Getting to Morillon

We shall be travelling by car to Morillon on Saturday. I wish it wasn't
Saturday because it's the first day of Parisian half term. I've never faced
this before but I seem to recall reading that this is an experience to be
avoided if possible :-( The other key bit of information is that we are
travelling from Luxembourg.

Normally, I would plan to drive to Dijon, pick up the Autoroute du Soleil
and head of to Geneva and then up to Morillon. However, from Dijon onwards
I would be in the midst of the Paris crowds. I am therefore contemplating
routing through Strasbourg, Basel, Bern and Montreux to go to the east of
Lac Leman, then heading to Evian and up into the mountains from there.

I doubt anyone has tried both of these routes at half term but any
observations would be welcome. Am I overconcerned about the Paris gang?
Does the weight of traffic at half term slow the journey time down much? If
it does so by 45 mins to an hour, I calculate (or Microsoft Autoroute does)
that the Swiss alternative might be better. Any views?

Roger

Roger deLux wrote:
We shall be travelling by car to Morillon on Saturday.

As the guy on the radio says: "If you've not left home already, fegeddit!"

Samedi 14 février, les grands axes seront chargés sur la période 8
heures – 18 heures sur les trajets de longue distance et les accès aux
stations de sports d’hiver. Il faut quitter les stations avant 9 heures
ou après 19 heures.

Pour les vacanciers allant de Paris vers les Alpes, il sera préférable
d’emprunter A5 jusqu’à Langres puis A31, A39 et A40. Pour ceux qui
transitent par Dijon, il est conseillé d’emprunter A39 et A40.

Roger deLux wrote:

... Am I overconcerned about the Paris gang?
No.

Does the weight of traffic at half term slow the journey time down much?
Hell yes. If New Year w/e was anything to go by it'll be pretty bad. I
think your cross country plan sounds good. It might not save you much
time but it'll save you a lot of stress. If you're locked in traffic on
the autoroute then you're stuck, if it's slow going across country at
least you can pull over for a break.

Actually it was the journey back after New Year that was hellish, it
took us over 2 hours to get on to the autoroute from Samoens (which is
the same junction as Morrilon). Next time I'd head straight to Annemasse
and not join the Autoroute Blanche at all - perhaps even head through
Geneva (bad idea?) and try further North still.

Let us know how you get on!

"David Off" wrote in message
...

Samedi 14 février, les grands axes seront chargés sur la période 8
heures – 18 heures sur les trajets de longue distance et les accès aux
stations de sports d’hiver. Il faut quitter les stations avant 9 heures
ou après 19 heures.

Pour les vacanciers allant de Paris vers les Alpes, il sera préférable
d’emprunter A5 jusqu’à Langres puis A31, A39 et A40. Pour ceux qui
transitent par Dijon, il est conseillé d’emprunter A39 et A40.


Sadly, that just means that I'll meet them all sooner - at Langres rather
than Dijon. I think the Swiss route is worth a try.

"Steve Haigh" wrote in message
...

Hell yes. If New Year w/e was anything to go by it'll be pretty bad. I
think your cross country plan sounds good. It might not save you much
time but it'll save you a lot of stress. If you're locked in traffic on
the autoroute then you're stuck, if it's slow going across country at
least you can pull over for a break.

It's not really "cross country" in that sense, since it's virtually all
motorway or motorway equivalent to Montreux. And the worst ski jam
experience I have had was on this route 3 years ago when the Swiss were
refurbishing a key tunnel, causing a 2 hour jam at New Year.

Actually it was the journey back after New Year that was hellish, it
took us over 2 hours to get on to the autoroute from Samoens (which is
the same junction as Morrilon). Next time I'd head straight to Annemasse
and not join the Autoroute Blanche at all - perhaps even head through
Geneva (bad idea?) and try further North still.

Yes, I figure avoiding Geneva is wise.


Let us know how you get on!

I will

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 20:50:43 -0000, "Roger deLux"
wrote:

We shall be travelling by car to Morillon on Saturday. I wish it wasn't
Saturday because it's the first day of Parisian half term. I've never faced
this before but I seem to recall reading that this is an experience to be
avoided if possible :-( The other key bit of information is that we are
travelling from Luxembourg.

Normally, I would plan to drive to Dijon, pick up the Autoroute du Soleil
and head of to Geneva and then up to Morillon. However, from Dijon onwards
I would be in the midst of the Paris crowds. I am therefore contemplating
routing through Strasbourg, Basel, Bern and Montreux to go to the east of
Lac Leman, then heading to Evian and up into the mountains from there.

I've done this many times (living in the Basel area as I do) and would
recommend still going via Geneva, but using the Swiss motorways via
Bern and Lausanne, rather than the French ones. Coming round the East
side of the lake will take an extraordinarily long time, whereas
Geneva to Morrillon will only take about an hour, even if there's
quite a lot of traffic.

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 09:39:04 +0100, Ace wrote:

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 20:50:43 -0000, "Roger deLux"
wrote:

We shall be travelling by car to Morillon on Saturday. I wish it wasn't
Saturday because it's the first day of Parisian half term. I've never faced
this before but I seem to recall reading that this is an experience to be
avoided if possible :-( The other key bit of information is that we are
travelling from Luxembourg.

Normally, I would plan to drive to Dijon, pick up the Autoroute du Soleil
and head of to Geneva and then up to Morillon. However, from Dijon onwards
I would be in the midst of the Paris crowds. I am therefore contemplating
routing through Strasbourg, Basel, Bern and Montreux to go to the east of
Lac Leman, then heading to Evian and up into the mountains from there.

I've done this many times (living in the Basel area as I do) and would
recommend still going via Geneva, but using the Swiss motorways via
Bern and Lausanne, rather than the French ones. Coming round the East
side of the lake will take an extraordinarily long time, whereas
Geneva to Morrillon will only take about an hour, even if there's
quite a lot of traffic.

Another variant is to take the autoroute to Dijon, then head for Besancon.
There is then a bit of N road before you get into Switzerland, but you pick
up the Swiss motorways just north of Montreux.

Robert Swindells

"Ace" wrote in message
...

I've done this many times (living in the Basel area as I do) and would
recommend still going via Geneva, but using the Swiss motorways via
Bern and Lausanne, rather than the French ones. Coming round the East
side of the lake will take an extraordinarily long time, whereas
Geneva to Morrillon will only take about an hour, even if there's
quite a lot of traffic.


That's the route Autoroute suggests once I tell it to exclude Dijon. I
feared that Geneva might be a bottleneck when joining up with the hordes
from Paris. But I am encouraged by your experience and I might well give
that a try. I might combine it with Steve Haigh's suggestion of avoiding
the autoroute from Geneva and going via Annemasse. According to Autoroute,
this adds just 3 minutes to the journey time. Have you tried it?

Roger

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 11:40:26 -0000, "Roger deLux"
wrote:


"Ace" wrote in message
.. .

I've done this many times (living in the Basel area as I do) and would
recommend still going via Geneva, but using the Swiss motorways via
Bern and Lausanne, rather than the French ones. Coming round the East
side of the lake will take an extraordinarily long time, whereas
Geneva to Morrillon will only take about an hour, even if there's
quite a lot of traffic.


That's the route Autoroute suggests once I tell it to exclude Dijon. I
feared that Geneva might be a bottleneck when joining up with the hordes
from Paris. But I am encouraged by your experience and I might well give
that a try. I might combine it with Steve Haigh's suggestion of avoiding
the autoroute from Geneva and going via Annemasse. According to Autoroute,
this adds just 3 minutes to the journey time. Have you tried it?

I have crossed the jura like this a couiple of times, but possibly not
on that exact route. From my experience, I wouldn't recommend it as it
took lots longer, but as I say, it may not have been the exact route
proposed.

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

"Ace" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 11:40:26 -0000, "Roger deLux"
wrote:


"Ace" wrote in message
.. .

I've done this many times (living in the Basel area as I do) and would
recommend still going via Geneva, but using the Swiss motorways via
Bern and Lausanne, rather than the French ones. Coming round the East
side of the lake will take an extraordinarily long time, whereas
Geneva to Morrillon will only take about an hour, even if there's
quite a lot of traffic.


That's the route Autoroute suggests once I tell it to exclude Dijon. I
feared that Geneva might be a bottleneck when joining up with the hordes
from Paris. But I am encouraged by your experience and I might well give
that a try. I might combine it with Steve Haigh's suggestion of avoiding
the autoroute from Geneva and going via Annemasse. According to
Autoroute,
this adds just 3 minutes to the journey time. Have you tried it?

I have crossed the jura like this a couiple of times, but possibly not
on that exact route. From my experience, I wouldn't recommend it as it
took lots longer, but as I say, it may not have been the exact route
proposed.


Apologies - appalling lack of clarity on my part. I was meaning combining
your proposal from Basel to Geneva, followed by Steve's off-autoroute idea
up to Morillon via Annemasse. It was the latter part
(Geneva -Annemasse-Morillon) that I was intending to ask about.