Possible direct ferry later this year?
niferry.co.uk/brittany-ferr … y-service/
Pack your sea sick pills then, the Bay of Biscay is notoriously bad for rough weather that can a seasoned continental driver turn green like Kermit the frog , but there is a good chance to spot whales and most likely BF will hire an expert to offer talks and a slide show so pack the binoculars as well .
With a long crossing, there is plenty of time to use their swimming pool, cinema, night club and grab a Granny night plus the tachograph gets a long break.
BF are on to a winner .
All depends on the price don’t it?
Good for tourists avoiding Spain under current covid rules.
Franglais:
All depends on the price don’t it?
Good for tourists avoiding Spain under current covid rules.
Might as well do both Portugal and Canary Islands.That latter makes much more sense.It saves the cost of channel ferry and driving to Cadiz and paying for Cadiz to Canaries.You’ll see I don’t like flying. 
They reckon the Pont Aven could do it flat out in 24 hours so it’ll likely be a crossing of 30 or so. If the price is right landing in Portugal 30 hours after leaving U.K. having had a reduced weekly rest into the bargain will be VERY attractive to transport operators because by road it’s a nice drive but a blooming long way that can drag a bit
switchlogic:
They reckon the Pont Aven could do it flat out in 24 hours so it’ll likely be a crossing of 30 or so. If the price is right landing in Portugal 30 hours after leaving U.K. having had a reduced weekly rest into the bargain will be VERY attractive to transport operators because by road it’s a nice drive but a blooming long way that can drag a bit
1990? There was an unaccompanied ro-ro Portugal to U.K.
Didn’t fit in with the way trade worked then too well, but a high speed service such as being proposed here might have place for freight interest.
Switch, I hated the long and boring drag between Victoria/ Burgos/ Salamanca to the border at Villa de Formosa , nothing to look at except corn fields and it was or still is a dual carriageway with plenty of pit stops .
Tarmaceater:
Switch, I hated the long and boring drag between Victoria/ Burgos/ Salamanca to the border at Villa de Formosa , nothing to look at except corn fields and it was or still is a dual carriageway with plenty of pit stops .
Yeah first time I went I realised I had dramatically underestimated how big Spain actually is!
Before there were so many dual carriageways it was a much more involving drive. And a heavy trailer with a 320 engine and a half arsed exhaust brake, kept your arm well exercised too.
Yes, I realise I sound like one of those old ■■■■■ who say “when we ran the old road”, but there is a good reason for that.
I have now become one of those old ■■■■■.
Burgos to Madrid to Malaga another long one on the National 5 via Ocana and that lovely smell of olive trees.
switchlogic:
They reckon the Pont Aven could do it flat out in 24 hours so it’ll likely be a crossing of 30 or so. If the price is right landing in Portugal 30 hours after leaving U.K. having had a reduced weekly rest into the bargain will be VERY attractive to transport operators because by road it’s a nice drive but a blooming long way that can drag a bit
That’s the right tool for the job.Rear load only solid bows so great for smashing its way through a Biscay storm and the right size and speed for adding the Canaries to the route on a multi drop run.I’ve used that and Suprema often and are the best ferries I’ve ever used.
Carryfast:
switchlogic:
They reckon the Pont Aven could do it flat out in 24 hours so it’ll likely be a crossing of 30 or so. If the price is right landing in Portugal 30 hours after leaving U.K. having had a reduced weekly rest into the bargain will be VERY attractive to transport operators because by road it’s a nice drive but a blooming long way that can drag a bitThat’s the right tool for the job.Rear load only solid bows so great for smashing its way through a Biscay storm and the right size and speed for adding the Canaries to the route on a multi drop run.I’ve used that and Suprema often and are the best ferries I’ve ever used.
Pont Aven has bow doors. Wouldn’t be suitable for the shorter crossings if it didn’t.
The best ship for bad weather I’ve ever been on is the Irish Ferries Ulysses. Weather can be so bad you’re struggling to stay on your feet in dock, she sets off and seemingly eats waves for breakfast. I’m sure there’s a fact that it has never been cancelled for weather reasons. Or went many years before the first.
I’ve been on some rough old boats in my time as I imagine you have. One of worst was Celtic Link from Rosslare to Cherbourg! I’m a very easy going sailor, thanks to a yacht sailing hobby, but on that crossing I did start to wonder if we’d make it! Got down stairs to total carnage! Most of the chains had snapped, I don’t think a single vehicle got away without damage, including one truck on its side! I was lucky I was one of last on so was on my own with nothing beside me, except a Spanish Scania by my rear. My rear chains had snapped and it had smashed side of his cab to bits! Just a scape on my fridge! I drove off and went on my way Think I was one of only 2 or 3 that could! I do love a rough crossing though, because I’m a weirdo
I remember the old Peninsula and Original tugs from Portsmouth to Le Havre where lorry drivers cabins were below the sea level and doors to access the cabins were locked overnight, I didn’t like that and then you could hear the engine all night .
switchlogic:
I do love a rough crossing though, because I’m a weirdo
The Atlantic on a good day.Both directions on QE2 ticked my bucket list.
youtube.com/watch?v=T2ztV7W7VY0
There is nothing as impressive as a well designed ship meeting the challenge of the sea.
The roughest I’ve ever known was a return trip from Gothenburg to Harwhich on Tor Scandinavia or possibly Brittania and I’ve crossed Biscay plenty of times on both P and O and Brittany Ferries routes.You really don’t want bow doors of any type when it gets serious and Tor Line/DFDS obviously knew it when they ordered those.
Carryfast:
switchlogic:
I do love a rough crossing though, because I’m a weirdoThe Atlantic on a good day.Both directions on QE2 ticked my bucket list.
youtube.com/watch?v=T2ztV7W7VY0
There is nothing as impressive as a well designed ship meeting the challenge of the sea.
Seems we are similar in our interest in ships. Not yet been on a cruise but that’s on my bucket list. Either a cruise up Norway or my ultimate bucket list ambition is a cruise to Antartica and South Georgia. I want to visit my hero’s grave, Ernest Shackleton.
This is a great watch if interested
channel4.com/programmes/sha … /30829-001
Look at us talking with each other like grown ups
switchlogic:
Carryfast:
switchlogic:
I do love a rough crossing though, because I’m a weirdoThe Atlantic on a good day.Both directions on QE2 ticked my bucket list.
youtube.com/watch?v=T2ztV7W7VY0
There is nothing as impressive as a well designed ship meeting the challenge of the sea.
Seems we are similar in our interest in ships. Not yet been on a cruise but that’s on my bucket list. Either a cruise up Norway or my ultimate bucket list ambition is a cruise to Antartica and South Georgia. I want to visit my hero’s grave, Ernest Shackleton.
This is a great watch if interested
channel4.com/programmes/sha … /30829-001
Look at us talking with each other like grown ups
To be fair a transatlantic crossing on a ship designed first and foremost to be a ‘liner’ not a cruise ship and being just the means to get to the holiday destination with around a month or more then touring North America, isn’t the same thing as a ‘cruise’, ( on a cruise ship ) in which the time spent on the ship is the ‘holiday’.That to me is just a boring waste of a holiday as I like travel on land and sea equally.
I could repost the photo of the Belgian car and caravan outfit being unloaded in New York who’d embarked in Cherbourg and who’s owner obviously agreed with me.The caravan wouldn’t fit through the QE’s garage hatch way so it had to be craned into and out of the cargo hold from/to the garage hatch ramp instead.If Carlsberg did car ferries.
But for some reason the new QM2 doesn’t have a garage deck.
I guess my interest is in my genes on my maternal Grandfather’s side.One served at Jutland and went down with his ship in an accident involving our own mines in 1918 in the last months of WW1.I don’t think my Mum knew about all that history at all.
The other, who my mum had told me a bit about, served in the merchant navy before and during WW2.His Mum was the sister of the former and they were part of a long line of Thames lightermen going back generations. 
When I left school merchant navy and truck driver were my two chosen jobs.I was planning on joining as an egineering cadet.Only some further recent investigations have shown that they were both high ranking …stokers.
OK well I tried
Been announced in the Plymouth newspaper Brittany are not going ahead with a Porto route.
OwenMoney:
Been announced in the Plymouth newspaper Brittany are not going ahead with a Porto route.
Just like the ‘vaccine’ ‘passports’.