Category: Travel

KEEP an eye out for a particularly sneaky trick from car hire companies that could see you pay for fuel you will never use.

The Guardian highlights the ‘full-to-empty’ fuel policy where you are forced to pay for a full tank of petrol before setting off, usually at a price per litre above the going rate.

But upon the return of your car you are asked not to fill it up, like used to be the case, but instead just drop the car off, either forcing you to use as much petrol as possible or to lose out on what is left in the tank.

Some firms now insist on full-to-empty on all rentals, while others only apply it to hires of four days or more. What’s more, holidaymakers often have to pay an inflated price for the tank of petrol. Some are reporting being asked to hand over €90 (£77) to cover a tank of petrol on a small car, which if bought at a local garage would cost only €50 (£43).

The piece says that it is an increasingly common practice in Spain, although one of the comments mentions the technique being used at Bordeaux airport.

Some car hire companies are making it a feature of the booking process to mention which firms adopt the ‘full-to-empty’ policy or the expected requirement of full-to-full.

Otherwise it is something that you will have to look out for in the terms and conditions – whoever said the customer is king?

UPON retirement Terry Cudbird decided to take a 4,000 mile walk around France, asking his 60-year-old hips and knees to circle a country he had a long-held, deep affection for.

His book, titled Walking the Hexagon, An Escape Around France on Foot, tells of travels through the Pyrenees, Provence, the Jura, Brittany and everywhere in between.

Terry writes about the many characters he met, including a few drop-outs from the heady days of Paris in ’68, but it was also a journey that gave him time to think about his own responsibilities and future now the world of work was behind him.

His love for reading maps, and for browsing the web for interesting places to visit, gave Terry a rough plan of a start point in the Pyrenees and then an anti-clockwise route around France.

Having already undertaken other long-distance walks, Terry still had a few doubts about just how he would handle the time alone, but he found it relaxing and being a walker saw him bump into some interesting characters, as well as be taken in by people he now considers good friends.

On his walk Terry wore out two pairs of boots, and suffered from particularly painful blisters at one point, but every morning after a cup of coffee and a bite of a baguette he took to the road, despite sometimes not being able to see the surrounding countryside through the rain.

One of his favourite places on the walk was the Cévennes, in southern France, with its deep history, remains of old villages and beautiful views from the mountain tops.

And although Terry has occasionally had a bout of itchy feet, he has been able to reflect on the 4,000 miles he has travelled to write up the story of the walk as well as consider how he has changed as a person.

Listen to Terry Cudbird:

“It has broadened my mind meeting so many different people, and I am much happier speaking French,” Terry said.

“One of the best things about the walk was the many people I met have now become good friends and invited me back to walk with them.”

Website: www.walkingaroundfrance.com

WHEN writer Susie Kelly took to the road with her husband and two dogs for a tour around France, she met many a character and experienced a book-full of adventures.

Here in an extract from Travels with Tinkerbelle – 6,000 miles around France in a Mechanical Wreck we take a trip into the mountains.

An Alpine Interlude, by Susie Kelly

Seven foot high snowdrifts line the side of the road at La Casse Déserte, where baby trees and clumps of tiny purple flowers grow among sweeps of fallen shale.

Russet-coated goats graze the meagre vegetation among the snow patches, and the barren rocks flush a soft golden beige, almost apricot, in the afternoon sunlight.

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IF you are stuck in the office, or just want a quick escape route to the French countryside, here is a pick of photos from around Loubejac, at the southern tip of the Dordogne.

Wooded hillsides, wild strawberries and lines of poppies have been on show over the past few weeks, so whilst out and about I try to capture some of these scenes.

To click through the images at a higher resolution they are gathered together on Flickr under Loubejac Scenes.

THE log fire is roaring away, there is a chill in the air and the village Christmas decorations are going up – the tell-tale signs of winter are here.

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REGULAR autoroute users who want to pay in pounds and pence can now do so with the opening of the Liber-t automatic toll payment service to UK motorists.

An English language website, Sanef Tolling, has been opened enabling people to register for one of the small transponders that is attached to your windscreen.

Users of the service are asked to set up a Direct Debit, pay a small returnable deposit for the transponder, a yearly fee and an initial administration charge.

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MANY people are sure to be welcoming friends and family to France this summer, but you might want to check they have full travel insurance should things go wrong.

That is the message from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as part of its Know Before You Go campaign, who say that instead of bringing tea bags out on holiday ensure you are properly insured.

Minister for consular affairs Jeremy Browne said: “With over five million Britons living abroad, people are increasingly making the most of opportunities to visit their loved ones across the world.

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THIS explanatory video has a bit of a patronising air about it, but the way that UK passports are now processed has changed.

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BEING exiled in France out of choice, and being a UK bus enthusiast since at least the age of eight years old when I had memories of Midland Red D9s and Leicester City Transport PD3s, I had come to realise that I missed seeing English buses quite a lot, writes John Nelson.

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FOR her latest book Susie Kelly takes to her bike to follow the route taken by Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI when they tried to escape the Revolution.

After writing about her walking adventure from La Rochelle to Geneva (Best Foot Forward, pub. Bantam 2003) and driven the entire circumference of France (A Perfect Circle, pub. Bantam 2006), Susie and her husband hop on their bikes.

The Valley of Heaven and Hell heads out of Versailles to the vineyards and champagne cellars of Epernay and Reims, and continues through the little-documented Marne valley, the scene of unimaginable horror and devastation during World War One.

Susie’s book is available in a number of formats, including .pdf and Kindle versions, and 25 per cent of royalties are to be donated to Cancer Research and Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary.

Related: Review of a Perfect Circle