Ferry land - which ferries have you taken and which do you wish to take before Charon rows you across the Styx.

[tim]

I've been watching ferry videos on Toutube, a clear sign of getting old, and have realised that I have actually been on loads, but am keen to do more. I spent yesterday evening researching how much an outside cabin to Bilbao and return flight would set me back. One of the videos I watched takes you from the arse-end of Denmark to the arse-end of Iceland going past Northernmost tip of Shetland and calling at the Faroe Isles and looks like an amazing trip.

Cruises with all that forced entertainment or serious lectures on all things Trojan have never appealed. Booking a cabin on a cargo boat would be fun, but seems rather difficult to do these days.

Anyway some of the crossings I've done are to the Isle of Man, to Jersey which included going through the streets on a train, and to Denmark all as a child; Dover or Flokestone to bits of France and Begium by standard boat, hovercraft and hydrofoil; Copenhagen to Malmo by Hydrofoil; on a train on a boat to Sicily and to several volcanic and non volcanic islands, including Vulcano around Italy; various vaporetti around the Lagoon; the Woolwich Ferry, and the foot ferry between Ham and Twickenham; loads of trips on the ferry across the Mersey; Harwich-Hook of Holland; in the cabin of a lorry across Lake Constance; the Statten Island ferry and the ones to the Statue of Liberty and Ruth Ellis Island; Plymouth to Caen; some rock in Oslo bay; and Brindisi to Corfu.

Pootling round the Islands of Scotland in mid-summer looks fun, although I'd give Midsumer itself a miss. Across the Bosphorus and across the Straits of Gibraltar are a must at some point, and Vladovostok to Japan.

This was in our box of 45s when I was a child, but it didn't put me off.



What are your dream or nightmare ferry adventures?

 

[iona]

I was conceived on a ferry, do I win the thread?

 

[Cloo]

Taken Dover- Calais a few times as a kid and once as an adult, took the ferry to Gothenberg once for a school choir tour, can't remember where from but it looks like there are no longer direct services from UK sadly . Taken ferries from Split, Croatia, out to local islands as well a few years ago.

 

[iona]

Serious answer: I've done Dover-Calais quite a few times and now do either Stromness-Scrabster or Kirkwall-Aberdeen a few times a year. Locally I've only done the boats to Shapinsay and the small foot passenger ferry to the north end of Hoy so far. Loads of people hate them but I've only ever had weather that was either really calm or so bad that the boat was cancelled altogether, which could be seen as lucky or unlucky.

Living in Orkney and having a bus pass means I'm also entitled to free ferry vouchers - four sailing or two round trips per year iirc. If I have one left before they renew in April I might use it to get the boat the other way, up to Shetland, instead.

I'm thinking of doing either the ferry from Denmark to Iceland, with a stop in the Faroes, or the ferry to Estonia from either Sweden or Finland, next year (with train journeys to get to the starting points)

E2a: did the local Rousay boat a few times last summer too. If no one's booked in advance for some of the other stops on that route they'll sometimes sail kinda near and see if anyone stands on the jetty and flags them down like you would a bus.

E2a2: and the Isle of Wight and probably some other ones as a kid that I've forgotten about too.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I was conceived on a ferry, do I win the thread?

Fair play to your mum and dad getting it on whilst making this crossing...

 

[iona]

Fair play to your mum and dad getting it on whilst making this crossing...

View attachment 450652

It was one of the English Channel crossings and they had a cabin and my mum's brother knocked on the door while they were at it and they ignored him until he went away.

I could've done without knowing any of that tbh.

 

[weepiper]

Done Plymouth-Roscoff, Scrabster-Stromness, Arisaig-Eigg, Mallaig-Lochboisdale, Uig-Lochmaddy, Eriskay-Barra, Oban-Craignure, Gourock-Dunoon, Largs-Cumbrae. I think that's all.

 

[iona]

Oh yeah I'm meant to be doing a Hebrides trip with my mum in the next year or two (somewhen "before she gets too decrepit" anyway - her words) so I'll have more then too.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

woolwich



gravesend - tilbury



portsmouth - ryde,

holyhead - dun laoghaire (that was a catamaran or something)

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Ok. I have done countless crossings Ireland. Used to do the Holyhead to Dublin as a young child but I've done the Fishguard or Pembroke to Roslare far more often.

I've done Dover to Calais at least once. One I member as a school trip and I went camping in France with my parents in the mid 80s and we took the car but I can't really remember anything from the trip.

I've also done a bunch of ferrying in Greece. We use to fly into Athens the ferry out to the islands.
I remember taking one of the ones that used a hydrofoil but I think we used the car ferries more often.


Edited to add.

Forgot. Also took the ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland.
And Woolwich ferry.

 

[Yossarian]

Lots of ferries to lots of places in Hong Kong, my favourite is the island-hopping Ming River

 

[Elpenor]

Ferries in my life

Dover - Calais (ferry and hovercraft)
Holyhead - Dublin
Kennacraig - Port Ellen
Portsmouth - Ryde
Sandbanks - Studland
Folkestone - Boulougne
Newhaven - Dieppe
Portsmouth - Caen
Portsmouth - Cherbourg
Plymouth - Santander
Harwich - Esbjerg
Bergen - Newcastle
Frederickshaven - Gothenburg

We memorably didn’t do Newcastle to Gothenburg as we drove from London to Newcastle without my brothers passport which had been left at home.

Will be ferrying to Ireland next year and quite excited

 

[ouirdeaux]

Dover/Calais, of course, but also Dover and Ramsgate to Ostend, which is impossible now. Harwich/Hoek van Holland, and also Harwich/Hamburg, which only ran briefly, I think.

 

[Idaho]

Plymouth - Roscoff
Plymouth - Santander
Portsmouth - Bilbao
Dover - Calais
Newhaven - Dieppe
Portsmouth - Ryde
Oban - Castlebay
Little ferries in the Hebrides
Stornoway - Ullapool
Harwich - Hook of Holland
Surat Thani - Koh Samui/Phangan
Helsinki - Tallin
Java - Bali
Bali - Lombok (crossing into Australasia)
Hong Kong - Macau
Hong Kong - Zhaoqing

I like ferries.

 

[Elpenor]

Believe there used to be a ferry across to Wales before they built the M4 bridges. Stopped in the 60s?

Also talk of reviving a ferry from Swansea to Ilfracombe but can’t see their being the demand really

Various smaller, local ferries across the estuaries here, so far I’ve taken none of them as haven’t needed to.

 

[ouirdeaux]

The Staten Island ferry and the Woolwich free ferry don't really count, do they? But two more if they do.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Only been on a ferry twice.

 

[Idaho]

Only been on a ferry twice.

It's an excellent opportunity to admire gulls and other sea birds.

 

[mx wcfc]

Dover - Calais, lots, mainly when it was worthwhile popping over to Calais for booze and ciggies,

St Malo - Poole

Southampton - IoW a couple of times.

Pembroke Dock to Rosslare

Kirkwall - Rapness, then Piorowall to Papa Westray as a foot passenger. (Orkney)

There was one in Cornwall, across an estuary, years ago but even after consulting google maps, I can't remember which.

Dubrovnik - to Otok Luvrum (just a tourist sea bus)

Most recently, Fazana - Brijuni in Croatia, again as a foot passenger, and again just a sea bus really.

I think that's it. I think the only time I've been worried was the one in Cornwall, when I had a fairly new car on what seemed like not much better than a raft.

 

[Idaho]

Despite spending lots of time in Japan, I've never done Japanese ferries. They are good value and generally pleasant, so I'd like to go on them sometime.

 

[scifisam]

I commuted via the Tilbury-Gravesend ferry for a few months. Most of the time it was boring but it tooka lot to shut it down for bad weather - the bus that shuttled us to the ferry was more likely to be called off for the weather than the ferry was. You'd be standing there in driving rain with waves doing a bassy WOMP WOMP against the pier, and the ferry was still going.

The driver might have been a frustrated skateboarder or surfer for the way he took us up into the wakes of the big ships and down again safely. Had many a passenger's head in my lap. Nobody ever said anything. It was basically a quiet acceptance of potential drowning in the cold, shit-ridden east of London Thames with more currents than a spotted dick, because the alternative was a four hour journey if you didn't own a car.

My paternal Grandad probably was one of the people working the Woolwich Ferry. I've been told so many lies that I have to employ a pinch of salt, but it's probably true.

I also had such a fucking awful experience on the Stockholm-Estonia ferry that it put me off ferries for life. I don't mean that I saw a murder or was assaulted, I mean that it was utterly hell from start to finish BUT in a way that the Finns thought was great, so it will definitely continue to happen.

 

[souljacker]

I've been on a few that have previously been mentioned, including the scrabster to Orkney one which was really rough. Also done the ferry across the Mersey. Most recently I took a ferry from where we were staying in Malta over to Valetta.

When I was a kid we use to go to France but we'd take the Portsmouth to Brittany one over night. My main memory of this was the 'La Rage' rabies posters with the rabid dog picture.

 

[planetgeli]

Loads. Mostly uneventful. But Ko Phangan to Ko Tao, everyone thought they were going to die. 5 hours (of what should have been a 2 hr crossing) of people screaming and puking as enormous swells crashed huge waves over the boat. Everyone was soaked. Lots of crying. Spent my time with my legs over the side of the boat accepting my fate. Hardened scousers behind me crying (pissed) saying "If I could just see land, I could swim it". No you couldn't. Terrifying. The Captain cutting the engines when we hit a big wave. He must have done this 100 times. When we reached Ko Tao we were stuck for 5 days (there are worse places to be stuck) because they cancelled all the ferries once we arrived.

Ferries in Sydney are brilliant.

Ferries in the Philippines are fine, just don't buy the cheapest one.

 

[ID47]

Villa San Giovanni to Messina train ferry. Apparently the last in Europe. Took it a few times in my youth decades ago but you weren't allowed out of the train back then so only the carriage loaded parallel to you to look at during the crossing:

 

[Plumdaff]

Dover - Calais
Dover - Ostend
Newhaven - Dieppe
Ardrossan - Brodick
Lochranza - Claonaig
Liverpool - Douglas
Portsmouth - Ryde
Pireas - Corinth
Also trips on ferries in Malta, Mersey, Symonds Yat, Staten Island and from Europe to Asia in Istanbul.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Just remembered I went on some kind of ferry across the river in Exeter when I was a kid.

 

[mx wcfc]

Just remembered I went on some kind of ferry across the river in Exeter when I was a kid.

That's reminded me - my first ferry trip was as a 3 or 4 year old, across the Tyne (my mother's family are Geordies). My uncle took me, the plan being it was just a trip there and back.

When we got across, we stayed on the ferry. Someone came round, and chucked us off, and my uncle was really pissed off about having to pay again to take us back!

I think I remember him complaining that it had cost him seven pence more.

 

[ouirdeaux]

I forgot Rotterdam/Hull. OK, calling Europoort Rotterdam is a bit of a stretch, but still.

 

[hitmouse]

Some kind of boat trip to Denmark when I was a kid, did do a family holiday in Orkney which presumably must've involved a ferry, and similarly think we must've gone on one when we did a school trip to France, think the only ferry I've consciously chosen to go on as an adult was to Belfast once. Presumably that must've set off from Liverpool, in my head I kind of think of it as departing from Hull but that's probably not right.

 

[iona]

I spend about an hour a week sat on a bus that's either waiting for ferry passengers or driving in a loop back in the wrong direction to drop off ferry passengers before it continues on to my destination. Which is doubly annoying because I use that bus service myself when I get the Aberdeen boat, so really can't complain about it.