SAILING UPDATES: 2020 Latest News

[David Williams]

18 minutes ago, colinschandler said:

I find it strange that when we visit our son in the USA, I can hire a car and drive quite legally on my UK licence but will not be able to do so in France next year

Yes, each Country has signed up to one of the 3  conventions which covers the IDPs, however most then have specific exemptions to specific Countries. The English speaking Countries are generally the most flexible with UK licences as they don't require translations.

Before we signed the Withdrawal agreement, there was a useful page on the government web site which listed what each of the European Countries were prepared to accept - most of them would accept the photocard license for a short period of time and some would even accept the paper one. Spain would accept both, France neither !.

Hopefully a Brexit deal will include recommendations from Europe that all EU Countries will accept UK licenses for short periods, however it will be up to the Countries to accept them & it is unlikely that the license will be valid more than a few months at a time.

[Cabin-boy]

I was just trying to plan my trip back and there is a complication.

As I said, I was thinking about coming over with my bike and then getting a train up from Portsmouth to Petersfield for a 24-hour visit. I've just looked at options on Southwest Trains and the Saturday train up is fine and can take my bike but the Sunday service is being replaced by a bus so there is no way to take a bike. This obviously means leaving my bike either at the ferry port or at the railway station in Portsmouth. My guess is that the terminal would be safer given the likelihod of it being deserted all weekend. Does anyone have a better idea?

(Clearly if BF were carrying foot passengers this sort of situation would not occur.)

Ed 

 

[The Ferry Man]

Not sure either would be good for long term storage

[Cabin-boy]

5 minutes ago, The Ferry Man said:

Not sure either would be good for long term storage

It would be just the one night but a Saturday night unfortunately. Ed  

[DucdeNormandie]

It is a shame that there are no 24 hour offers  which if for cars only and not footies would not impose additional costs and presumably the onboard spend would be welcomed. I would be willing to do quarantine after a 24 hour visit if it meant I could stock up with French goodies and deal with any matters I needed to attend in France and we always spend a lot on board. Now we are out of season the  24 hour trippers would not be taking cabins away from holidaymakers.

[Cabin-boy]

Right, so having done some calculations, option one is to go with BF for a basic lightning trip back, pay around £90 (of which £50 is on my account), get 24 hours ashore, risk my bike in Portsmouth overnight and, this is the stupid part, have to carry my panniers full of cheese from the railway station back to the port - frankly ludicrous. I don't really want my father to have to drive me to and from the port to avoid sharing a vehicle with him and my bike won't fit inside his car easily. I'll need hotels in Caen before and after which will add around £60 to the cost. Total cost: £150 (around £6 per hour ashore)

Option 2 is the same but going over-night both ways (to avoid paying for the cheap hotels in Caen before and after) with cabins and 36 hours ashore but the same cheese-lugging problems, this time in the darkness of a Sunday night with the risk of getting mugged for my precious cargo. All for slightly more costly sum £220 (again around £6 per hour ashore)

Option 3 takes option 1 and switches the bike for a car, with unlimited cheese capacity and no security issues for £230. Total cost: £290 (around £12 per hour ashore - gulp!) 

Option 4 involves the same timings as option 2 but again switching the bike for my car for £380 (around £10 per hour ashore - hmm!) 

Option 5 is with DFDS at Newhaven by car with just one hotel night and 48 hours ashore for £150 (so around £3 per hour ashore - bargain!)

So what to do?

Ed

 

[David Williams]

8 minutes ago, Cabin-boy said:

So what to do?

I ) Ask Portsmouth port on Twitter what options there are.

2) Find someone with a folding bike to lend you

3) Go at a time when the trains are running.

Edited September 27, 2020 by David Williams

[Jim]

19 minutes ago, DucdeNormandie said:

It is a shame that there are no 24 hour offers  which if for cars only and not footies would not impose additional costs and presumably the onboard spend would be welcomed. I would be willing to do quarantine after a 24 hour visit if it meant I could stock up with French goodies and deal with any matters I needed to attend in France and we always spend a lot on board. Now we are out of season the  24 hour trippers would not be taking cabins away from holidaymakers.

Unfortunately with such limited capacity theres no point in offering space at a relatively heavy discount. 

[IanN]

37 minutes ago, Cabin-boy said:

Right, so having done some calculations, option one is to go with BF for a basic lightning trip back, pay around £90 (of which £50 is on my account), get 24 hours ashore, risk my bike in Portsmouth overnight and, this is the stupid part, have to carry my panniers full of cheese from the railway station back to the port - frankly ludicrous. I don't really want my father to have to drive me to and from the port to avoid sharing a vehicle with him and my bike won't fit inside his car easily. I'll need hotels in Caen before and after which will add around £60 to the cost. Total cost: £150 (around £6 per hour ashore)

Option 2 is the same but going over-night both ways (to avoid paying for the cheap hotels in Caen before and after) with cabins and 36 hours ashore but the same cheese-lugging problems, this time in the darkness of a Sunday night with the risk of getting mugged for my precious cargo. All for slightly more costly sum £220 (again around £6 per hour ashore)

Option 3 takes option 1 and switches the bike for a car, with unlimited cheese capacity and no security issues for £230. Total cost: £290 (around £12 per hour ashore - gulp!) 

Option 4 involves the same timings as option 2 but again switching the bike for my car for £380 (around £10 per hour ashore - hmm!) 

Option 5 is with DFDS at Newhaven by car with just one hotel night and 48 hours ashore for £150 (so around £3 per hour ashore - bargain!)

So what to do?

Ed

 

Take cheese off the menu😈

[Cabin-boy]

15 minutes ago, IanN said:

Take cheese off the menu😈

I hadn't thought of that! But seriously the idea is to see my father who lives alone and hasn't been able to get over here this year for his annual trips. Unfortunately his granddaughters won't be able to come with me but it might be my last opportunity for some time if France impose similar quarantine measures. 

47 minutes ago, David Williams said:

I ) Ask Portsmouth port on Twitter what options there are.

2) Find someone with a folding bike to lend you

3) Go at a time when the trains are running.

To answer those suggestions. 

1) I will try and see if there is secure storage somewhere.

2) I did ask around yesterday and was met with derision and rejection. The only person who does have one is waiting for it to be repaired under the government grant scheme and there is a big delay due to its popularity. 

3) It has to be a weekend due to work obviously and that seems to be when the engineering work takes place. Plus, as above, I don't want to wait too long. 

I put the options to Cabin-girl last night and her reaction (at least the printable part) was that if I want to keep giving my money to a Mickey Mouse company we might as well all go to Disneyland for the weekend. 

Ed

[David Williams]

Re Sailing updates, I note that CF has been having major delays and using Plymouth instead of Portsmouth to speed things up.

Re Ed's hijacking of the thread, the cheapest way for a foot passenger to get to the UK from France is BlaBla Buses, fares are dirt cheap 

[Gareth]

8 minutes ago, David Williams said:

Re Ed's hijacking of the thread

To be fair, this thread went off-topic on about page 6.  Hardly surprising with next to no sailings to discuss updates in relation to, and in the circumstances no big deal.

Having said that, on-topic posts are still allowed, on the rare occasions when there are any! 😀

[David Williams]

3 minutes ago, Gareth said:

Having said that, on-topic posts are still allowed, on the rare occasion when there are any!

BF have stopped providing sailing updates which is a shame,  they used to update the sailing update pages after they had texted everyone involved. Now they don't. - the CF changes would have been on it !

[Gareth]

Yes, I noticed that too.  I wonder if they were hoping no one would notice!  (Or just another “new” website issue...?)

[Jim]

@Cabin-boy - something of a faff, but there appears to be a bus from Havant to Petersfield (https://www.stagecoachbus.com/routes/south/37/petersfield-havant/xpao037.i)

Depending on 'where' the train engineering works are, there may still be a service on the Portsmouth <> Brighton line via Havant. Not ideal, but could be an option. Alternatively there's the potential for hiring a car, although that's not the most economical way of doing things.

[Paul]

19 hours ago, David Williams said:

Re Sailing updates, I note that CF has been having major delays and using Plymouth instead of Portsmouth to speed things up

Does anyone know the arrival and departures times of CF in Plymouth today?

QHM shipping movements has her arriving at 06.30 and leaving at 09.00, but AIS currently (06.45) shows her off the coast of France and not arriving in Plymouth until about 11.00

[Fine Whine]

I would suggest you’ve answered your own question Paul! 11h00 arrival and a 3 hour turnaround?

Chris

[David Williams]

It is showing as 11:15 UTC, ie 12:15 UK time,

[Paul]

13 minutes ago, Fine Whine said:

I would suggest you’ve answered your own question Paul! 11h00 arrival and a 3 hour turnaround?

Chris

Yes, I suppose I have!.  I wasn't sure how accurate the QHM shipping movements were, but as it turns out, not very....

[Cabin-boy]

48 minutes ago, Paul said:

Yes, I suppose I have!.  I wasn't sure how accurate the QHM shipping movements were, but as it turns out, not very....

They probably don't even know where their submarines are until some junior rating, on the dockside having a fag, spots a periscope by his feet. Ed. 

[Jim]

23 minutes ago, Cabin-boy said:

They probably don't even know where their submarines are until some junior rating, on the dockside having a fag, spots a periscope by his feet. Ed. 

I'll never forget being on the bridge of the Val De Loire for a departure from Portsmouth where QHM praised a couple of Wightlink ships for doing a co-ordinated dance in vacating the Camber and mooring up on the Odds/Evens. The response back was whilst it might look like they knew what they were doing, it was more by fluke...

[Plymobservor]

Cap Finistere arriving in Plymouth today with a pilot escort. 

[Plymobservor]

Another vessel, the Whitchampion, has gone alongside the Cap in Plymouth. Any thoughts on what's going on? 

[Jim]

2 minutes ago, Plymobservor said:

Another vessel, the Whitchampion, has gone alongside the Cap in Plymouth. Any thoughts on what's going on? 

Bunkering - supplying fuel.

[Paul]

1 hour ago, Plymobservor said:

Another vessel, the Whitchampion, has gone alongside the Cap in Plymouth. Any thoughts on what's going on? 

I parked in the terminal car park and walked through to the Hoe, and at that point, the Whitchampion was berthed at the dock.