Portsmouth - Saint Malo
Discussion
A few of us from Scotland are taking this ferry for the first time (normally Hull - Zeebrugge); and are on the overnight crossing on the Wednesday night.
What is the best route from there to the circuit and are there usually plenty cars heading the same way? That is always a great part of the Zeebrugge Le Mans run.
Thanks
What is the best route from there to the circuit and are there usually plenty cars heading the same way? That is always a great part of the Zeebrugge Le Mans run.
Thanks
Edited by Dickie Dastardly on Sunday 8th March 23:01
St Malo - Le Mans is an easy run if you just want to blat it. Dual carriageway and motorway all the way, In rough terms the route St Malo - Rennes - Le Mans in L-shaped, but I'd firstly stop in St Malo and have a look around. You'll be disembarking pretty early and have the time. Destroyed in the war but a lovely rebuilt city now and worth a visit. Then take the direct route via Fougères and Mayenne. Horses for courses though. Depends what you want.
I head from St Malo each year (my only option).
Barely need a map if you just want to do direct route.. Down to Renne then left to Laval and onto Le Man. 2 1/2 roughly.
As mentioned, st malo is lovely. However, loads of options to make the drive more interesting. You can still go reasonably direct but take the national routes for a more scenic journey.
I see the odd car heading towards the circuit but it’s not like the pictures I’ve seen of convoys heading from
Calais direction.
We’re going south to the Loire valley before coming back up this year (fingers crossed). Bit of a luxurious night near Saumur Thursday night, then the tank museum Friday morning before going to our usual village race base after lunch.
Barely need a map if you just want to do direct route.. Down to Renne then left to Laval and onto Le Man. 2 1/2 roughly.
As mentioned, st malo is lovely. However, loads of options to make the drive more interesting. You can still go reasonably direct but take the national routes for a more scenic journey.
I see the odd car heading towards the circuit but it’s not like the pictures I’ve seen of convoys heading from
Calais direction.
We’re going south to the Loire valley before coming back up this year (fingers crossed). Bit of a luxurious night near Saumur Thursday night, then the tank museum Friday morning before going to our usual village race base after lunch.
We (Son and me) have been going to Le Mans for more than 20 years and have tried all the major routes - Chunnel, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Ouistreham but have settled on Portsmouth - St Malo for the last few years. One particular bonus is the great food on board. Do go in the restaurant rather than the buffet/cafeteria- you will not be disappointed. Fantastic all you can eat seafood/cold meats/ pate buffet to start, choose your main course then back to the buffet for a huge selection of cheese followed by desserts.Echo the comments about having a look round St Malo - difficult to comprehend that it's mostly a rebuild after the 39/45 war. As for driving you won't see as many Brits on this route but there are some lovely drives to the circuit. You can of course take the Autoroute but that seems a pity when there are so many great minor roads and places to visit on the way. A couple of recommendations. (1) go east on N176 and then take D976 towards Domfront. A great town to look around with a small castle. Then on to the spa town of Bagnoles de l'Orne set around a lake with a casino & then to Le Mans either via Alencon or across country via St Leonard de Bois (on the Sarthe river - great lunch stop). Or (2) go SE from St Malo to Fougeres , Mayenne & on to Le Mans. You can spend several hours in Fougeres (historic centre and fantastic castle). I guarantee you'll enjoy the drive on the well surfaced minor roads. Another bonus - you hardly ever see gendarmes on the minor roads, although we don't take liberties - we just enjoy the drive.
You may have driven past it without knowing. West of Domfront is Barenton, and there was an english butcher there selling all things english; bacon, pies, sausages etc. Closed a few years back sadly. And in Domfront there was (maybe still is) an english pub. In fact they had two pubs and brewed their own bitter. There still seems to be one pub left at Champsecret, east of Domfront, called the Secret Knight.
All good info thanks Lowdrag - if we go that way we'll be certain to look them up. Even if (god forbid) the race is postponed/cancelled we are determined to travel as normal assuming the ferries are still running. Our normal hotel, the Tribunal, at Mortagne-au-Perche will be expecting its motley collection of Brits and we wouldn't want to disappoint them. After all there's plenty to do even without the race!
Thanks, some very interesting comments.
Our main reason for the route change is because the Wednesday run to Hull feels like a wasted day; the Thursday run from Zeebrugge to Le Mans is a long one, followed by the queue to enter the circuit, then pitching the tents, then leaving again to buy provisions - it can be knackering.
Sounds like there are some nice detours that would still allow an early PM arrival; shame the suggestion is a limited number of cars on the drive to Le Mans though, that is always a great part of the run from Zeebrugge, i actually thought Saint Malo would have been the busier route...
Keep the comments coming
Our main reason for the route change is because the Wednesday run to Hull feels like a wasted day; the Thursday run from Zeebrugge to Le Mans is a long one, followed by the queue to enter the circuit, then pitching the tents, then leaving again to buy provisions - it can be knackering.
Sounds like there are some nice detours that would still allow an early PM arrival; shame the suggestion is a limited number of cars on the drive to Le Mans though, that is always a great part of the run from Zeebrugge, i actually thought Saint Malo would have been the busier route...
Keep the comments coming
From memory, the boat docks at about 8am? It's around 2hrs 30 mins by the boring route, and you have a lot of time. If you don't have a wander around St Malo (or even if you do) you could still be at Le Mans just after noon. But, for the last 30 years and more I have carried the Michelin A3 map of France, and no matter where I am going to I spend a bit of time planning a back roads route, then create a list of the towns and villages we will pass through. No GPS in my day! I've had many a good surprise over the years, small restaurants in little towns, little bars for a quick beer, and so on. If you stick to the route nationales, your biggest problem is the 50mph speed limit and possibly the fixed radars, or even radar traps. So, this is where the map comes in. Try planning your trip on the RD (Departmentale) roads which are mostly better than A roads in the UK. A quick look gives St Malo - Dol de Bretagne - La Boussac - Trans-la-Foret - Bazoges-la-Perouse - Romagné - Chauvigné - Fougères for a start. You can then use the RN or plan the rest yourselves.
I see that Condor Ferries has been sold to Brittany. They run from Portsmouth and Poole to the Channel Islands AND St Malo. I nearly did a day trip from Jersey to St Malo, but the timings were bad.
Looks like they'll develop the route, So St Malo may become more popular, or you may have a stop at St Helier
Looks like they'll develop the route, So St Malo may become more popular, or you may have a stop at St Helier
Been doing that for over 30 years now. Blat down to Falaise, turn right to Putanges Pont Ecrepin, (great hotel for coffee and croissant called Lion Verd), on through Rânes, Carrouges, Pré-en-Pail, Villaines, Courcité and Sillé-le-Guillaume, and arrive at Le Mans. Lovely back roads, and in all those years I have never seen the BiB.
LawrieC said:
I see that Condor Ferries has been sold to Brittany. They run from Portsmouth and Poole to the Channel Islands AND St Malo. I nearly did a day trip from Jersey to St Malo, but the timings were bad.
Looks like they'll develop the route, So St Malo may become more popular, or you may have a stop at St Helier
Not sure how this will develop.Looks like they'll develop the route, So St Malo may become more popular, or you may have a stop at St Helier
I can’t see them doing Portsmouth, St. Peter port, st helier, st malo and vice-versa as one route. It becomes a long journey time-wise from Portsmouth to st malo by the time you’ve docked and loaded.
You see the Brittany ferries going past jersey, but it would add at least 2-3hrs to the crossing.
But consolidating the crossing rather than having separate boats just servicing the Channel Islands may make sense.
Edited by LM240 on Saturday 14th March 09:02
LM240 said:
LawrieC said:
I see that Condor Ferries has been sold to Brittany. They run from Portsmouth and Poole to the Channel Islands AND St Malo. I nearly did a day trip from Jersey to St Malo, but the timings were bad.
Looks like they'll develop the route, So St Malo may become more popular, or you may have a stop at St Helier
Not sure how this will develop.Looks like they'll develop the route, So St Malo may become more popular, or you may have a stop at St Helier
I can’t see them doing Portsmouth, St. Peter port, st helier, st malo and vice-versa as one route. It becomes a long journey time-wise from Portsmouth to st malo by the time you’ve docked and loaded.
You see the Brittany ferries going past jersey, but it would add at least 2-3hrs to the crossing.
But consolidating the crossing rather than having separate boats just servicing the Channel Islands may make sense.
Edited by LM240 on Saturday 14th March 09:02
To answer the OP's question. If you have the time, I'd head down past Mont St Michel and take the RN roads to Fougeres and down to Laval as per previous posts. The main route via Rennes is a bit soulless (but is pretty quick!). Don't expect hordes of PH'ers on either route however. It's not like Calais/Rouen where every other car seems to be heading to LM. It's normally just a rag tag bunch of Channel Islanders
t, the roads are awful, the ferry is a dive, the food in the restaurant on board is so bad that you can get a table at any time. In all the years we have been going to Le Mans we have varied our routs from time to time but we have stuck on the Portsmouth to St Malo route for a few years now. We normally go out on the Wednesday overnight ferry and return on the Monday via Caen. As has been said before the ferry itself is very pleasant there is a lovely restaurant bar and entertainment and it gives you a chance to get your head down overnight before an early arrival into St Malo as it is an 11-hour crossing and the crossing time to Caen means you arrive about 5 in the morning which is a bit keen. The old Town of St Malo is stunning and worth a visit if you have time. We used to go the direct route via Mayenne which is a very pretty town but now we tend to go direct to Rennes and then pick up the AutoRoute at Laval. there are often a few fellow Brits on the ferry but few and far between. Like has been said I have never seen the BiB but we always take it steady and normally arrive in to Le Mans before lunchtime. for a car and trailer along with a motorhome you do not get much change from £800 but to my group getting the ferry down is all part of the experience.
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