Cherbourg Weekend

For our 2005 event we once again returned to Portsmouth, this time to sail onboard the Barfleur which had her first season out of the port, and also onboard the new Normandie Express. The trip proved to be very enjoyable and had its surprises throughout!

Sunday 14th August arrived, and the members of BFE began to assemble at the Continental Ferry Port. Rod, Alex, Phil and myself were first to arrive, swiftly followed by Andy, Elliot and Laura, and then Jonathan and Dan. As some debate followed over whether I needed to eat hat or not, I managed to escape my sentence on a technicality (having also been unable to source an edible hat suitable for eating).

As we were inside the port, Matt came up and and enquired if we were the BFE Group, after a short pause, we confirmed we were indeed... a question it seemed we would have to get used to that day. After I was able to remove him from the coffee shop, Andy went to check us in. Upon in checking in, he was asked 'are you the one with the website?', which left him a little red faced! Obviously news travels fast! Let's hope for all the right reasons!

Barfleur arrived in a little later than her scheduled 11.45, but we were soon onboard, this time via a gangway rather than driven on the car deck as before. On arriving at the information area we decided to infact head straight to the restaurant, where our party of 10 was split over two tables. As we placed our order from the menu the Barfleur slipped away on the dot of 1300 and began to make her way down towards and around the Isle of Wight, slowing to let the Pilot off. By this point, we had also noticed that announcements were being given in French, English and then Spanish - not sure if this is maybe a new policy BF have, or just a nice touch. It certainly gives Phil another one to learn off by heart.

The lunch starter buffet was running, although alas for our illustrious leader, there were no Langoustines. The main course was up to it's usual high standard - that said - I have never witnessed Chips being served with before, but particularly good chips they were. Whilst sadly there was no desert buffet, what did appear certainly left our taste buds very happy indeed and probably contained far fewer calories than what would have appeared had we attacked a buffet bar!

After lunch, we reported to Reception (well, we made Andy). Reception had been expecting us the day before, but shortly afterwards we visited the bridge in two groups of 5. We all noticed how towards the front of the ship very litte vibration can be felt, but a lot is experienced at the back. I can only speak for the second group, but certainly we had a very informative bridge visit - including being introduced to the ship's mascot, a Pink elephant named 'Jumbo' who guards the champagne cork used to launch the ship. It turned out that the day before had been the busiest of the year, with passenger numbers passing through the 1000 mark - although, on another note, the estimates for mid week sailings seem sometimes to have trouble passing into triple figures. It seems that Poole still generates most of the traffic for the ship - perhaps explaining her likely move back there next season.

It's interesting to note that for a ship of the same age, Barfleur seems to be in much better condition than the Normandie - and indeed, the crew are friendly. Half way over the channel, they were even to be seen not washing, but painting the deck!

Drinks followed in the bar, Mr Kitchen was, of course, to be found drinking Cidre De Normandie, whilst I re-discovered Malibu and Banana Juice - meanwhile, Andy was emptying the slot machines. Alas Phil was unable to show off his moves as the dancefloor is somewhat small (possibly even pointless!). All to soon, we were approaching Cherbourg, and moved out onto the deck to see our arrival. Unfortunately, Normandy had already left but Coutances was laid up for hull repairs. All to soon the announcement came to disembark - somewhat strangely, we had no option but to take a lift in the gangway down one floor... and then there is a ramp to walk down another floor and onto the 'GP' bus.

As we arrived, we had the novel experience of passports being studied in depth, and as such, we became split in the large queue. However, an even more novel experience was about to follow. As the first members of the group emerged, there stood an unknown man, holding a camera, and a sign saying 'BFE'... it transpired that, we were being greeted by a journalist from 'La Presse de la Manche'! It seems that our site is indeed well read in France, and since they knew we were coming, the local maritime news decided to get an interview! After some rigorous questioning of Andy (who may look somewhat red in the photos when they appear), we were all taken outside for a brief photo opportunity. By this point, most of us had descended into hysterical laughter at how surreal the whole situation was. We are however assured that a copy of the article, along with the photographs will appear on this site in due course... and after all waving goodbye to our pen and paper touting friend, we did the only thing we could - went to the bar to recover!

Normandie Express arrived in port soon afterwards, and we were called through to embark. The bus was rather crowded as we drove around to the berth - an interesting experience getting a double length 'bendy' bus over the Flyover). Foot passengers board by walking up stairs inside a building, before crossing a gangway onto the ship. We immediately commandeered some table seats at the rear of the ship. It was interesting to hear two passengers turn their nose up at the Cafe, saying that 'Why bother with that, I'm sure there's a restaurant somewhere'. On the subject of food, we chose to eat rather swiftly, as from previous experience, the stores on the Express become somewhat limited on the evening return crossings. Dinner took the form of various sandwiches and salads, served on the usual stylish plastic trays - although, it did take some time for them to be obtained from the single counter.

NEX moved off the berth with the rather funky safety music playing (by the third time it's played, it loses the novelty and one must ask if a classy operator such as BF needs Drum and Bass), and as we passed the harbour wall, she began to roll quite noticeably. But we couldn't fail to miss the announcement calling Andy to the shop - made all the worse by Rod pointing and shouting 'It's Him' to everyone around us. Andy returned some moments later, informing us that we had been invited onto the bridge by the Captain.

The bridge of NEX is actually larger that one imagines, at the front there are 3 people manning the controls and enough space behind for our group of 10 to fit in comfortably. The Captain was kind enough to talk about both the NEX and his previous experience of Incats as a whole. Confirming to us, that NEX is indeed "the best, without doubt". It was also interesting to note that he perceived Incats of being 'the future' of ferry travel, but that said, conceded that it was highly unlikely they would run any further West of Cherbourg. Statistically, he pointed out, that the ship travelled at 35kts, and took 45 minutes compared to up to 4 hours for Pont Aven to be turned around. That said, Pont Aven has been known to reach speeds in excess of 30 knots, and although the turn around can take up to 4 times longer, she also takes 4 times the number of cars - and all for a single berthing fee!

There was some concern from the group over the wake at the back appearing to show we had a somewhat bendy course (was the autopilot drunk?) - but we were then informed that an Incat's course can easily vary by up to 20 degrees and what we were seeing was infact quite normal.

We thanked the Captain and his Bridge Crew, before returning back to our tables, to see on the screens that we had been on the bridge so long, we were now just off the southern tip of the Isle of Wight (or Isle of White according to the signs on the Portsmouth terminal bus). We slowed and sped up again several times on the entrance to Portsmouth, but before too long we were swinging around the MSM, Condor Clipper and Pride of Le Havre onto Berth 1, and just a few moments after the ramp was lowered we made out way down through the car deck and walked to the terminal (which is so much easier than being piled onto the busses).

The group said goodbye until next time - although with Andy returning to work to sail the Med this week, it will be longer for some than others. I think I speak for all the group when I say an excellent day was had by all - and I think I also speak for everyone in thanking the Crew of Barfleur and Normandie Express for having us onboard and making us feel welcome.