Brittany Ferries Economie – Portsmouth to Santander With a Motorhome
Zagan la autocaravana is parked with his amigos at the free aire in Santander (N43.47226, W3.80263). His owners are feeling a tad discombobulated, finding themselves in northern Spain in just a couple of days, instead of their usual week or two drive across France. The reason being, this trip they took the Brittany Ferries Economie ferry from Portsmouth to Santander (scroll to the bottom of this post if you are just interested in our top tips for this ferry).
I had a quiet, but sleepless night in the Fox and Goose car park in Greywell. My mind was racing and nerves were starting to kick in. I’m not a huge fan of ferries because I get seasick. I really wish I could be like the smiling folks you see in the adverts, tucking into a meal or relaxing in the bar watching the sunset over the ocean, but in reality you’ll find me as horizontal as possible, looking pale and feeling rough. I’m not entirely sure why I thought this ferry would be any different. I can only think that I was putting my trust in some recommended seasickness tablets at the time of booking. As the departure drew closer, that trust was starting to wear thin.
Our ferry was due to depart at 8.45am on Saturday morning, so on Friday morning, we drove the rest of the way to Portsmouth. We’d checked Park4Night and discovered that you can stay overnight for free at the Port Solent complex (cinema, shops, restaurants, gym next to a marina), if you got permission in advance (N50.83982, W1.09574). I called them and spoke to a lovely fella who took our registration and phone number, gave directions to where best to park and assured me we wouldn’t be woken by security at 2am!
After a quick look around the marina at Port Solent, we decided to catch the bus for a look around Portsmouth. The bus stop at Port Solent had no information on it so we sat for a while until a lady wandered over to ask us what buses stopped there as she’d never seen any. At this point we opted to walk the half a mile to the main road, where we caught the X-4 into town (an all day ticket was under a fiver each and cheaper than a return). It looks like the bus stop at Port Solent might just be for show, or the summer.
Once in Portsmouth we realised we’ve both been here before as we’d been up the Spinnaker tower, but can’t remember when or who with. It must be pre-blog days, so we’ll have to have a look through our photos and see if they give us a clue. We gave our legs a good stretch on the Millennium promenade walk down to Southsea castle and back, reading each of the information boards describing the historic fortifications and houses of disrepute along the route. The walk gave us a good feel for the naval importance of the town. We also got to see a hovercraft land on the beach next to us. While this is probably a fairly normal occurrence for those who catch it over to the Isle of Wight, for me it was something new and exciting.
Back at Zagan bags were packed for the ferry, which contained mainly food as we’d be on it for around 30 hours. We also packed the electric kettle, a 2 to 3 pin plug adapter (it’s a French ship, with French crew and French plug sockets), mugs, bowls and cutlery as I figured I might not want to venture out of the cabin if I wasn’t feeling great, but would still need to eat. We then went over to the cinema and watched 1917 (recommended and very impressively filmed) before settling in for the night.
Sleep was fitful as it nearly always is when I have an alarm set. We were up and off and at the ferry port for 7.30am. I recorded the below video of our ferry crossing. It takes you from arriving at Portsmouth to driving in Santander, plus a few choice moments in between. But, lets just say the weather wasn’t kind to us for the first 20 or so hours of the crossing and it seems that for me the seasickness tablets don’t work in a force 8 gale!
I spent over 24 hours lying on the bed on the left (see photo below), several of those feeling very rough and, a first for me, I even threw up from seasickness. I always told myself it was all in my ears and eyes and not my stomach so I’d never actually be sick, but apparently I was wrong. Even if I was feeling great, there wasn’t much going on on the ship. There was a restaurant (according to the opening and closing tannoy announcements, I never manged to set foot in it), a small market and cafe and a duty free shop selling booze (which was surely cheaper in Spain), perfume, travel kettles and seasick biscuits for dogs.
By early afternoon access to the outside decks was forbidden due to the bad weather, I hope the dogs on board were still allowed out! So we hankered down, listened to audio books and music to help the hours pass. I was in my pyjamas by 4pm. We gave up dozing and ‘went to bed’, even though we were already in bed, around 9pm (top tip: bring your own pillow unless you like them very thin). The boat pitched and rolled, a sensation like going over a humpback bridge time after time. Our cabin creaked like an ancient tree in a storm, and the waves boomed as they smashed into the front of the boat, lighting up outside the window with spray. As dawn broke and we entered the notorious Bay of Biscay, but instead of getting worse, the seas calmed down and we both managed to sleep until the 9am announcement that the restaurant was closing soon.
Late morning with the Spanish coast starting to fill our window, we got a welcome announcement, we’d be arriving 45 minutes earlier than planned. The ship slowed down and gracefully manoeuvred around a headland and alongside the port in Santander. By this point we were all packed up and out of our cabins, waiting in the queue down the stairwell to the car deck.
Zagan was a sight for tired eyes, and fortunately all in once piece looking as if nothing had happened (we’ve met folks who haven’t been so lucky on a ferry crossing and got to the car deck to find their motorhome squished by a lorry and sports car!). We piled back in him and were directed off the ferry and to the Spanish customs, because in Portsmouth we had only gone through check-in and security checks. When we get the ferry to France we also go through French customs so we can drive straight off the boat and onto the motorway when we arrive in France. For Spain we needed to join a queue and have our passports scanned – possibly to mark us arriving in the EU for the future, but more likely just a routine check we aren’t wanted criminals.
Then instead of following the convoy of campers heading for the motorway, we turned off and drove through the city to the aire in Santander. It was a bit hair-raising, with several roundabouts, many lanes and traffic lights as well as a 50 speed limit (which took us a bit to remember it was kilometres not miles per hour – Satnav was rapidly changed to show kilometres), but Jay soon got his eye in. We reached the aire, parked up and went straight out for a long walk in the fresh air. We strolled down to the beach and along the coast we’d just gone past on the ferry.
As it’s Sunday (I’d forgotten), the place was full of families out enjoying the sunshine. The temperature is around 17°C in the sun, so while we still needed our coats (to blend in with the locals and because it was much colder in the shade), it was very pleasant to feel the sunshine on our skin. We ended up walking around Magdelena Peninsular, which is home to the Palacio de la Magdalena which was built as a summer residence for the Spanish Royal family last century. Looking it up once we were back in Zagan, it seems we managed to see ‘the most emblematic building of the city of Santander’ on our first day. Not bad going! We’re planning on staying here for a couple of nights to decided where to go as we’ve done no planning whatsoever. But then those of you who regularly read this blog, will know that’s quite normal for us. We’re also going to try and buy a Spanish SIM card which will give us more data than we’d get with a UK one (so we can upload all those videos!) – but going on our past SIM buying experiences abroad, I’ll ask you to wish us luck.
Ju x
Our Top Tips for Brittany Ferries Economie Sailings
- Try to book an inside cabin in the centre of the boat. These don’t have a window, but apparently are less affected by the boat rocking and reduce the chances of seasickness. However they are also the cheapest so sell out first (well second after the dog friendly cabins). If you can’t get an inside cabin, get in touch and ask to be in the centre of the boat – we didn’t know you could do this and ended up right at the front.
- Ask around on Facebook groups or forums for a discount code – the Club Voyage scheme offers members some sort of referral discount which many are happy to share.
- Pack a travel kettle, mugs, coffee etc (we also took milk in a cool bag with a couple of freezer blocks and it was OK for the whole trip)
- Pack a continental plug adapter as the sockets are all 2 pin on board
- Bring your own pillow as the ones on board were thin
- Pack ear plugs for a good nights sleep as the boat creaks a lot
- No need to bring shower gel or towels as both are provided (you might want your own shampoo though)
- Pack plenty of snacks, you might not be able to stomach a full meal but you’ll get peckish
- Switch off roaming on your phone – data and call – as the ships mobile network is VERY expensive
- There is free wifi on board, but don’t expect to be streaming stuff, it’s very slow and throws you off the network quite a lot, so you have to keep logging back in (the wifi code was printed on our cabin door key)
- Dump your bags in your cabin and get out on the sundeck at the back as you leave Portsmouth, you get a great view of the city and all the naval ships in port
- I find reading or concentrating on something (TV, Suduko etc) brings on seasickness, so download some audio books or music to listen to. If you don’t suffer from seasickness you might be able to watch a movie if you bring a laptop or tablet with you (there are no TVs in the basic cabins)
- Take seasickness tablets. Even if, like Jay, you don’t get seasick. We used Stugeron and it did help, but even that had its limits
- If you do start to feel queasy, lie down either on your back or side
- You’ll have to switch of the gas when on board, so don’t leave much in your motorhome’s freezer. We had a pack of bacon and sausages in ours along with a frozen bottle of water and ice blocks. Both the bacon and sausages were defrosting by the time we reached Santander – still it meant we had something handy for tea (some folks freeze a meal knowing it will defrost ready for when the reach Spain so they don’t have to cook on their first night).
- You can leave some stuff in your motohome’s fridge. We had some milk, cheese, eggs etc in ours fridge along with a couple of frozen 2l bottles of water. The fridge was still just cold when we disembarked, so everything was OK to eat.
Try using sea sickness glasses (as used by the French navy) – they really worked for my other half Search for motion sickness glasses on amazon or eBay. They give you a level horizon ( at the cost of making you look a jerk)
Thanks guys for making our decision easier. Driving through France in Feb it is.Enjoy.
Mmmm. Think I might prefer the long drive-and I don’t suffer from sea sickness! Would you do it again????
Great to hear you made it to Spain. We’ve done that trip twice but the opposite direction. Spain to UK) Both times have not been enjoyable. We both don’t normally suffer with sickness but did on both occasions, once with a fairly flat sea. Anyway, looking forward to hearing your progress through Spain. We’re still in the south almost pointing northwards. Best wishes to you both.
Hi Guys. We were booked on your ferry 2 years ago , because the forcast was for rough seas they transferred us to the cruise ferry, which although was bigger it was still a rough crossing. We have booked the cruise ferry again for our 8 weeks in Spain in May . It was more expensive but worth it. Great resturant , best price for us was the caravan and motorhome club. Check it out next time. Enjoy I will be following you with interest. Regards john
Hi – Great to see you back on the road, and look forward to your further “adventures”. We are a retired couple (with a spaniel), and relatively new to motorhoming so your hints and tips have been invaluable!! On reading about your quest to buy a SIM card, I am curious as to why you don’t have a UK sim on a monthly contract. We spent September and November touring Scandinavia and had with us a 4GEE WiFi Mini with a contract SIM card. This little yellow box, with charging cable, cost £4.99 plus signing up for a monthly rolling contract. We have no external Arial or booster device, and this gave us coverage wherever we went. It even came on walks tucked into a pocket in a rucksack, and we had good reception at all times. We rang and cancelled the contract with no problems when we returned. This cost us £24.50 per month for 50gb, which was actually way too much for us, and I didn’t think that was too unreasonable. However I look forward to hearing how you get on with your hunt for a sim. PS one item you should add to your invaluable “Packing List” is spare mirror glass and gaffer tape to repair a broken wing mirror. (I will be more careful next time!). Keep up the good work on the blog and have a good trip.
Tim Beatrix and “Tasha”.
Hi guys. Sounds like you got a great deal with that EE SIM and WiFi mini! The nearest thing I can find on EE’s website is now £30 a month for 50GB but on a 24 month contract (and they only appear to allow 15GB a month of that to be used when roaming now). We don’t full-time so we tend to buy pay-as-you-go SIMs and use our DSL WiFi while we’re at home.
If I’ve missed the deal you have could you please send me a link to it?
Many thanks, unlucky with the mirror (we’ve all done it) and happy travels! Jay
Really good to watch.., thanks x
As for WiFi, we use Vodafone on a monthly rolling contract with a MiFi with roof aerial (motorhomewifi.com ). 50gb for £30 a month, ask them for a discount and they take 10% off, down to £27. Just give them a months notice to cancel. We have always have good service and coverage in EU.
Good info, thanks Martin. Jay
Hi guy’s, you might like to try a phone app called UK Bus Checker, it will show you where your nearest Bus stop is,the time it’s due and where it’s going to.
Good info, thanks Chris, Jay
I can see the advantages of avoiding the long drive through France with the associated time penalties however i would be interested to know what the hard cash difference is that you worked out. It depends hugely, i guess, on how you price your time or other outside factors that invariable creep in. In the past 2 years i have made the trip from central Andalusia 3 times with minimal stops to explore on the way, a terrible way to travel!!
Hi Alan – we just used the going rate for reclaiming car mileage from the tax man at 45p a mile. A motorhome might have higher consumable costs but lower depreciation (perhaps) than this car rate, but it’s just a rough and ready reckoner which takes all costs into account, not just fuel. Calais to Santander is roughly 800 miles as a direct route. So 800 x 0.45 = £360, about the same as our ferry. Of course we would still need to get a ferry or tunnel from the UK to France, and could add in either £100 for the tolls or a few quid for the additional mileage to avoid them takes the driving route above the ferry cost route. This all assumes no value is placed on our time and we’d stay in free places on the drive through France. Like I said, it’s very rough and ready though. Cheers, Jay
G’morning both, firstly thank you for advice and guidance (just found you and so glad we have)… We are 2 oldies planning our first trip to Northern Spain in March via ferry. We’d very much like to know the price of the ferry so we can ‘sort’ budget.
Many thanks
Lili
Hi Lili. The ferry for us two and our 6m motorhome plus bike rack was £360 on the economie service. Ju asked around for a discount code on the Facebook forums which brought the cost down by 10% (it was more than £360 without the code). Good luck and have a great trip, Jay