Brittany Ferries opens up magical roads of Northern Spain for British riders and drivers

Brittany Ferries opens up magical roads of Northern Spain for British riders and drivers: Just getting to the starting point of a touring holiday can be a challenge, but DAVID HOOPER says this ferry company makes it plain sailing!

PLANNING a motorcycle tour on the Continent is no mean feat if you’re not used to it, there’s so much to think about, especially when you don’t know the area, or where the best roads are to be found, but the first challenge is just getting to Spain without riding for hours through Europe and wasting the best part of a set of tyres on each of our four bikes just on the trip there and back.

After looking at all the different options we decided the sailing on Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Bilbao was the best option – and as it is a long crossing, we opted for the upgraded Club Lounge option, which is more than worthy of stretching the budget for and a luxury which becomes part of your holiday as soon as you set sail.
We travelled on the Salamanca – everything looked clean and smartly furnished in a modern style, with facilities including free and payable wi-fi, video on demand, a play area with interactive digital games, shops, a children’s play area and a sun deck with sports equipment.

On arrival at the port in Portsmouth, the boarding process was very efficient, and as we were on motorbikes and it was starting to rain, we were not kept waiting very long before we were directed onto the ship where the helpful staff strapped the bikes down securely to the deck in preparation for our crossing through the Bay of Biscay, which is renowned for being, let’s say, a tad choppy! We were very pleased to see they had big cushions to put over the bikes’ seats to avoid the straps damaging them as they’re lashed down.
Once on board, we made our way to the Club Lounge from where you can enjoy views through large windows at the front of the ship, and where there is also an almost continuous supply of food, drink, and snacks to while away the crossing.
The outward trip took two nights with an evening sailing on the first night, which meant a full day at Sea, so the start of our holiday was almost a mini cruise, but an early start the next day meant an early finish too for the drinks to ensure we didn’t fall foul of the lower drink, drive limit in Europe.

To read about our motorcycle tour of the Picos Mountains, click here.
The Salamanca is one of the latest additions to Brittany Ferries’ fleet, along with her sister ship Galicia, which both run on gas to reduce the company’s carbon footprint by up to 20%. They are also quieter ships with less vibration and burn the fuel more cleanly negating the need for scrubbers, which are catalytic converters for ships. NOx emissions from the funnel are down 90%.

The food on the ship was excellent and appreciated by my travelling companions who all have plentiful appetites, while for me, the gluten-free options on display were limited to some individually wrapped cakes. The staff were very helpful in providing specially cooked meals, but I did feel I was a bit of a nuisance having to ask for special treatment, so it would be great to see more choices on offer.
We had a four-berth cabin, which featured four pull-down, bunkbeds, an ensuite, toilet and shower room. The cabin was cosy for four big guys and all our biking gear, but once we worked out a shift pattern, it worked very well.

The ship had a duty-free shop, which offered all the usual alcohol and perfumes, along with chocolate, knickknacks, tech, books and maps etc.
To keep us entertained, we got a drink from the reasonably priced bar and took part in the quiz night on the outbound trip, but the 20 questions didn’t take long to whistle through, much shorter than the quiz nights we’re used to in our local pub, so we listened to some singers for a while before retreating to the tranquillity of the Club Lounge again.
On the return leg, we were tempted by a game of bingo as we left Bilbao on the homeward journey, but felt a cinema, or a good band would have livened up a long crossing.

Brittany Ferries has been in partnership with the ocean mammals’ conservation charity ORCA since 2006. ORCA Wildlife Officers onboard the ships monitor and carry out important surveys of whales and dolphins in the seas with the data being shared and used worldwide. Whales and dolphins can often be seen from the outer decks, especially in the Bay of Biscay we were told, but the only whales we saw were sunbathing tourists on the deck chairs! The air was very fresh though!
We did however spot some dolphins – briefly – from our vantage point near the windows in the Club Lounge, which caused a bit of a stir and a minor stampede, but by the time I got my camera out, they’d slipped back beneath the waves never to be seen again!

Fortunately, the homeward crossing was very smooth, and we didn’t need our sea sickness tablets, which we had all stocked up on – just in case!
Although it is a long crossing, the Portsmouth to Bilbao or Santander ferries open up the fantastic roads and scenery of northern Spain to British drivers and riders, negating the need for them to clock up more than 1,000 miles each way through France before their holiday really begins. I would recommend Brittany Ferries to fellow travellers planning a trip to Spain, but would suggest you download some music or the latest episodes of your favourite TV programmes to while away the time which you could enjoy with a glass of wine or a beer from the bar, but for us, after six days of racking up nearly 2,000 miles on our motorcycles, we were just glad to be able to relax, unwind and let somebody else do the driving for a day or so, and have some downtime to reflect on what was an amazing holiday with fantastic scenery and great driving roads from start to finish.

If you fancy exploring northern Spain or even further beyond – Portugal is within easy reach – then Brittany Ferries is a great way to get to either Bilbao or Santander, which is just down the coast, to the west.
We will certainly hope to use this route again soon, and maybe explore the far west coast of Spain and use that as a gateway into Portugal for our next adventure.
Prices vary depending on the time of year, seasons and demand, but all the information you need can be found here https://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/