IanC53

[Blackal]

Unless I am very much mistaken - this is our own Ian and Sue...... heading off to Santander for their holibags..........

Spotted in a photo on another forum - Think Sue has had enough waiting for the lazy car-driver who turned up on the car-deck 45mins late.

Al

[popsky]

Jeez not seen that many bikes on a ferry for a long time

[Al]

Not many youngsters so It’s part of the grey army on the move Phil, kids back at school so finished grandparent daycare, holidays are cheaper now, the rest of the ferry will be full of motorhomes and caravans, we are off next week ourselves

Al.

[Steve W]

We had same issue on the way out to Santander with a wait of around 45 mins to get off with bikes being last.
Go our own back when arriving in Plymouth - bikes of first.

Heard that the maximum capacity of the Pont Aven in bike terms is 300 which is a lot of bikes

S

[boxerscott]

What exactly is the technical issue that made Brittany Ferries change our return sailing to Plymouth instead of Portsmouth?

Chris.

[Al]

An article on Devon live said the routes were being changed and some longer crossings cancelled to allow extra crossings to be run as part of no deal brexit planning, this has maybe caused the changes to your trip.

Al.

[Steve W]

There was an engine room fire earlier in the year and they have lost the use of one of her 4 engines until the winter re-fit
So can only run at a reduced service speed - we were only doing 20knots coming back.

Looking over the stern it looked like the port side prop was not working or at least there was only wake from the starboard
Prop.

Sailing times used to be 18hrs to & from Plymouth and 24 to & from Portsmouth and currently about 22 hrs to & from Plymouth.


S

[Sharky]

I'm on this Santander ferry on Tuesday from Plymouth and coming back via Le Harve a week later
do they tie down well?

[Steve W]

Hi Sharky

Yes big pad on the seat then a large ratchet strap over that down to the deck - cables along the deck to give plenty
Of tie downs.

S





Steve

[popsky]

Do the deck crew tie down for you or do you have to do it yourself like P&O

[Blackal]

The deck crew do it. Pads are pretty good at preventing indenting the seat. Just leave bike in 1st gear on side stand, and get to the bar.

[Steve W]

Definitely not - the crew do it - not sure they would let you even if you wanted too - it is quite a slick loading operation - on the way out this time the load master for the bikes was a lady and she was giving some of the men a hard time because they were being slow to secure the bikes.

S

[popsky]

That’s good to know, it’s been a while since we’ve travelled with Brittany Ferries, I do remember my second trip to Le Mans 24hr in 91, all the bikes maybe 200 plus on board, something too see but 2 bikes did fall over, it was a very very rough return crossing, one was in our group ridden by a chap from Kawasaki, just minor damage and the bikes had been tied down by crew, I never did find out the result but should have thought the ferry operator would have been liable, I seem to remember that being P&O Portsmouth to Le Havre.
It was some years later and our first Dover to Calais P&O and we had to tie our own down, I don’t mind but if the ratchet straps if old are really dirty.

[popsky]

Just leave bike in 1st gear on side stand,

I used to be so paranoid in the early days of motorcycle ferry travel I used to take my own ratchet strap just in case and leave bike in gear and tie up the front brake with tape, not sure if that was the best policy but I never had a problem, but as you say nice pad on seat, side stand in gear where can the bike go.

[ianc53]

Well spotted Al, Sue was indeed more than a little fed up after waiting for the numpty who was holding everyone up.
Probably not as fed up as the poor guy who had the wing mirror on his RT knocked clean off as the bikes and camper vans were so tightly packed in .

I'm pleased to say everything improved once off the ferry. Had a great week or so doing the Picos and across to Santiago de Compostela, where a very nice policeman with a sub-machine gun told us we really shouldn't be riding 4 bikes through the main cathedral square with thousands of pilgrims all around. We were only following the Sat Nav to the hotel, honest .

Came back up to Zeebrugge via Bordeaux, the Loire and even popped into Versailles. I knew it was OTT, but it's even more than I imagined!
Final ride back to the port was very windy, and occasionally very wet, followed by force 7 overnight crossing. Called in on Peter in Hull before the long drag back to Fife.

Need to start thinking about next year now.

Cheers

Ian