surviving the peripherique

pany · 2 Aug 2006 at 17:59

Hi,

Driving through france next monday and need to head to clemont-ferrand in the south, BUT, all the route planners want to put me round the peripherique.

What is it like to drive? I do about 50K miles a year in the UK, but mostly up north and have little experience of driving on the left.

My experience of the peripherique is friends tales of woe, Ronin, and the Bourne Supremacy.

Is it just like the m25 with the inside lane forcing you off at junctions, or is it something best avoided?

Alu_ATC · 2 Aug 2006 at 18:26

Went round it a year ago, not all that bad! The junctions can be in odd places though, only went off incorrectly once. It feels tighter than the M25 and gets very busy, but all the time I was on it, it moved continously (unlike the M25).

Just make sure you know where your getting on it, and where you getting off, keep to the right and you will be fine.

Vertigo · 2 Aug 2006 at 18:32

The peripherique is fine, it's the Arc de Triomphe you need avoid like the plague

sir_snookie · 2 Aug 2006 at 18:37

The best tip i can give is the signs for the junction you need if it above the left hand lane you are not near it, when it moves above the middle lane it is the junction after the next one when above the right lane it is the next junction. So aim to be in the right lane when it above the middle lane cause the junctions can be close and also sharper bends than what we have here, so bring you speed down because it can catch you out. I loved the road, spent 2 years working in paris.

pany · 2 Aug 2006 at 19:00

thanks guys,
will give it a go, hopefully satnav should make life a bit easier (don't know if it's all tunnels)

JRS · 2 Aug 2006 at 19:15

The peripherique is no trouble at all, provided you are halfway competent

As Vertigo1 says, the road around the Arc is fairly bad. Lane discipline is a lost art, and even if it wasn't you'd have a lot of French drivers mixing with tourists very badly indeed - bad news in anyone's book.

Firestar_3x · 2 Aug 2006 at 19:33

And when you do crash you don't think the french police will take the brits side, never want to drive round those roads i would loose my rag (unless i was in a H1 hummer

)

pinkaardvark · 2 Aug 2006 at 20:24

I did the peripherique both ways on a zx6r about 5 years ago on the way down to the spanish costas with a mate. It was an eye opener to say the least. On the way down we hit it at rush hour :eek:

and on the way back at night(didn't help that a lorry driver told us never to stop for fuel at any of the little underpass petrol garages as there was so many gang land attacks at them

)

NickXX · 2 Aug 2006 at 20:34

The first time I did it? I though I was going to die.

The second time I did it, it was ok. Make sure you use TomTom to get round.

If you want to avoid it, go through 'Rouen' - stick that in to TomTom/RAC and it will steer you well clear, but it doesn't take much longer at all.

pany · 3 Aug 2006 at 16:17

NickXX said:
The first time I did it? I though I was going to die.

The second time I did it, it was ok. Make sure you use TomTom to get round.

If you want to avoid it, go through 'Rouen' - stick that in to TomTom/RAC and it will steer you well clear, but it doesn't take much longer at all.

Cheers NickXX,

Had looked at Rouen/ Orleans but thougth would take a fair bit longer than the motorways, think the n154 is normal road?

Goliath · 3 Aug 2006 at 16:51

Vertigo1 said:
The peripherique is fine, it's the Arc de Triomphe you need avoid like the plague

Stood on top about three years ago and saw three punch-ups in 30 mins. Excellent spectator sport

siztenboots · 3 Aug 2006 at 17:12

As said already , lane exits can be very abrupt with minimal signage or warning, and also unlike the long sweeping offramps we have , the exit will hairpin almost immediately.