Originally Posted by mattSV

Another couple of options for you:-

Portsmouth to St Malo - drops you at the foot of the Cherbourg Peninsula, saves you around 90 miles I think compared with going to Cherbourg/Caen

Poole to Cherbourg - will save you around 45mins on the journey to Portsmouth

We usually do a night crossing from Portsmouth or Poole so we can get a bit of kip and then set of from the ports first thing in the morning

If I was you, I would do the Plymouth - Roscoff option as it means less time travelling on the sh!tty UK roads. The roads in NW France aren't quite as good as in the south or over by the Alps but they are still miles better than most roads in the UK - I would pick a route down the west coast avoiding the autoroutes and spend the fuel money saved by not going via Dover/Calais on playing on some of the D roads