The Crossing

7.30 at night and we arrive early for our crossing on the shiny new Salamanca, having lined our stomachs with fast food. Our 11.30 crossing has been brought forward two hours due to ‘bad weather’ but with a clear run for the hour from home we spend a lot of time sitting between retirees in motor homes getting a little chilly! Once boarding starts it’s all pretty swift and we find ourselves climbing a lot of stairs parking on level 3 with a cabin on level 9. 








Cabin itself is better than anticipated. Crisp white sheets,  super clean ( all very new) and a great mini bathroom. Bags dropped and up to the top deck for departure. Good to float past coastline we know well and even in the dark it’s easy to recognise Whale  island, the naval dockyards, gun wharf and Southsea seafront. Both The Still & West and the round tower are places we’ve watched ferries pass from the land. I couldn’t count the number of times we've filmed families seeing naval ships off here and nice to get the reverse view from the sea.

An explore and a game of bananagrams and to the cabin to settle down. All going well til the the early hours when the constant slide up and down the bedsheets started getting a bit tedious. Really rough conditions causing things to fall off tables and the tv to swing around on its bracket. There’s no letbup early morning with decks all closed and the tannoy suggesting movements are minimised. We did find the smokers terrace though where we were able to grab some air at least.  Then a brief calmer spell before rounding the top of the Brest peninsula when it started again so we retreat to bed to sleep it out … sturgeron thankfully seems to be keeping us drowsy enough to doze. 





By mid-afternoon the swell was more manageable and we even shared a sandwich in the bar (5 euros). Time to read, watch a movie and grab the free one hour of WiFi. Fingers crossed for a calmer night and an easy arrival tomorrow. 




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