Spain and Portugal – Home to Santander
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Home to Portsmouth with an overnight stop
September, lengthening shadows, chestnut trees starting to change colour, schools back so it’s time to head off to Europe in our motorhome. We are often called on to look after grandchildren during the summer, and the weather in Europe can be too hot for comfort so we avoid July and August, but now is September so we’re leaving. This journey has been postponed many times, in fact the booking with Brittany Ferries is our return journey that was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid. (Full story here)
Our recent journeys along the M6 motorway have been very frustrating with many delays. When we returned from France recently we needed to stop overnight because progress was so slow. This time we are taking no chances, we have decided to spend two days driving from Lancaster to Portsmouth to catch the ferry.
We finish packing Hymer and leave Lancaster and head south to the M6 hoping for a better journey than the last to Folkstone. We get as far as Junction 33 and see all the southbound traffic coming off the M6 and turning south down the A6 towards Preston. We join them. Not a good start to the journey as we discover that the M6 is closed southbound and the M55 closed eastbound. ALL traffic from the M6 south and M55 east converge at Preston which is grid-locked, literally. We come to a stop.
It takes us an hour to get to Broughton and another two hours to get through Preston to the M6 south of Preston. After three hours we had reached Charnock Richard service and stop around 1.30pm for lunch. What a good decision it was to decide to spend two days driving to Portsmouth. Back on the road we make good progress: M6 through Birmingham to M42 and M40 to Banbury and then to the village of Radway and Appletree Fields farm and campsite. A large farmers field on a slight slope and next to the horses field, there was only us and one other camper and tent, a young couple with four children.
The hedges around Applecross Fields were covered with blackberries, large fruits ready for picking, I can’t resist picking them despite already having made two batches of blackberry jam. The campsite is a large field that has the remains of ridge and furrows running along its length. That means much of the site is difficult for motorhomes to get level, and there would be grounding if we tried to drive across it. We stay on the level area near the track. We have a meal of Thai green chicken curry and an early night. (Review of Applecross Fields and details here. Opens in a new tab)
Next day we have a leisurely start, then walk to the nearby village of Radway where we visited St Peter’s Church and the exhibition relating to the battle of Edge Hill that was fought nearby on Sunday, 23 October 1642. There are manikins in costume and panels explaining the battle. An interesting visit after which we resumed our journey to Portsmouth, with time to spare. We parked at Port Solent and ate an Indian meal in a nearby restaurant, then drove the last few miles to the ferry terminal and booked in.
This crossing is on one of Brittany Ferries’ new ships, the Galicia, and takes 32 hours, meaning that we leave late tonight, spend all tomorrow on the ferry then another night, arriving next day. For us that means we left home Sunday lunchtime, sail Monday night and arrive in Santander on Wednesday morning. We are somewhat apprehensive because that’s such a long time. The alternatives are not enticing, Eurotunnel or the ferry to Caen in France and another long drive. With the experience of having done the journey we both feel that we don’t want to do it again. More about that later when discussing the overall trip.
The ferry Galicia travels at a slower speed than the ferry that it replaced, Pont Aven, and there are differences in the catering and accommodation that I’ll discuss here. A breakfast and a dinner for each passenger are included in the cost of the cabin, the only extras you pay for at those meals are drinks. Galicia has a Premium Lounge, for which you pay an extra £35 per person for access. It’s rather like an airport lounge, situated at the front of the ship. There are light refreshments, tea, coffee and wines available most of the day. On this occasion we booked the lounge, and in view of the length of the crossing we were glad of the quiet space and refreshments. Whether it’s really worth the price I am still undecided, you can buy a lot of drinks and snacks for £70 even at Brittany Ferries’ high prices.
The cabins on Galicia are very similar to previous ships, in the photos below note that what looks like a window is actually an image on an illuminated picture, this is an inside cabin with no window.
Our return journey from Santander to Plymouth was on the old ferry, Pont Aven, and took 18 hours, a much faster ship, my GPS measured the speed at around 28 miles per hour. You pay for food on Pont Aven, at high prices, you don’t have much option as you are a captive market. On balance we preferred the older ship. Whether we will use Brittany Ferries for any future trips to Spain is unclear, we like the saving of time that comes from not driving through France, but for us time is something we have plenty of, and we do like France.
We reached Santander on time and were off the ferry quickly, there was the usual congestion on the stairs leading down to the vehicle decks. Checks on arrival were minimal and dealt with by a smiling young woman who checked and stamped our passports – a marked difference with the UK where it feels like the officials are specially trained to exude authority and superiority to keep mere mortals in their place.
Three and a half days to travel from Lancaster to Santander, a LONG journey, and tiring out of all proportion to what we had done, but we had arrived and got on our way out onto the roads heading for León.
Spain and Portugal: Home to Santander via Brittany Ferries
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