day 2 map

menu onboard

Yes, same menu for lunch and dinner

Lamb curry

Lamb curry

outside cabin

Outside cabin on Base de Seine

corridor

Corridor - to the posh cabins

Day 2 - Ferry Portsmouth to Santander


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A very wild and windy night rocks the camper most of the night, but generally we sleep well. We are up at 6.15 am, breakfast and leave by 7.30 am to check in for the ferry (Baie de Seine) at 7.45 am.

Baie de Seine is one of Brittany Ferries 'economy' ferries, that means it offers limited facilities when compared to the larger ferries such as Pont Aven, the crossings on the larger vessels are called 'cruises'. I think the major disadvantage of the economy sailings is the additional hours that the crossing takes, around 28 to 30 hours compared to 24 hours. However you look at it that's a long time, but you really need to do some sums to decide whether it's what you want.

We have an outside berth on deck 8 (room 8109); having a window is a novelty for us as we usually have an interior cabin (no windows). We watch from our room as we leave Portsmouth dock, passing many large naval frigates (including HMS Lancaster) and an aircraft carrier. Gill thinks of Eric, her father, and his days spent in Gosport during WWII and the heavy bombing raids on Portsmouth harbour.  Also, of his visits across the harbour to his Aunt Margaret Rogers in Portsmouth; Margaret was the fourth of his mother’s sister (née Carruthers). He used to relate how he often visited her on Sundays for tea.

Out into the English Channel and west towards the Atlantic. Once we have passed through the Channel and are in the open sea around the northwest point of Normandy, we feel the force of the storm. Steely-grey water with white-topped waves foaming and frothing in the wake of the ferry are stirred up by the wind. The ferry rises and falls with the occasional bang as the front end as it rises up and then falls into the huge dip of the swell with a resounding bang. We spend the day in the ‘reading lounge’ on Deck 10 (top deck) high up at the back of the ferry with a magnificent view back over the foaming wake of water.

There is not much to see, the occasional gannet flies along with us but no other birds. We read and Gill writes a good long section of her family history (Richard Carruthers 1789), his seven children and their marriages and his grandchildren. From this high-up vantage point we can watch the wind whip up the tremendous waves and spray of the storm and are glad that our Hymer is parked underneath with the trucks and not on the deck, where most of the cars on this ferry.

We have a hot lunch in the self-service café around 1.00 pm and feel the force of the storm increase as the afternoon progresses. The reading room is cold (all that glass), so we return to our cabin around 5.30 pm, the storm is really increasing in strength now, the ferry rolling and yawing from side to side, it is hard to walk. Gill lies on the bed and feels fine, if we stand up we might get queasy and nauseous very quickly. We lie on the bed, occasional alerts from the Master tell us to heed the storm and take care and hold the rails if we must move around. We decide to eat around 7.00 pm, the café is almost empty, we hear the staff discussing that everyone is in their cabins! The few of hardy ones have a light meal, same menu as lunch time. Gill has chicken but does not enjoy it. We are glad to get back to the cabin and lie down. We read until about 9.00 pm and feel sleepy, so we put our pyjamas on, it is now really hard to stand, we sit on the bed to get our clothes off.

Lying in the bed (our bunks and bodies lie crossways on the boat) We feel our bodies pulled feet-down the bed and then head-down the bed. It is a strange feeling, moving down and up, forwards and backwards, sliding a little on the sheets, without any movement by me. It is not unpleasant and at least it is rhythmical, eventually it rocks us to sleep.

 

Summary of motorhome journey

Total
miles
mpg average
speed
mph
hours
driven
- - - -

Totals for this journey

281 27.6 43 6:28