Our Pyrenees Tour starts by sea aboard the new Brittany Ferries ship Galica. We sail from Portsmouth to Santander on a 2 night crossing. On arrival in Spain we take a long drive to the village of Isaba calling at the ruins of a thermal spa from when a dam was built. The water was 40°c but we don’t experience this until later in our tour of the Pyrenees. Our first night turned out to be quite stressful, we had unwittingly arrived on a Spanish Public Holiday. Everywhere was so busy and we initially couldn’t find anywhere to park up.
UPDATE : BRITTANY FERRIES HAS REDUCED THE CLUB VOYAGE BENEFITS
Here are our tips for the Brittany Ferry crossing to Spain, we’ve sailed 5 times now on this route and there are a few things that may hep you..
1. Consider joining Club Voyage which gives you up to 30% discount depending on the time of year. We paid £914 for our return crossing plus £230 to join the club. **UPDATE ** It looks like the discount has been reduced to 5% for peak season, 10% Mid and stays at 30% Low season.
2. Spanish locator forms ask for your destination, in a Motorhome you don’t always have one but Santander Docks works fine.
3. You will need to switch your gas off for the journey which means you can’t run your fridge, we just stopped here to stock up
Carrefour Vitoria Gaste W76M+WP Etxabarri-Ibiña, Spain (paste into google maps)
4. We experienced extremely rough seas once in the past and were sure our Motorhome would have been damaged but it was completely fine, they strap them down well. Still leave it in first gear with the handbrake on well though :) Also make sure the contents inside your Motorhome are secure, the ship can move around a lot in rough seas.
5. Don’t alarm your vehicle, the motion of the seas is likely to set it off. You may need to lock your doors with the key rather than the fob or lock from the inside and leave by your habitation door.
6. You are not allowed back to your vehicle during the journey, (unless your alarm goes off!) so take everything you need with you. The shops are limited so take any snacks / fruit you may need.
7. Show your cabin card every time you purchase food if you have Club Voyage and you’ll get discount. Sadly no discount at the bar!
8. At first sight travel by sea may seem expensive but when you factor in Fuel, Tolls, Food and Campsites the difference is not as much as you might think plus you can arrive in Spain fully refreshed avoiding the very long drive.
9. Look out for Whales and Dolphins, we always see at least a dolphin :)
10. Fill up in Spain, its cheaper, here is where we filled up 20 mins from the Port
Fuel Hoznayo 98R8+2W Hoznayo (paste into google maps)
11. Don't worry about on board drink costs at the bar, they are reasonable. The cocktail and red wine in this video were just £9.75.
12. The ship runs on UK time - don’t get caught out.
13. We found it best to pay in sterling.
14. Breakfast on the last morning is not free, be careful not to inadvertently have a continental and cooked while self serving, we did and our bill for breakfast was £26!
15. There were European plugs in the public area, English and European in the rooms with 2 USBs
16. The Video on Demand is brilliant, lots of films and TV programmes to watch in your room on the TV or on your mobile/tablet/laptop. The wifi is free for Video on Demand
17. The free 30 mins of wifi for general browsing wasn’t very good at all, the paid wifi is ok but not great for streaming and you have to purchase a block of time up to 3 hrs continuous.
18. Look out for sunset - its amazing over the sea
19. Enjoy the crossing, this is a fabulous way to start your Holiday
20. If you’ve sailed on the Pont Aven to Spain before you’ll find this ship feels smaller, only has one bar and no entertainment. Overall we preferred the Pont Aven although the video on demand was a great addition over our previous experiences.
Gear:
360 Camera: GoPro MAX
Hand Camera: Gopro Hero 7
Editing Software: FCPX
Graphics: Motion 5
Motorhome: Carthago T148H
#Pyrenees #Galicia #Motorhome
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