EURO-JOLLY routes

The ferry port at Dover

the drive to tuscany

From the French ferry port (whether it's Calais or Boulogne) to Reims, it's toll motorway right through. It's quite flat and featureless country, so a straight, two-hour, 90mph cruise is worth the €15 toll charge.

Once past Reims, we left the toll road system until we got to Italy. Once we left the motorway en route to Reims city centre (exit 24), the route went something like this:

• Reims to Eppernay via N51—stopped here for lunch; lots of cafés and patisseries to choose from in the town centre
• Épernay to Sézanne via D591
• Sézanne to Anglure via D373
• Anglure to Troyes via xxx
• Troyes to Chatillon-sur-Seine via N71
• Chatillon-sur-Seine to Dijon via N71—a very entertaining driver's road, with lots of tiny villages along the way; we found a B&B just outside Dijon, and called it a day.
• Dijon to Dole via N5
• Dole to Lons le Saunier via N5/N83
• Lons le Saunier to Bourg-en-Bresse via N83—it starts to get very open, green and picturesue from here; see pics below
• Bourg-en-Bresse to Cambéry via N504
• Chambéry to St. Michel-de-Maurienne via N6 and on to the Col Du Mont Cenis

The N83 to Bourg-enBresse

After the Col Du Mont Cenis, it was the Autostrada (toll motorway) from Susa, passing through Turin, Genoa and Florence. It was two long days of driving with several leisurely stops, but this scenic route is worth every minute.

The view from Col Du Mont Cenis

Our car at the B&B villa, in the Tuscan hills outside Florence
 

Click here to see the return route >