Cruising on ARMORIQUE

A few photos taken today on board ARMORIQUE during a voyage from Ouistreham to Portsmouth, the 8.30 am departure from the French Port, the trip was mainly in sunny weather and mill pond seas, a dense fog was also a presence for over two hours of the crossing, arriving on time though was never in question, in fact the ship arrived earlier, Portsmouth was also sunny and with mild temperatures for January. Aboard ARMORIQUE 24.1.2017

Return to ARMORIQUE after a break of over one year

in

Ordered in 2006 "ARMORIQUE" left Plymouth to Roscoff on her maiden voyage on the 10th of February 2009, so within two weeks she will be eight years old. I am writing these words on my Hotel at Ouistreham, prior to embark tomorrow morning on the ship, I will be once again sailing on ARMORIQUE to Portsmouth, she is replacing NORMANDIE at the moment undergoing refit, this will be my first sailing on the ship from Ouistreham, sailed before several times, mainly when she was covering for BRETAGNE during the winter of 2015 on the Saint-Malo route, ARMORIQUE's main service is the Plymouth to Roscoff. the ship has changed since I last been on her, new scrubbers were installed, her funnel needed big changes to accommodate the filters, in the coming days I will upload new photos of the ship with special emphasis on her new funnel. The photos uploaded here show ARMORIQUE arriving Ouistreham this afternoon, 23.1.2017

VAL DE LOIRE remembered

Every now and again I remember and miss the years I sailed on monthly basis on VAL DE LOIRE, she will always be a special ship for me, 57 times I had the immense pleasure of sailing this fantastic ship, today still cruising for DFDS as the KING SEAWAYS, the vast majority of my trips on the ship were from Plymouth to Santander or the other day round, we were "pals" sailing the Bay of Biscay and the memories and stories we share are unique and unforgettable, there is always a great deal of emotion and sentiment to write a few words about VAL DE LOIRE, today I remembered her once again after checking her progress on Marine Traffic, she is now at Gdansk undergoing a refit, also at Gdansk is another very special ship to me, the BRETAGNE, still sailing for BRITTANY FERRIES.