France and United Kingdom

A road and ferry trip again! - April 2025

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Travel tips!

ETA! - What is that?

The UK has pulled out of the European Union a number of years ago and this starts to be noticed in daily life by now. The first major change for tourists and travellers was that the European identity cards were no longer sufficient to enter the UK, a passport was mandatory. However, by 2024 it was announced that on top of the passport, from March 2025 everyone wanting to visit the UK would need to register for an Electronic Travel Advice and it would be implemented in early April 2025, total cost would be 10 GBP. My original plan would see me boarding the ferry on the first day of implementation, and I did not want to do that because I imagined it would be a bit chaotic, luckily by the time I arrived it didn't seem to be a big problem and all went smooth.

The application is easy via an app or like me (because my old iPhone7 could not use the app) online, the response is also quick and easy. You don't even need to print the confirmation as the ETA is automatically linked to your passport so customs control is quick and easy as well.

Night ferries - Make sure to be prepared for a night on the ship without access to your car! Usually I pack a small backpack or trolley that I can just take into my cabin and it contains all needed things like shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrush but also clean socks and underwear, an extra layer of clothing for those colder nights at sea, but also some snacks and drinks and a bag for dirty laundry, chargers etc.

Day 1: Driving

As usual this first day was planned to be a day of heavy driving, so I left home very early at around 03h30 for a drive towards Caen. Upon arrival in Caen there wasn't much that I planned since I knew I would be exhausted, however … there was one thing that I never did in all those years, and that's the Mémorial de Caen. This museum and monument is all about the D-day landings in Normandie in June 1944, a topic that everyone probably knows something about, and it's one of those subjects that I have never studied in detail as this alone would take up all the time in the world, so if anyone wants to know more about this subject, I am sure that there are better sources out there (Drachinifel being one of them). All in all this museum is highly recommended!

As I guessed ,by now I was so tired that I went to my hotel (Ibis Caen Porte d'Angleterre) and rested for the rest of the day, only to go downstairs to have a light dinner in the hotel restaurant. The evening was filled with Youtube, downloading photos and keep the administration in order.

Day 2: Caen and Ouistreham

As I usually do, my breakfast was booked with my room and I had a nice standard breakfast with lots of cheese and bread before checking out and hit the road again. Only now I would stay in the area. A few years ago I was here as well and found some well known ships laid up during Covid era in Caen, the river site near the bridge is well known for being used to lay up ships when needed, and this time was no different, only the ships change trough time. The Alcyone of the Cousteau Society is still there and 2 passenger ships were tied up side by side, the Ocean Atlantic and Ocean Adventurer, there is of course no direct access and I decided to view them from the opposite riverbank, since the weather was calm I also launched one of my drones to have a better view and footage.

Next stop was the local supermarket for some supplies for me and my friend Louy in England before visiting the next point of interest, the Pegasus bridge memorial and museum. Again this subject is part of the D-day landings but here they actually built a new bridge after the war and kept the original bridge as a memorial … a very big memorial that is! This museum is also highly recommended and the operation can be heavily researched online, so I will not go into any details about it here.

By now it was time for me to go to Ouistreham, the main port of Caen where the ferries operate as well. I wanted to go back to the lighthouse of Ouistreham, even though I visited this one many times, however … this time I wanted to do some aerial shots and flew the drone around and over the lighthouse. My last stop today would be the beach area, so I parked streetside (paid parking here is still pretty cheap, I only paid 3 euro for most of the afternoon), the reason why I wanted to go to the beach is the view on the entrance to the port, from the breakwater you can get a perfect view on the ferries and the Mont St Michel (Brittany Ferries) was just coming in when I was in position, I checked to see if I would be able to fly the drone here but stumbled on 2 problems, first of all was the timing, by the time the Normandie would arrive it would be dark and I already had to be checked in, secondly this port is so heavily guarded that drones would be immediately detected and I would risk trouble with the police! So no drone here!

With the main things of today done I only visited one more museum in Caen, the big bunker that houses the Museum of the Atlantic Wall, and this is yet again highly recommended as this was a lookout bunker located right near the port and played a vital role in the D-day landings as well, the Germans were not easily defeated at all due to installations like this one. One special thing in this museum is that you are allowed to climb up the narrow shaft to the roof for a great view, it's at your own risk but worth the trouble!

The rest of the time I just went strolling the shopping area and had a light late lunch before going to the Gare Maritime to wait for the ferry. The Gare Maritime has public Wifi and a small bar that is open on both sides of the check-in lane, very convenient.

The crossing I was booked on is the night crossing, I prefer these as they give me the time to relax in my cabin and take a shower when needed, the downside of this schedule is that the boarding takes place late in the evening and the main restaurant is not opened, only the buffet restaurant still offers meals this late, luckily I don't really mind so I went for a late … very late … dinner of fish and chips onboard the Normandie before exploring the ship a bit more and buy some memorabilia as the ship will be leaving the Brittany Ferries fleet very soon!

About the ship: Normandie

The Normandie was built for Brittany ferries in 1991 in Finland for the Caen (Ouistreham) to Portsmouth route. She served almost her entire career with Brittany ferries in this route and only occasionally did some sailings on other routes for operational needs or special occasions. With her maiden voyage in May 1992 and her last voyage in April 2025, she has 33 years of fantastic service behind her. The most dramatic change was when she went into drydock in 2015 to have scrubbers installed to comply with new European environmental regulations, this altered the appearance of her funnel drastically. Some of her fleetmates had even more drastic changes made! In early 2025 it was announced that she was sold to La Méridionale for operation on the Marseille to Tangier route. She is 161 meters long and 26 meters wide, at 27.542 GT (tons) and a service speed of 20.5 knots, she can carry 575 vehicles and 2123 passengers with a needed crew of 137. All through her history at Brittany ferries she offered great service and never had any serious issues. She is now replaced by the new Hybrid-LNG ship called Guillaume de Normandie.

Day 3: Portsmouth and Lee-on-Solent

Mornings on ferries usually start very early and this one is no exception, with a 06.15 arrival, you need to be up by 05.15 to get ready for breakfast and packing, the annoying thing is that they ask for all cabins to be empty and open very early, I usually ignore that and try to keep my stuff in the cabin for as long as possible as I am a solo traveler and carrying everything around is very difficult when you need to get the food or go to the toilet. Breakfast is again in the buffet restaurant and of a pretty high quality when you order full English breakfast. The arrival into Portsmouth went smooth despite the recent introduction of the ETA, although customs was still pretty slow.

But I made it into Portsmouth without problems and went to another small museum, the Hovercraft museum in Lee-on-Solent, this place has the last surviving SRN4 hovercraft and some other large ones on display, some are even open so you can have a look inside, and the exhibits explain the history of the hovercraft and the various models (even the ones used by James Bond). I had planned to do some drone flights and the weather was very well suited for it so I went back to Portsmouth to view some ferries and cruise ships sailing by the Square tower. I needed to check into my hotel (Ibis Portsmouth Centre) and kill some time before meeting my friend Louy at the South Parade Pier and close the evening with dinner.

Day 4: Ship-spotting

The hotel offers a good buffet breakfast and I took the time to get ready as I didn't plan much. I just wanted to get the best possible shots of the Normandie as this would be my last chance to see her and get the drone involved, so the first part of the day I stayed in the area of the Round tower and Square tower, then I met up with Louy again and we went on to see the modern hovercraft arrive at Southsea and then on to Hythe marina to see the Ventura and Queen Mary 2 depart Southampton. The day ended in Portsmouth for dinner. In the late evening in my hotel I tried to catch up with most of my writing and downloading photos but also wanted to book my ticket on the Red Funnel ferry to the Isle of Wight, to my surprise I could not book any tickets on their website as all sailings were locked for new bookings, so I researched all my possibilities and made plans for the next day.

Day 5: Southampton to Isle of Wight

Travel day again! I went for breakfast in my hotel and then packed my bags and checked out. I had decided to go for it anyway so I drove back to Southampton and went to the Red Funnel ticket office where they luckily informed me that I could take the next ferry and should drive into the lane by 12.10 for the 13.00 sailing. I waited to get lunch until onboard the Red Falcon and noticed that the ship was pretty packed, apparently 1 of the 3 car ferries was out of order due to technical issues! Nevertheless I got some small lunch sandwich and watched the landscape passing by. Upon arrival in Cowes there was a lot of traffic but I made it in decent time to my AirBNB in Northwood and settled in for 2 nights in a small cabin next to a residential house, the owners were very friendly and I could park the car right in front of the house (an option I always look for when booking hotels or AirBNB's!) It was a bit too late to go explore major areas so I went shopping as this place had a kitchen, did some writing and in the evening I went out again to Yarmouth, a calm evening in this area was perfect for a drone flight so I did 2 flights to get good shots of Yarmouth castle and the Wightlink ferries on this side of the Isle of Wight. I cooked my own dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Day 6: Isle of Wight

This morning I cooked my own breakfast and went back to Yarmouth to see the castle on the inside as I wanted to do for some months now. The castle is small but very interesting as this is one of the original device forts ordered by Henry VIII in the 1530's (more about this castle can be found in the blogs about the device forts). The town is also small but charming and I went to explore the church and shops for a while. My next stop would be another former military site, Fort Victoria! This stronghold dates from a later period and is now only about half the size it once was as the major block was demolished in the past, however it still remains an interesting place to visit and the fort houses some commercial outlets and small shops with museums. I remembered from the past times I visited the Isle of Wight that Cowes is a nice little town to visit and like Yarmouth, there are some antique shops as well, so I went all the way to Cowes and sure enough found some memorabilia.

The rest of the day I decided to stay in, have lunch and dinner and organise my photos and other stuff for the next day, it would be a busy day again!

Day 7: Back to Southampton and Portsmouth

This morning would see me getting up a bit sooner and make breakfast, some extra tea for the road and clean up my AirBNB. My first stop was Ryde, as I had never been here except for one quick stop over 10 years ago when I took a hovercraft flight (yes they call these “flights”), I decided to explore the small antique shops and the seafront where the hovercrafts actually operate. Shortly after, it was time to head back to East Cowes and enter the line at Red Funnel ferries again for my 12.30 sailing to Southampton, this time on the Red Eagle. The sailing and arrival went smooth and I drove back to Portsmouth for one last visit to Gunwharf where I met Louy again at the Spinnaker tower, I decided not to chase any more ships from the old town and instead stay here for the arrival of the Islander (formerly Condor Islander).

About the ship: Islander

This ship started life in 2005 in the Netherlands where she was built for Bornholmstrafikken in Denmark as the Dueodde, she moved to New Zealand in 2010 for StraitNZ as the Straitsman until Condor ferries purchased her for their routes to the Channel islands as she is a somewhat smaller vessel, capable of entering the smaller ports that can be found in these islands. She was renamed Condor Islander. Condor ferries however had some difficult times but was eventually taken over at 51% stakes in the hands of Brittany ferries. The Condor name dissapeared completely and the ship was renamed Islander and painted in full Brittany ferries livery for operation on the Channel islands routes.

I needed to do one more thing before going back home … shopping! Luckily I knew where to find the Tesco Superstore in Portsmouth and made sure I had everything I promised to take for various people at home, this was the end of the UK part of the trip so I headed for the ferry-terminal and checked in. By 18.30 I was onboard the new ship on this route, the Saint-Malo of Brittany Ferries!

About the ship: Saint-Malo

The Saint-Malo is one of the so-called E-flexers ordered by Stena Line. Stena RoRo ordered the vessels for operations in European waters, however, only 5 vessels are actually built for Stena Line itself, the others are built to charter to other companies with those companies ordering specific changed according to their needs. Brittany ferries has taken 5 of these vessels in total with some reduced in size due to restrictions in some ports that Brittany ferries operates in. These ships are Galicia, Salamanca, Santoña, Saint-Malo and Guillaume de Normandie. The Saint-Malo specifically is one of the Hybryd-LNG types and also reduced in size compared to other E-flexers for the Portsmouth to Saint-Malo route specifically. The onboard experience is fantastic and her vehicle decks are wide and open, easy to drive around and park correctly. She is 194 meters long, 27.8 meters wide and has a speed of 23 knots at a tonnage of 38.000 GT. She can accomodate about 1300 passengers and has 2100 lane meters of deck space for vehicles.

Tonight I would have dinner in the restaurant “Le Littoral”, the main restaurant of this ship and as I am now used to, the quality was fantastic to say the least! The rest of the evening I went out to explore the ship, view the little museum about the Bretagne and relax in one of several sitting areas.

Day 8: Saint-Malo and back home

Arrival time is almost upon us! My alarm went off early at 05.30 and I got ready for breakfast in the buffet restaurant. I had limited time left but still managed to get some good photos of the Grand Jardin lighthouse and the cruise ship Silver Dawn anchored near Saint-Malo. Of course by then I had to pack my stuff and head back to my car to drive off the ship, customs was quick and easy and I went to a large parking area just next to the walls of Saint-Malo. It was still early and the city was only just waking up so I walked around some familiar areas but then headed towards the lighthouse at the end of the mole to wait for the moment the Saint-Malo was leaving again, I used the drone to capture that moment and went back to the city to have lunch before finally driving back home.

THE END