It's a long, long way to Leicester.......
This is how you get to us from Southern Germany:
Lahr - Leicester, almost exactly 1.000 km
If you want to avoid paying the French toll fees on the motorways you should take the route that I take which takes me from Metz via Luxemburg (no toll)), onto the toll free motorways in Belgium , to Calais to catch the ferry Calais - Dover.