Cliffy Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Has anyone used the Condorferries ferry from Poole to St Malo if so what do you think of it are there any problems I might enounter (apart from the price). We are under the 3500kgm weight limit. Any suggestions on where to stay on disembarking as both ways the arrival times are late in the day. 9pm St Malo and 11.30pm Poole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Cliffy - 2012-11-30 12:03 AM Has anyone used the Condorferries ferry from Poole to St Malo if so what do you think of it are there any problems I might enounter (apart from the price). We are under the 3500kgm weight limit. Any suggestions on where to stay on disembarking as both ways the arrival times are late in the day. 9pm St Malo and 11.30pm Poole. Your main problem is that they don't take motorhomes on this route. Below is an extract from the Condor Ferries website: Taking your Caravan to France At present, caravans and motorhomes are not permitted on our fast ferry connecting services from the UK to St Malo and vice versa. Caravans and motorhomes are permitted on the conventional ferry service from Portsmouth to Cherbourg, subject to weight and size restrictions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike B. Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 We used the Condor from Cherbourg to Poole with a 7m x 3m m/h & 2 m trailer last year with no problems whatsoever. I think this is maximum size though as you have to do a U turn on the boat when loading Would recommend it as very fast and very efficient. There is an aire nr Cherbourg which I would definitely recommend too: http://www.lorimier.fr/ and if you're in the CC there is a very informal CL at Lytchet Matravers that caters for late/early departures/arrivals Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 You can do Poole / Portsmouth to Cherburg, on the fast cat in season. You back on the Portsmouth one, so nearly always last on and first off!! We do this route, as easy for us, and 3 hours journey,l also morning crossing , so can get a long way on the other side PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted November 30, 2012 Author Share Posted November 30, 2012 Mike88 - 2012-11-30 9:11 AM Cliffy - 2012-11-30 12:03 AM Has anyone used the Condorferries ferry from Poole to St Malo if so what do you think of it are there any problems I might enounter (apart from the price). We are under the 3500kgm weight limit. Any suggestions on where to stay on disembarking as both ways the arrival times are late in the day. 9pm St Malo and 11.30pm Poole. Your main problem is that they don't take motorhomes on this route. Below is an extract from the Condor Ferries website: Taking your Caravan to France At present, caravans and motorhomes are not permitted on our fast ferry connecting services from the UK to St Malo and vice versa. Caravans and motorhomes are permitted on the conventional ferry service from Portsmouth to Cherbourg, subject to weight and size restrictions. Well that is a small problem, especially after I got a quote via Directferries of £360. I have since had a look at the Condor web site and they accept minibuses up to 6.5 mtrs long and under 3.5 ton it doesn't say anything about not accepting motorhomes that are within those parameters. If I paint Cliffy's mini bus on the side do you think they would be OK with that :-) I will look in to the Cherbourg route. I don't want to fork out £440 for the Portsmouth St Malo route. I might even try LD Lines Portsmouth to Le Havre £226 seems a bit more acceptable. Thanks for the info it possibly saved me some embarasment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Plenty of aires within easy reach of St Malo, cant say about Poole. Aires immediately as you come out at the terminal but limited to duration. An absolute gem of aires at Rothenuef about 20 minutes from terminal. Used to rotate between a camp site and aires but now permanently an aires and you can stay for ages. Camp site in St Malo at Camping de la Cité d'Alet which overlooks harbour. Enjoy, which I am sure you will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 You don't say when you want to travel but Brittany Ferries are running a Plymouth to St Malo service between December 2012 and March 2013. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted December 1, 2012 Author Share Posted December 1, 2012 We are looking to go mid June and staying for 4 weeks around Brittany and the west coast. Thanks for the advice received so far and look forward to getting more advice on good Aires and campsites in the area. We particularly like sites where we can cycle safely from on reasonably level tracks or quiet roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike B. Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Last time we did Britanny we did Plymouth/Roscoff outward and Cherbourg/Poole fast cat (Condor) return. Booked through Caravan Club which gave us about £130 discount on Britanny Ferries direct and threw in 7 camping cheques foc. If you are in CC I would try them but enquire by phone as if you do it on line you may mss out on the specials. There is a nice CL in Plymouth but the entrance is a bit iffy-I grounded our back end going in (7m van) and coming out! Depends how long your van is and the overhang but nice well kept cl and about £10 when we used it. At Roscoff there is an aire in the port immediately you come off the ferry (free) or there is another one round the coast road which is lovely to watch the sunset but not much else. I think this is free also. I had trouble here with sat dish though because of trees so you need to park at the front! There are hundreds of aires in Britanny and in June shouldn't be too full. There is a large aire at Guilvinec if you are interested in fishing-they make a big thing of the fishing boats coming in at 16.30 every day and the market is worth watching. Nice little town and handy for Benodet, Concarneou etc although there is an aire in Concarneau it looked very full when we passed. The Mussell festival is something else in Concarneau but can't remember the dates (mussells, frites & Muscadet by the shipload!) Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 Thinking of booking for January on The Liberation. Good price, £168 one way, and Poole is our nearest port and St Malo is good for travelling down to Spain (we did Plymouth/St Malo last year when we lived in Devon). Has anyone used Condor and The Liberation and has any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 whats wrong with the 'normal' Poole-Cherbourg ferry...usually a good price... the arrival time in Cherboug is just after lunch...and in Poole 9:30 pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 Having travelled to-and-from France during roughish weather on high-speed ferries when P&O operated them from Portsmouth, I would be very wary of travelling on “Liberation” in January. These links may be worth looking at https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g190727-d4232261-r272951786-Condor_Ferries_Day_Trips-Poole_Dorset_England.html https://chelseamamma.co.uk/2016/03/condor-ferries/ and the “Issues in Service” section in the following Wikipedia entry is hardly confidence-inspiring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSC_Condor_Liberation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fesspark Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 £168 ew is expensive, join B F club it would be nearer £200 rtn with that small m,home Fesspark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 fesspark - 2017-11-26 10:42 AM £168 ew is expensive, join B F club it would be nearer £200 rtn with that small m,home Fesspark We only go south once a year and the club fees aren't cost effective. We'll still use Dover for our Autumn trips. We've decided on Poole - Cherbourg (after having doubts about Condor being confirmed) even though it's an additional 150km drive to Spain. £126 with C&CC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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