motorways were toll roads, so hacking out from Drogheda to Galway, we passed about four of them.  Three of them were good old barrier tolls, but one was one of those ridiculous ones where you have to call a number to pay it.  Which you don't know about until you're actually on it and doing 120kph, where it's a bit dangerous to whip out your phone and call them.  So what happens then is they take a picture of your car, trace you through your registration plate and then send you an invoice.  Except it doesn't work on foreign plates (and UK plates are foreign )

I suppose it's not a major issue if it's the odd Euro here and there, but it does get a bit expensive.

Paying a few Euros here and there is to be expected, but it's a pisser when you're stopped in your tracks 4 or 5 times and you have to fish around for some loose change when you'd rather be doing 130kph.

Same in Florida as I'm sure Wensdi will confirm but if you are expecting it and are loaded up with the requisite amount of coinage it's worth the time it saves ant the umpteen sets of traffic lights on the other busier routes.

I'm in Tokyo right now and the transport system is awesome, if a little crowded. I would not even consider driving here, no need. Been 200m on bullet trains and also used local trains and the metro and one or two cab rides, no problem and well worth the money.