pavot

Now, now, sparkchaser....

hetismij2

Sparkchaser .

The Dutch motoring organisation ANWB is still reporting problems around Brest, Nantes, Lyon, Bordeaux and Marseilles with diesel being in particularly short supply. I see no reason to doubt their reports.

sparkchaser

Riddle me this: which nationality is posting about actually considering canceling their planned trip to France because they might have some difficulty putting fuel into their rental vehicle?

StCirq

There are no shortages and no lines in the Dordogne, but honestly, we can drive for 2 months on a full tank of diesel, so unless you're doing long-haul driving around France at a fairly hectic pace, and assuming you pick up a rental car with a full tank of gas, I don't quite get the panic. Anyway, tank up when you can and bonne route!

Whathello

Spark !
We must get a beer.

sparkchaser

Damn skippy!

kerouac

All but one fuel depot has now been unblocked by the authorities (out of 100).

Meanwhile 6 out of 8 French refineries are still on strike, which lowers production, but the fuel depots are still basically full and on top of that the government has "strategic" fuel depots that contain enough gasoline and diesel fuel for 115 days.

So all of the ridiculous panic purchases are finally dropping, and the service stations are getting back to normal.

It is not by any means the end of "industrial action" yet, but it should calm most reasonable people.

Naturally, the foreign press is still feeding the fire. The Telegraph is an excellent example, using the word "chaos" in its headline: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...oid-the-chaos/

pavot

But so many things spell chaos to the Telegraph.

StCirq

Even The Economist has been caught up in the sensationalism:

http://www.economist.com/news/europe...173f4f0f060a07

A 2,000-word article about the "chaos" brought about by a "moderate liberalisation of labor laws" and not one single word about what that liberalisation is.

You'd think the country was about to implode...ridiculous.

frenchaucoeur

I've been looking at the penurie.mon-essence app and it seems that some areas are much harder hit than others. Yes, the Dordogne is in pretty good shape but Provence not so much. We're leaving on June 7 for a stay in Uzes and then the Var but are thinking of rearranging things to start out with a few days in Aix instead--shorter trip from Nice, plus less local driving, and we love Aix and are happy to spend time there.

I'd appreciate an update from anyone on the ground on how things are. The app estimates that up to 70% of stations are either closed or short of some types of fuel. What are you seeing?

kerouac

20% are running short today.

kerouac

Most of the information sources have stopped updating their lists of open stations because very few stations are now closed since the fuel depots have been unblocked and tanker trucks are exceptionally authorized on the roads this weekend.

mjs

Arles and St Remy stations today all seemed open with modest lines

frenchaucoeur

Thanks, Kerouac. The penurie-mon.essence app is now showing a bit over 50% of stations in southern Provence still with some degree of shortage, but that may be out of date already.

This is most encouraging!