Journey to the Alps (Again)

22/08/2026

We were heading off to France on a Friday morning. Our night with friends on Thursday evening before had been very restrained so that we could get off nice and early. Usually we book a morning ferry but unusually we had decided to get a late afternoon ferry. We had even considered getting the Portsmouth to Caen ferry (it would slightly reduce our driving distance in both England and France) but ferries are quite tedious so we decided to stick to the shorter Dover Calais route.

Exmouth to Dover

After a shopping trip on Thursday we had a Tesco voucher for 8p off per litre which helped us fill up cheaply  We then set off up the M5, dropping into Gordano services to top up the gas. For the second time this year the services had no LPG. We know there are plenty of places in France to top up so decided not to try anywhere else for now, we had plenty of gas on board but wanted to be full to be confident it would last the whole trip.

Paul drove all the way to Dover. The M5 and M4 were pretty quiet but the M25 was it’s usual congested self. Paul’s diving between lanes kept me on the edge of my seat and I wished we were back in Bertie where the maximum speed was 60mph and that was downhill with a following wind. It’s much more stressful being a passenger in a van that can maintain the speed limit.

We stopped at a KFC for a bucket of lunch time chicken that would also do for our evening meal. It’s a weakness we indulge in on long journeys, we can’t help ourselves.

When we turned up at Dover, after topping up with fuel (sadly no 8p off this time) we were very much ahead of schedule but we managed to get on a bonus earlier crossing with DFDS. In fact we could have got on an even earlier ferry if we’d been happy to go to Dunkirk. Dunkirk wasn’t the issue, but I wanted a calming cup of tea before we got on the boat.

Getting on the ferry

The ferry crossing was it’s usual boring hour and a half. We wandered the decks and took a look at the very uninspiring duty free shop. All entertainment exhausted we found a spot to sit and read until we arrived in Calais.

Calais to Francilly-Selency

We were planning to get to the Alps as soon as possible so we set off on the autoroutes, happy to suck up the tolls. The sunset chased us as we headed east and south, bathing the fields around us in a ruddy light. As the sun’s glow disappeared we looked for a reasonable stop over and found a parking spot in a village near St Quentin.

We turned up in almost dark to a small car park where one other van had already parked. A little drive around the car park found us a reasonably flat spot in a parking space and we settled in for the evening, hoping that the church bells stopped overnight (they did). More KFC was consumed, this time with salad to make it a bit more healthy.

Francilly-Selency to the Alps

The following morning we had a quick look at the war memorial across the road. This memorial to the Manchester Regiment (2nd and 18th Battalion) is for their part in pushing back the Germans during WW1, when Francilly-Selency was on the front line. There is even a Manchester Hill nearby, named in memory of the action, and the 2nd Battalion’s heroic capture of a German Battery was so notable that a painting was commissioned. I cant find anything online about the actions of the 18th Battalion, presumably less dramatic while being equally important.

We then set off again to try to get to the Alps that evening. A quick stop at a huge E Leclerc on the outskirts of Troyes set us up well with a full tank of diesel, topped up LPG and a fridge full of food. It was a stop we’ve marked for future runs to the Alps.

The remainder of the trip to the Alps was relatively uneventful. The autoroutes are such easy driving and dispelled the stresses of the M25 even though our speed limit is even higher (the maximum 130kph is just over 80mph).

First glimpses of the mountains

Drive to the Alps Stats

Overnights: 1 Free overnight stop

Fuel: £391.81 spent on 210.75 litres of fuel. An average cost of £1.86 a litre

Tolls: £105.19

Ferry: £144.80