I am driving back to the UK from Montreux on Wednesday. Obviously I will be driving to Calais for the tunnel.
It seems that the shortest way is to get to Lausanne and then go north on the E23 toward France...looks simple, but from there I am not sure.
It turns into the N57 toward Besancon and then after there it looks straight forward. Does anybody have any idea of what the road and conditions are like, especially for the N57 to Besancon part?
I have snow tyres but don't reallz want to be going up and down too many mountains. The alternative route appears to be to Geneva and then up...a bit of a detour.
An alternative (if you don't want to go across to Dijon) might be to go up to Basel-Strasbourg-Reims-Calais. Might take a little bit longer, but there should be no snow issues in Switzerland
Over 10 yrs. ago I did London-Fribourg return a couple of times. Came south from Besançon but deviated from your proposed route, to go to Yverdon (via St. Croix). Fun on a 'bike in the summer.
I would think that if you stay on the A9 (which becomes N57 in France) then you should be OK in all but the most extreme conditions (at least on the CH side). You shouldn't have to go thru' Vallorbe as the A9 by-passes it.
The rest is easy and already given: Dijon - Troyes - Reims - Calais; -- just boring.
You obviously can't change your car -- you either have 4 wheel drive (preferable) or you don't. If you don't have snow chains, then consider getting a pair (for drive wheels) and pick up some old hessian sacks (from somewhere like Landi -old spud sacks). Also a collapsible shovel (or similar), water, food, blankets, etc. If you have this stuff, then you probably won't need them and will be fine.
Do not go to Yverdon via St Croix - the road is full of hairpin bends! Stick to Yverdon-Vallorbe (which does not actually go through Vallorbe, but Ballaigues nearby). It's been raining all day and temp 4C, so roads clear of snow and not icy. Yverdon Ballaigues is a dual carriage way. Road to Pontarlier is narrower, but fine - but keep speed down going through forest downhill from Les Hopitaux Neufs to Pontarlier. The tricky bit can be between Pontarlier and Besancon (again downhill into Besancon) - but roads clear at the mo and temp above 0, so fine. Then Motorway all the way.
We are going that route, but with 4x4 + snow tyres. Good luck to us all.