I got back from teaching a week-long English course on the Ile d'Oleron on Sunday night after putting 1050 miles on the XM. It was quick, comfortable, held a ton of luggage, teaching materials and (on the way back) booze, and didn't miss a beat. In fact, I think the run was good for it - it had been standing for a while and a couple of sticky things (locks, windows and sunroof) are now working properly again. Apart from fluid and tyre pressure checks I didn't do anything in the way of preparation - it just went.

I'm really falling in love with that car. A combination of big Citroen, satnav and empty French roads makes a long drive a very unstressful experience.

We were staying in Dolus d'Oleron, which is an absolutely nothing place with nothing to do but take photos of random Renault 4s and my own XM outside the centre.





Pretty though.

If you've spent much time travelling in France you'll know that each area or town has its own speciality. La Cotiniere, just up the road from Dolus, is known for its extremely tasty sea salt. The first batch, taken off the top, is known as fleur du sel and is, apparently a delicacy - un sel de degustation. I found this hilarious and obviously couldn't resist buying some.



Ile d'Oleron is known for its seafood and one of my favourite things to do is EAT. Here is a plate of the best seafood I have ever had, bar none. It was amazing.



Saw this cute campervan parked up in Rochefort and had to get a picture - I was still homeless at the time so I thought I could live in it



Aaand just because this is a car forum, here are a couple of pics of the XM waiting to get on to the ferry home. A boat on a boat, haha!





If anyone's really interested, the full set is here.

I like those pics, they've got me looking forward to taking my XM over to France early next year.

Hi , Niice photo's. You're absolutely right about the French roads. Had to go back to England a couple of years ago and hated driving over there. I suppose it's even worse now.
At least the speed cameras in our area are well signed and sensibly situated .
All in all, I think that in general driving in the rural areas of France is a pleasurable experience, positively delightful when compared to England.
Time for a glass of red I think.......
Cheers, Carl

I to like French roads, although I must be honest and say I havn't ventured much further than Brittany, but its a real pleasure to drive there. The only places in this country that equate, traffic wise are Caithness and Sutherland.

Peter.N.

Having driven through France while on a "tour de Europe" (that is, buying my XM from Germany and taking the long way home) I have to say that indeed, the French roads where so soothing I just loved the smaller countryside roads. There were lots of lovely small towns too.

I'm not saying it was all fun and flowers though.. There are some places you should never have to go to with a car. I assumed driving through Lille would be no problem but instead there was this huuuge traffic jam caused by some ongoing road work. If it had taken any longer my head would've exploded. The traffic of Paris is another thing. Was my second time there with a car and here's for hoping it was also the last one Anyway, the countryside was nice

Ten years ago I had to travel down to Dijon on business. The usual way was to fly down but it was short notice and all flights were booked full. The alternative was to fly to Bern and drive across.

Our girl however got tickets to Charles De Gaulle and booked a hire car from the airport. I flew Sunday afternoon and stayed at one of the hotels on the airport after picking the hire car up. The hire car guy was an Aussie! He said whatever I did don't head towards Paris on the Autoroute because I would get hopelessly lost. Being the good lad that I am I followed his instructions next morning and got on the Autoroute. After about 20k I realised something was not right, I pulled off the Autoroute. I was heading north! . I decided my route finding was better than his and studied the map. From where I was I worked out a route that took me to the east of Paris and back round to the correct road. Well, I have to say the scenery was absolutely stunning. Through sleepy little villages and past a few incredible chateaux. I saw a few cars along the way but not one person, anywhere!

What a drive, about 50k altogether until I got back on the Autoroute to the south. Even then it wasn't all that busy, not like over here and the driving manners were first class. Everyone uses lane control and keeps right unlike the t*ssers on our roads. It was a memorable experience.

It is not a secret that the UK is overcrowded as a land, at least in comparison to other countries, i.e. I remember it has 3 times the people per square meter than Spain or Greece, although Italy seems equally jammed with also 60 million people on it and just about 20% larger surface than the UK -but much less useful area due to mountainous terrain-.

Lately I read that in the UK there are 30,000,000 cars in circulation. Anyone has any idea how many cars in France?

cheers
George

Hi all
Just got back another 1600 miles over there this week and 2000+ in October,I'm just coming up to 48K now in 18months!But Houston we have a problem!The French jet washes are fantastic,I always put mine into high mode to clean the wheel arches.To be honest it had happened in the UK as well just before I left...it was stuck in the high mode 600 miles from home!You can imagine the look on my face at the prospect of driving it in high mode for that distance.
The only way I could get it out was to turn it off and then restart it before putting it into low mode(which it went into)and then into normal mode which it went back to when I revved the engine?Any ideas?I haven't cleaned the LHM at all,but the car was well maintained prior to me buying it.The ride seems OK to me!
As for the UK traffic,it took us 55 minutes to do 10 miles onto the motorway and 40 minutes for the same on the way back.This is in contrast to the well maintained desrtered country roads over there and the ease if you choose to pay for the autoroutes as well.
Regards Rob