Driving through France on Black Saturdays- help!

[Peacepudding]

So I've discovered after booking our holiday that we're driving through France on Black Saturdays, which I didn't know about.

We're driving from Roscoff down to the Charente Maritime (Saint Palais Sur Mer) on Saturday 29th July, and then back up on Sat 5th.

Is that route likely to be horrendous? Our ferry actually gets into Roscoff on the Friday at 8pm and we were going to book a hotel there before setting off Sat am, but I'm thinking now that we'd be better off driving for a couple of hours on the Friday evening and staying overnight further down in Brittany. Presumably the roads won't be too bad in the evening?

Luckily our ferry home isn't until Sun 6th, we'll be staying overnight in Roscoff so if it takes all day to get back up on the Sat at least we won't be panicking about making the ferry!

If you have space in your car, stop before you arrive and do a shop. We’ve done that as we found it very, very hard to get back in the car after getting to our destination! Kids get to choose some treats and have an ice cream in the car for the final push. Even if you just get enough to get you through the weekend.

As PP said - i for example work through July and august and love it - shorter days - get a lot done because of no constant emails then take two weeks beginning of September and two weeks end of October. … my collègues haven’t complained though !!! The thing is we get 5 weeks PTO and most people get an extra 10 days for working more than 35 hours a week. We also get all bank holidays and in my branch you get 2 days for moving and up to 10 half days for « enfant malade » child being sick … so you really can take 3 or 4 whole weeks in the summer.

I would plan to get past Rennes and Nantes on the Friday night - the traffic leaving the campsites of Brittany on a Saturday morning to the ports can be very very busy - even leaving early

Check that the hotel you are staying in will allow you to check in after midnight and won't release your room

Then on the Saturday you'll have a relatively pleasant trip south against all the traffic heading north and before the everyone else has left northern france for the south

Take lots of drinks and snacks - we've parked on verges and in lorry parks in service stations before and 20 min queues for the loo - it can get and is very busy on those days

Also - Saint Palasis is wonderful - many happy summers there - is there any chance you can extend your trip for 10/14 days as there is so much to do

The last two summers - 2021 and 2023 have been very hot - 30 plus in Brittany over those weeks so make sure your air con is regassed

We usually do a shop on the way into the site to keep us going until Monday - and then stock up as the supermarkets can also be busy On a Sunday but there will always be boulgaries open

Sadly we can't extend our trip, the accommodation was only free for the week (holiday home). Another reason why we're keen not to lose a day to stress and delays! The area looks lovely, can't wait.