Roscoff to Auvergne - or anywhere better

Not at all late, looking at options for a trip next year, will bear that in mind as well.
 
Sometimes, the autouroute can be fun - if you do get to Clermont Ferrand, the A75 to Issoire is barking as it winds through a river valley.

There are quite a few scenic stretches of autoroute which are quiet out of season. Autoroutes around large cities, which are usually toll free, can be very busy and the standard of driving is appalling - beware black Audi’s!
 
..... Roscoff and I think it might be fair to say sailing there (Roscoff) does little but add an extra 100 miles on the Journey down towards Limoges / Clermont Ferrand (roughly where I want to spend a couple of days) it also makes it very difficult to do anything other than blast along the Motorway, whereas with St Malo and Caen both look easy enough in a day to allow time for turning off the motorway after lunch.

Other than accommodating your friend, going via Roscoff has few (if any) redeeming features.

....the worst part for me with in-necessary dull miles is I just see it as expense .....tyres (plus squaring them off / fuel / depreciation)

This excursion down the autoroutes of France will not ruin the value of your motorcycle. You often blast the fastest way to the Alps, so as to avoid 'boring northern France'. Your jaunt to the Auvergne will be no different.
 
Other than accommodating your friend, going via Roscoff has few (if any) redeeming features.

Somewhat harsh.

For one thing, the evening sailing means you can get settled in, have a couple of beers and then wake up in France ready for a full day ahead. I'd recommend taking the time to go into the surprisingly nice little port at Roscoff for breakfast.

Secondly, Whilst the Alps it ain't, Brittany is lovely. There are some really good roads over the moors, along the coasts and through the forests.

Of course, if you simply roll off the ferry and head for the Autoroute, only the bit about the full day ahead really applies.
 
For Rasher's planned foray into France....

Other than accommodating your friend, going via Roscoff has few (if any) redeeming features.

Unless you live in Plymouth or indeed Cork, from where the crossing is local and makes some sense. Of course there are good roads in Brittany, too. Unfortunately, the OP has limited time and is hell bent on getting to the Auvergne, as quickly as possible.
 
Unfortunately, the OP has limited time and is hell bent on getting to the Auvergne, as quickly as possible.

Indeed, taking into account a max of 5 days in France, if 4 of them are spent getting to and from where we wish to go there won't be much time left when we get there.

The Portsmouth crossings look far better, they are still overnight so we land bright and early and raring to go, and can get to where we want to be in a single day without having to spend the entire time on the Motorway.

It also knocks about 60 miles off my journey to the Ferry (each way) as well as the aforementioned 100 extra miles each way to / from Roscoff - so a reduction of about 320 dull miles for me, my mate is having to go further to get to Portsmouth, but this is more than compensated for by the 100 miles we save the other side....

...unless he feels breakfast in Roscoff is a core objective of the trip.
 
...unless he feels breakfast in Roscoff is a core objective of the trip.

I've had some great rides with far weaker objectives than that!

I do get the point for this particular trip though. I sensed that the merits of the Roscoff route in general were being harshly judged, which is why I leapt to its defence (and not solely for the breakfast)! :D
 


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