DRIVING BACK TO UK

I have done this route several times from my home in Adsubia near Pego, but crossing on the ferry from Caen to Portsmouth, in a diesel car but without dog! Here's some random tips.

It is toll free all the way to Zaragoza and the last 25/30km motorway into that city have just been resurfaced, a great road.

If you want to avoid tolls from Zaragoza, take the N232 west from the Zaragoza ring road, as opposed to the motorway. It's dual carriageway nearly all the way. I go past Teulada on this road, then turn north towards Pamplona on the N121. This is single carriageway but reasonably fast because it is sparsely used most of the time. 

It blends into the ring motorway just before the city of Pamplona, then you follow the motorway around to the north side of the city (follow the signs for Francia to keep on the right road until you see signs for Irun on the N121A). The N121A is a mountain road with tunnels but a pleasant drive with spectacular scenery. When you come down into the outskirts of Irun just before the motorway junction for France, there is a roundabout with a few gasolineras on your right hand side. I usually fill up in the first one, Bidasoil, the last chance to pay Spanish prices before France! My full tank just about gets me to the Caen ferry without filling up in France, not that there's much difference between France and the UK these days on fuel. Yes, the French supermarkets are your best bet, when I was in France in May on holiday, diesel was about 1.65€ a litre.

I also stay at Castets on the first night. Just off the motorway junction is a good hotel, Les Bruyeres, but I don't know if they're dog friendly, you'll need to check. Two/three hundred metres from the hotel is a very good 'routiers' restaurant, i.e. a lorry drivers restaurant, but they are a very high standard in France. Called the Relais de Castets, you get a very good three course buffet style dinner with wine for about 15€, don't miss it.

Finally, try to avoid Bordeaux in the rush hour, the ring motorway gets very busy. If you stay in Castets, this won't be a problem because you're only a couple of hours away. You can go round the ring motorway east or west, you'll eventually come back to the same point to continue north. Good luck!

Most hotels in France are dog friendly.

If you don't have air con in the van travel early or late to avoid the heat

That is an awesome answer, thank you so much.

Amazing to be doing that alone with no other adult to break the drive with

Jane

We use Campanile hotels for our stops through France when we drive. We also have a dog. Very reasonably priced. They are on a similar scale to Travelodge. 

https://www.campanile.com