Hi. We're planning a June trip to northern Brittany, followed by a week on Cornwall's northern coast near Port Isaac. We plan to return our French rental car, take an afternoon ferry from Roscoff to Plymouth and pick up our UK rental car in Bodmin the next day. But what if ... ???
... the weather in the Channel forces Brittany Ferries to abruptly cancel that afternoon's sailing? I know that's unusual, but we're trying to concoct a smart Plan B just in case. Ideally, it would get us from Brittany to Cornwall in a day or parts of two days.
Minimizing travel time and keeping it affordable are important, as is the ability to make advance, refundable bookings. We realize we'll probably need to compromise.
Is a French train to Paris, Eurostar to London and UK train to Bodmin our best option when balancing time and costs? Any other suggestions?
Thanks - Alan from Arlington VA
Posted by
Portsmouth
5684 posts
You could fly from Paris to Newquay or Paris to Bristol.
Posted by
Surrey, UK
353 posts
That's an interesting problem.
One can never say never, but those ferries go in the most horrendous weather. They have good stabilisers.
There is a train from Roscoff to Paris - takes 5-6 hours.
The cost of a last minute Eurostar could be high, as could the train from London to Cornwall.
Caen and Brest airports have flights to uk.
If it was me, I'd get the next ferry and cut short the Cornwall section.
You'd have to do that anyway if you do the train.
Or you could check the ferries from Cherbourg, St Malo, Caen or Le Havre, shortish drive from where you are, shorter crossing and different stetch of water.
Have fun planning!
PS - Why aren't you picking up your car in Plymouth?
Posted by
Paris
10805 posts
The cost of a last minute Eurostar could be high,
will definitely be high
Posted by
Lake District, England
9589 posts
Caen and Brest airports have flights to uk.
Caen hasn't. Last year it had one flight a week to Southampton, which clearly wasn't a success as it is not being repeated. The only international flight is to Kerry (Ireland)
Posted by
Guernsey
742 posts
Rennes airport?
Posted by
OP
Arlington, VA, USA
72 posts
Thank you to our responders! I'd noticed there may not be daily flights between some minor aiports in Europe, but we'll keep exploring that option.
To explain ourselves a bit -. we love the north coast of Cornwall and consider it the pillar of our trip, so it's our priority to protect our time there.
And we're taking the train from Plymouth to the car rental agency in Bodmin - less than an hour away - simply to minimize my driving. Some of you probably know it's an adventure driving on Cornwall's narrow roads, so I'm trying to limit my opportunities to terrify the locals.
Posted by
Lake District, England
9589 posts
Rennes has a late afternoon flight on Easyjet to Gatwick on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Brest has Easyjet from 25 June on Wednesday at 10am and Sunday at 10pm to Gatwick and Volotea on Monday and Thursday to Gatwick late morning.
The thing is they will not abruptly cancel- they do look ahead at the forecasts and plan accordingly. So you will have notice by text or e-mail. They will probably try to re-route you from one of the other ports to Portsmouth.
For Brest just stay on the train at Morlaix (the junction station for what is now the bus to Roscoff) for a further 40 minutes.
If you are not expecting to use the ticket National Express have several departures a day from London to Bodmin (including an overnight) from just £8.40. The overnight gets in early enough for the first bus of the day to Port Isaac.
I've done that more than once.
Nat Ex stop more or less literally outside Enterprise at Bodmin- who I assume you are hiring from. There is a McDonalds and an Asda grocery store just round the corner.
In any event there are many worse places in France to be stranded in for a day or two than Roscoff. A very nice town.
Posted by
OP
Arlington, VA, USA
72 posts
Thank you isn31c. That was very helpful and specific.
Posted by
Paris
7467 posts
I don't want to jinx you, but the likelihood of rough seas is low in June. And the backup flights from Rennes or (seasonal) Brest could work.
Also, there's nothing that difficult about the Plymouth-Bodmin drive, large chunks of it are dual carriageway. It would simplify logistics for you I think.
Posted by
Washington DC
29020 posts
You are being smart. I've planned five cross-channel trips (only from Normandy, not Brittany) over the years, and two of them were canceled. They were all scheduled between May and September, so winter storms were not a factor. The second cancelation was for three days in a row; I ended up flying from Jersey to London-Luton and traveling by bus down to the coast. It would have been less of a scramble if I had had a Plan B.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
7058 posts
Interesting question, Alan - and I agree, you are being smart to investigate potential Plan B options.
I have been thinking about a trip stringing together the west-most facing bits on Wales, England, Brittany, then south along coastal Pays de la Loire and Nouvelle-Aquitaine (this would be a long road-trip, I'm only in the earliest planning phase). I've been trying to figure out how to remain (more or less) along the coastal areas, preferring to skip the obvious trip inland to cross between London and Paris. I know about the Channel ferries but will admit I have just assumed they would run as scheduled, without considering sea conditions or a Plan B. My initial plan is north-to-south, starting in Wales, driving to Cornwall, dropping the car before ferrying to Brittany, where we would pick up another car and continuing south. Lots of wonderful things along these coasts, I think - but your Plan B question is a good one I had not yet considered. I'll post separately my questions on that trip one of these days so as not to hijack this thread.
The only time I have crossed the Channel was years ago, on one of the big hovercraft ferries. It was a pretty stormy day and quite rough, but that monster hovercraft handled it with ease. It was a fun ride.