New ferry service to France
 

As its the time of year for thinking of holidays.
The old Portsmouth-Le Harve route was dropped by P and O a couple of years back. This was a shame cos Le Havre is handy for central and sw France. More expensive than Dover Calais but could cut a chunk off your motorway miles.
Its now being run by LD lines:
http://www.ldlines.com/pages/uk/index.html

only once a day but the timings are handy, the outward leg Portsmouth 23:00, gets in to Le Havre at 07:30 ready to hit the roads south after a nights kip on board. Assuming you book a cabin...
Adam.

Portsmouth - Le Havre
 

I was also miffed when this route stopped and was glad to see it re-instated by L.D. Lines.
Price wise I've had a quote of £46 return for a long weekend late February for me and the bike and that can't be far off the Dover prices - I couldn't however get a price for a cabin from the web.

I'm chuffed that it's still possible to take this route but the prices are a bit off.
Le Mans motogp weekend is £69 for two people and a bike from LD but still only £40 from PO.

What about the Newhaven - Dieppe hovercraft?


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Routes from UK to France are very limited now! Since October last year both P&O Portsmouth and Hoverspeed have gone to the wall. This leaves only a few operators and they are:-
SpeedFerries Dover to Boulogne
Sea France Dover to Calais
P&O Dover Dover to Calais
Norfolk Line Dover to Dunqirke
Brittany Ferries Portsmouth to Caen/St Malo/Cherbourg
LD Lines Portsmouth to Le Havre
I'm not too sure who is running Newhaven to Dieppe, a local French operator, I think.
Condor Ferries Poole/Weymouth to St Malo
Prices have already risen significantly, but LD Lines are much cheaper on the Portsmouth crossings.
If you are thinking of going to Le Mans for MotoGP or 24 Hours (Cars and Bikes) then book early many sailings are showing full already. The night sailings with Brittany ferries from Portsmouth to Caen on the Thursday and Friday before MotoGP are very showing full.

Are they both from Portsmouth? P&O no longer run out of Portsmouth.

Just for info, a new motorway has just opened from Rouen to Alencon, this means that Calais to Le Mans is virtually motorway all the way ( Rouen is still a nightmare), toll charges are about 15 Euros each way. Although around Le Mans toll charges for bikes are usually waived during MotoGP weekend.

I can't remember, but I would assume the P&O fare was to Dover-Calais.

Looks like the Newhaven- Dieppe route is no longer hovercraft (seacat) but a conventional ferry run by www.transmancheferries.com
Prices for a Fri to Monday trip in May: £66 March £50
Not exactly cheap but not outrageus sp?.
Its a 4 hour crossing, they are planning to get new boats to get this down to 3hrs. The old seacat only took 2...
Adam.

If it's P&O it must be Dover- Calais I'd happily pay £30 extra not to have to ride that far East.

For those in the South East, the Portmouth - Le Havre and similar routes don't really offer that much of an advantage.

If you go overnight (like we did last year) you MUST get a cabin (we didn't) because you just don't get much sleep otherwise. The plus point is where it delivers you, but (and it's quite a big but) the time the ferry takes is about 5 1/2 hours. You could get off at Calais (90 mins max) and make the 120 or so miles up in a couple of hours, so you still have a 2 hour advantage.

Just an opinion, but after last years crap ride back from Le Mans, and the 5 1/2 hour trip over, I would go via Calais...

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