JUST CRUISIN' ALONG

LATE FERRY SAILING

SMOOTH SEAS IN THE BAY OF BISCAY

The late ferry sailing wasn't the only hiccup. Our very short rail journey from Fareham to Portsmouth was also delayed when electrical power was cut due, apparently, to a trespasser on the line at Hilsea. Images arose in my rather warped mind of a charred sticky mess being scraped from the power rail.

Whatever the reason, we still made it to Portsmouth ferry port in good time to check-in and get through security. Oddly, having made a bit of a fuss about me carrying an ice axe and various other 'lethal weapons', they ushered us straight past the x-ray machines in their hurry to get us aboard. Our ferry, the Pont-Aven, embarked just before midnight.

Thank goodness we had booked a cabin as we were both exhausted and ready for sleep.

After a bit of a lie-in, we spent Wednesday enjoying the delights that Brittany Ferries had to offer, including a main meal discounted by 50% to compensate for the delay. After exploring the ship, I devised a little aide-memoire to help me to remember what was on each of the accessible passenger decks. Decks 6 to 10, respectively, were sleep, scoff & slurp, shop, swim and sea-views.

In all seriousness, I thought the Pont-Aven a brilliant ship and our trip to Santander turned out to be a great little taster for a real cruise. The beer and cocktails were good value too, hic.

There wasn't much to see of Santander as we docked in darkness but, because I had done my 'Google Street View' homework, we were at the door of our hostel within 10 minutes of being ejected from the ferry. Happily, the Pension Plaza still welcomed us at 1.00am local time on Thursday 12th, even though we had originally been expected on the evening of the 11th.

Yet another exhausted departure to the Land of Nod was imminently due!