mysty
Member
Posts: 1,293
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Post by mysty on Dec 26, 2023 9:01:29 GMT 1
We don't do it anymore, we have to be in the Haute Marne at 8.30am tomorrow for a heating oil delivery.
Five hour drive so cannot set off tomorrow morning.
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Post by monsieur3seas on Dec 26, 2023 9:20:47 GMT 1
I used to be able to get up early and drive to get a ferry or 'le shuttle'. Once I set off alone (from Anjou) about 3 am and was home in London before 10. No traffic, dry weather, straight on to the shuttle, no speeding tickets.
Wouldn't try it nowadays but it was good driving as the sun comes up.
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Nifty
Member
Posts: 5,016
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Post by Nifty on Dec 26, 2023 9:39:44 GMT 1
Motorway sun coming up with the morning light
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Dec 26, 2023 11:26:40 GMT 1
I have always hated driving at night here in rural France. Particularly if I am not familiar with the route. Too stressful.
Strange as it may sound, I was always happier crossing the Channel in my boat at night than in daytime. It was much easier to see which ships were going in which direction and calculate their positions before they might run me down. Their lights are much easier to spot at night.
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Post by ajm on Dec 26, 2023 11:30:25 GMT 1
We had to drive to Niort in October for a 8.30 funeral. The first hour and a half was awful until it started getting light.
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curtis
Member
Charente Maritime
Posts: 474 
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Post by curtis on Dec 26, 2023 11:42:10 GMT 1
On the odd occasions I go to the UK I set off from Charente Maritime around 21.00 and drive through the night to catch the ferry at Dieppe at 05.30. It's motorway or dual carriageway almost all of the way so not stressful. My night vision is rather restricted now and so I don't do any competitive driving in the dark now. It was brought home to me a few years ago in Portugal when I only just escaped what could have been a fatal accident. On the drive back home, trailering the car, I had plenty of time to reflect and made the decision to avoid night stages.
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Post by houpla on Dec 26, 2023 19:33:07 GMT 1
I don't mind night driving as long as it's not raining, foggy or there's snow or mud on the roads. I rely heavily on the white lines/dots (doesn't everyone?) on country roads, and do find it stressful if they're obscured. Convinced that far more accidents are caused by dodgy edges to the roads and frequent ditches just centimetres in from the verges than speeding per se. Still remember Brit friends recounting their adventure with a RH slip road and the big, green divider with white arrows which they hit because they had no idea what it meant and didn't know which way to go, so just drove straight at it!
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Dec 26, 2023 21:10:58 GMT 1
I can fully understand that. I used to feel there was some subconscious force urging me to head straight for it rather than left or right. Very compelling and certainly worse at night.
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exile
Member
Massif Central
Posts: 2,686
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Post by exile on Dec 26, 2023 23:04:44 GMT 1
Not so much setting off in the middle of the night/wee small hours but when I was still working in Germany, I would normally fly down each weekend but at peak times the cost became very high and I would drive down. Pre-Xmas, mid February (half term skiing), Easter and summer hols were the key periods.
If all went well I could get home in France around midnight to 2am. However, if there were severe hold-ups due to traffic, of which there were usually a lot, this could lead to significant delays. Lyon was/is a major bottleneck with traffic filtering in from the North and the South and minor incidents would result in great delays.
On one occasion there was an incident on the bridge on the A47 crossing the Rhone, which lead to the A7 main autoroute south as well as the ring road A46 backing up for many kilometres - as well as all of the get out of jail alternative routes - periferique, RN7 etc. I got home around 03:30 instead as the planned midnight. The last hours driving involved those local roads already despised by other posters with the added joy of a severe plunge if you left the road.
I am glad I don't have to do that any more.
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Post by lapourtaider on Dec 27, 2023 7:12:36 GMT 1
I used to enjoy night driving. Less traffic, watching the dawn arrive. We would get up at three, drive up through France to Le Havre and get in with plenty of time to spare for the 1700 sailing to Portsmouth.
Not nowadays. I much prefer to get up at normal time, a leisurely daylight drive through France, overnight somewhere in northern France, preferably somewhere we haven't been before. Followed by a second leisurely drive to whichever ferry we have decided to book.
Driving back down, we will choose somewhere to stop for a couple of days, so we can take a good look.
Much more civilised and less tiring.
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Post by Polarengineer on Dec 27, 2023 7:49:59 GMT 1
Working in Hammerfest, my night driving usually lasted six months. The worst part is driving in a blizzard trying to see which side of the red/white marker poles I should be on.
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Post by spectrum on Dec 27, 2023 8:48:55 GMT 1
Done a lot of night driving it was my job  didn't mind it a bit still enjoy it, we drive up to catch the over night ferries so that's 2/3hrs in the dark, but I have extra lightbars on so now, I turn night time into daylight, but it is one of main reasons people do stop driving at night due to old age, both our fathers stopped driving at night, I suppose my turn will come, but not for another thirty years or so. |
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Post by houpla on Dec 27, 2023 8:55:53 GMT 1
but I have extra lightbars on so now, I turn night time into daylight, Bet that's fun for drivers approaching from the other direction  |
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Post by cernunnos on Dec 27, 2023 9:39:54 GMT 1
Working in Hammerfest, my night driving usually lasted six months. The worst part is driving in a blizzard trying to see which side of the red/white marker poles I should be on. Not easy to see the polar bears on the dark either .  |
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Post by spectrum on Dec 27, 2023 13:13:34 GMT 1
Working in Hammerfest, my night driving usually lasted six months. The worst part is driving in a blizzard trying to see which side of the red/white marker poles I should be on. Not easy to see the polar bears on the dark either . No polar bears in Norway, but plenty of big animals than can run across the road, hence the need for my extra lights, as I had a five week trip booked to drive up to Nordkapp until pukein had other ideas, lost 2k in deposits, perhaps 2025. |
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didn't mind it a bit still enjoy it, we drive up to catch the over night ferries so that's 2/3hrs in the dark, but I have extra lightbars on so now, I turn night time into daylight, but it is one of main reasons people do stop driving at night due to old age, both our fathers stopped driving at night, I suppose my turn will come, but not for another thirty years or so.
