Rouen – allow extra time!

Hi everyone

I recently posted some information about the Pont Mathilde Bridge in Rouen which has recently been closed due to a fire, and is not due to re-open until 2014.

I thought I would give you all some feedback after travelling through Rouen on the 18^th March:

Myself and my colleague Stacey arrived in Calais on the 14^th March, and drove from Calais to Troyes then on to Lyon, Narbonne, across to Bordeaux, up to Tours, Rouen then back to Calais to catch the ferry back to the UK on the 19^th March. We visited 9 open all year campsites and will be including 7 of these in our Winter Escapes brochure which will be published in May.

We had a great trip with no major delays or wrong turns until we got to Rouen!

Now, I do have to say that we arrived on a Monday at 16.00hrs so it was close to rush hour, and when we arrived at the Mathilde bridge we assumed that the diversion signs would all be in place and easy to follow – lesson one  - never assume!

We followed the diversion signs for a good 40 minutes and somehow (I still have no idea how) ended back in exactly the same place where we started - at the damaged Mathilde bridge! This time we changed tack and turned left instead of right after 1 ½ hours we finally made it out of Rouen back on to the motorway. This was after getting stuck behind a stationary  articulated lorry on a roundabout, being whistled and waved at by traffic police, having to do some hair raising lane changes (the French do not like to let you move lanes!) and taking a lucky guess at some junctions as there were no signposts!

After two and half hours of frustration, a few screams, some questionable language and threats to throw the re-calculating sat nav out of the window, we finally escaped Rouen.

We were due to visit a campsite on the East side of Rouen, but unfortunately we never made it!

If you are planning to travel through Rouen this year, then my advice would be to avoid the busy periods and do some research on Google maps before you leave home and Good luck!