Evening, firstly I hope everyone had a great Xmas / New Year ? So we're looking at the above ferry service from Poole to Spain as they have some very good prices at the moment (Poole to Gijon / Santander / Bilbao, whatever really). Anybody tried this new service ? How was the trip in general, cabin, food, BEER, rough seas etc ? How well did they strap your bike down and how (important !) ? Any "real world" info appreciated, thanks in advance !
Look in the touring section and I have a bit of a write up on a trip in December on this route. working on a filum of the whole thing which is 'in progress' at the moment - boat is ok but its a truck freigher and does not have brittany ferries style entertainment / restaurants but for the price (currently £160 return) it does the job.
Thanks Alblade, I have read your post in the touring section, thanks for that. I'm quite interested in knowing how well they strapped your bike down, Brittany Ferries use a big foam pad and a ratchet strap which is probably ok but we will have a lot of gear on our bikes, it's all on custom racks and not soft luggage. We carry a lot as we'll be away for a good 2 weeks and we'll be camping out as we do every year. I'm concerned that my bike may fall over if the sea gets rough. I used to use Sea France for the Dover - Calais route and they had proper bike bays, since they stopped operating I've used the tunnel but this year we fancy saving ourselves some time and money. If they use the same method as Brittany Ferries then I'll take some extra small ratchet straps with me and make sure it's not going to move anywhere. How was your cabin - ok ? Can you get some half decent food and more importantly beer !!! Many thanks.
Bike was ultra secure - same method as most ferries with pad over seat and ratchet strap, plus they put extra straps from my street hooks and it did not move a mm Boat had / has no wifi
Morning, I did a trip to Santander 3 years ago and could not fault the ferry in any way. Bikes nice and secure, staff organised and beer not too expensive!!!!!!
I'll be bringing extra straps anyway, well worth packing a couple as they come in really handy if something breaks when you're a long way from home... I'll try and post a pic of all the gear loaded on my bike from last summer, it looks frightening but it is all strapped to a custom steel rack and doesn't move at all, bike feels a bit weird for the first hour but then it's fine as there isn't actually a huge amount of weight to it just bulk ! It's lovely when we stop somewhere for a few days and drop it all off the bike, things get a lot more interesting then !
I don't Bart but I do have these pics of a very similar unit I knocked up for a mate's CB1000r a few years ago, it's basically the same (size 600mm * 300mm deck) but mine has a slightly different seat mount plate, due to the pillion seat angle with reference to a level surface. Also I have additional, waterproof cylinders fitted to the underside of mine to carry tools etc, mine also fits to the seat plate using "mushroom" like locators and some quick release "T handles". the drop legs that run from the rack to my rear footpegs are different too as and they fold up under the rack when it's off the bike. It's made from 20 * 20 steel box section (acquired from work, cough !) and the deck is tough plastic (abs?) sheet about 6mm thick. The seat plate in the pics is an offcut of 6mm steel plate that I found at work. It takes about 2 mins to fit / remove my rack but it is a bit more refined than the one in the pics ! Have a look here... Bike Rack Slideshow by 636carlos | Photobucket
