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

[krtek a houby]

Too many to mention/recall

The Liffey ferry was memorable, as were the Skelligs and Cape Clear Island ones.

 

[Bus Honeygun]

So, for me it's the localish ones...

The aforementioned Butts Ferry in Exeter
Exmouth to Starcross
Brixham to Torquay
Kingswear to Dartmouth
Falmouth to St Mawes
The Bristol city ferries

Plus...

Wemyss Bay to Rothesay
Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire
Fishguard to Rosslare
Portsmouth to Ryde
Lymington to Yarmouth
Plymouth to Roscoff
Plymouth to Santander
Roscoff to Île de Batz
Le Fret to Brest
Limassol to Haifa
Bingen to Rüdesheim
One in Amsterdam that took us across the water from near Centraal station
Think I might have been on one in London

Think that's it. More than I realised. Wish I'd made the effort to do the Puttgarden to Rødby train ferry before it shut.

EDIT: Ooh, Mersey ferry too. Forgot that one. And the Cremyll ferry across the Tamar too.

 

[Bus Honeygun]

Now 50p

Shocking. That's Blair's broken Britain for you. When we leave the EU it'll be free.

 

[mojo pixy]

I've just remembered half a dozen more, mainly river ferries.

But instead of talking about that I'll just say

 

[colacubes]

Dover - Calais
Bilbao - Portsmouth
Staten Island
Star Ferry Hong Kong
Train ferry to Sicily - that was the most fun
Yalova - Istanbul - it was the middle of the night so I have no idea whether it was scenic

I feel like there must be more than that cos I like a ferry trip.

 

[Spandex]

I love riding on ferries.

The most famous ferry I travelled on:

(but not on that journey)

Best moment on a ferry: island hopping in Greece, after a few days on Paros we decided to get the first ferry to anywhere, which was an overnight to some island to the south. Waking up after sleeping in the passenger lounge it was soon after sunrise as the ferry was pulling in to Santorini. I understand the island has been overdeveloped into a tourist hell now, but the unexpected sight of sailing into the stunning former volcano was amazing.

Worst ferry ride: hydrofoil from Palermo to Lipari on bumpy seas. 80% of the passengers were sea sick. I was okay-ish, but my girlfriend was looking very green. The toilets were best avoided, having turned into a splat covered vomitorium, the smell filling the whole ferry. A lovely French lady gave my partner some Scopolamine (which I only knew as the truth drug from The Guns of the Navarone), but that settled her stomach long enough to avoid that bathroom disaster zone until we reached our destination. Rubbish truth drug though; I couldn't get her to tell me anything I didn't already know.

The ferry I want to take me across the Styx: the old Woolwich ferry, the ferry I've travelled on most having grown up in SE London.

 

[ouirdeaux]

One in Amsterdam that took us across the water from near Centraal station.

I forgot that one. It always seemed a bit silly.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Missed off the one and only Thorpe Park Waterbus ferry from The Dome to Thorpe Farm!

 

[marty21]

I remembered another ferry trip - over 40 years ago, Oban to Barra , also a shorter trip from Barra to Vatersay.

#FerryChat

 

[Sasaferrato]

Kennacraig - Port Ellen
Kennacraig - Port Askaig
Dover - Calais
Dover - Zeebrugge
Newhaven - Dieppe
Kyle - Stornoway
Tarbert - Uig
Portsmouth - Cherbourg
Mallaig - Rhum - Eigg (Private charter)
Corran ferry
Ballchulish ferry
Kylerhea ferry
Mersey ferry
Jura ferry
Lochaline - Fishnish
Oban - Port Askaig

I've done one crossing that may well have been unique. It should have been Stornoway - Kyle, but due to a force 12 in the Minch (force 10 when we sailed), what should have been a 7am landing at Kyle turned into a 5pm landing at Uig on Skye. We tried to dock at Kyle, no go, we tried to dock at Mallaig, no go, we went back to Kyle, no go, finally we went to Uig, they managed to get a rope ashore and the boat was winched onto the pier. The Loch Seaforth, a bastard of a vessel that could roll and pitch at the same time.

 

[iona]

Just remembered I've done Venice to Murano and Burano as a kid too. And possibly Stockholm to some small island nearby, but I might have just imagined that or be getting mixed up with the fact we were staying on a houseboat.

I bet my mum has some good ferry stories (besides that one I really didn't want to hear). Her dad used to take her and her brothers on mad adventures all over Europe that quite often involved stuff like getting shipwrecked on random Greek islands.

 

[Silas Loom]

tim - minor point of pedantry, Charon is usually depicting as punting his craft across the Styx with a pole, as one would on the Cam, rather than rowing with oars.

 

[iona]

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.

This is one of the ones I'm thinking of doing next year and I kind of want to ask but also don't know if I want to ask..?

 

[scifisam]

This is one of the ones I'm thinking of doing next year and I kind of want to ask but also don't know if I want to ask..?

Marauding Finnish children completely out of control while their parents got drunk. They literally ran around smashing things up in the shop, pushing people over and throwing unattended luggage overboard. A Finnish friend of mine remembered the ferry fondly because they were allowed to go wild, but it's not so fun for those around them!

Plus we were downgraded to the cheapest room right by the engine, so it was noisy and smelly, despite paying for an expensive room, and they refused to refund us or compensate us in any way. All the announcements were in Finnish, the cinema had been closed to become a kids' club and there was absolutely nothing to do except get drunk.

 

[Silas Loom]

Finns ain’t what they used to be.

 

[ID47]

Dover – Calais
Harwich – Hook van Holland
Dieppe – Newhaven
Sandbanks – Studland
Dover – Boulogne (Hovercraft)
Holyhead – Dublin
Villa San Giovanni – Messina
Palermo – La Goulette (Tunis)
Civitavecchia – Olbia
Livorno – Portoferraio
Livorno – Isola di Capraia
Bonifacio - Santa Teresa di Gallura
Livorno – Bastia
Funchal – Porto Santo

 

[Sue]

The worst one I ever did was Calais to Dover in a howling gale. We couldn't dock for hours and hours as the weather was so bad so we were on the bloody thing for six hours or something. Everyone was throwing up all over the place and there was vomit everywhere. I've never been so pleased to see dry land ever.

(I also remember doing the Larne/Stranraer crossing in truly terrible weather. I was a kid though so although there was lots of throwing up then too, it didn't seem as bad.)

 

[tim]

tim - minor point of pedantry, Charon is usually depicting as punting his craft across the Styx with a pole, as one would on the Cam, rather than rowing with oars.

Hades College Cambridge

 

[Bus Honeygun]

The worst one I ever did was Calais to Dover in a howling gale. We couldn't dock for hours and hours as the weather was so bad so we were on the bloody thing for six hours or something. Everyone was throwing up all over the place and there was vomit everywhere. I've never been so pleased to see dry land ever.

(I also remember doing the Larne/Stranraer crossing in truly terrible weather. I was a kid though so although there was lots of throwing up then too, it didn't seem as bad.)

Worst one we did was Plymouth to Roscoff. It was six hours back then (it's not far off that now) and before we sailed we were worried because the previous one had been cancelled due to the weather. Then we found out ours was still sailing and worried what it would be like instead.

The ship was already rolling in Plymouth Sound, and sure enough as soon as we passed the breakwater it started seriously moving about. "If this is what it's like now, god knows what the open sea will be like". Lots of people were puking everywhere, but thankfully it was a pretty empty boat, sailing in late autumn. I stood on deck, keeping my eyes on the horizon, which I'd heard work, and sure enough after an hour or two I didn't feel so bad and gradually got my sea legs.

Then I hit the bar, which was virtually empty, and drank loads of beer. You don't really notice the movement after that.

 

[heinous seamus]

Wemyss Bay - Rothesay
Largs - Cumbrae
Gourock - Dunoon
Scrabster to Stromness (I might have done the John O'Groats one too, but I can't really remember)
Stromness - Lyness
Oban - Castlebay
Oban - Craignure
Mull - Ulva
Oban - Arinagour (Coll)
Arinagour - Scarinish (Tiree)
Ullapool - Stornoway
Tarbert - Uig
Barra - Eriskay
Fionnphort - Iona
Corran - Ardgour
Mallaig - Armadale
Mallaig - Rùm
Rùm - Eigg
Eigg - Arisaig
Troon - Larne
Ardrossan - Brodick
Fleetwood - Knot End
Kennacraig - Islay
Islay - Jura
Islay - Colonsay
Seil - Luing
Skye - Raasay

 

[ID47]

The worst one I ever did was Calais to Dover in a howling gale. We couldn't dock for hours and hours as the weather was so bad so we were on the bloody thing for six hours or something. Everyone was throwing up all over the place and there was vomit everywhere. I've never been so pleased to see dry land ever.

(I also remember doing the Larne/Stranraer crossing in truly terrible weather. I was a kid though so although there was lots of throwing up then too, it didn't seem as bad.)

Same happened to us once and then when docking an articulated lorry half fell off the ramp which was down before they actually came up to the dock, another six hour wait while that was sorted with the bars and cafes on board shut and no access to water. Ferry went way down west to avoid the rough sea I guess before turning back along the coast towards Dover. Didn't feel safe, crew looked worried but that might have just been about people getting injured.

 

[ID47]

I love riding on ferries.

The most famous ferry I travelled on:

(but not on that journey)

Best moment on a ferry: island hopping in Greece, after a few days on Paros we decided to get the first ferry to anywhere, which was an overnight to some island to the south. Waking up after sleeping in the passenger lounge it was soon after sunrise as the ferry was pulling in to Santorini. I understand the island has been overdeveloped into a tourist hell now, but the unexpected sight of sailing into the stunning former volcano was amazing.

Worst ferry ride: hydrofoil from Palermo to Lipari on bumpy seas. 80% of the passengers were sea sick. I was okay-ish, but my girlfriend was looking very green. The toilets were best avoided, having turned into a splat covered vomitorium, the smell filling the whole ferry. A lovely French lady gave my partner some Scopolamine (which I only knew as the truth drug from The Guns of the Navarone), but that settled her stomach long enough to avoid that bathroom disaster zone until we reached our destination. Rubbish truth drug though; I couldn't get her to tell me anything I didn't already know.

The ferry I want to take me across the Styx: the old Woolwich ferry, the ferry I've travelled on most having grown up in SE London.

You were lucky to roll on and roll off that one. Scary stuff, there have been some horrendous accidents.

 

[ID47]

Anyone ever take one of these? Did it once in the seventies and it was very, very 'bumpy' and noisy.

 

[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:

Anyone here ever been to Messina's Maritime Train Station (Stazione Marittima di Messina) and seen the the enormous racist, fascist mosaic that covers an entire wall bigging up Mussolini and his 'Empire'. Unbelievable that it is still there and is even being cleaned and restored for the 2025 opening of the renovated station. This is a shot of the central panel:

 

[tim]

Anyone ever take one of these? Did it once in the seventies and it was very, very 'bumpy' and noisy.

The Princess Margaret which appropriately enough stumbled across the channel like its drunken namesake.

 

[StoneRoad]

Been on loads over the years, so I'll expect to miss some of the list that follows ...

Aust [R.Severn where the first bridge is now]
Bristol Harbour
Chain ferry at Reedham
Barmouth [rowing boat to Fairbourne Railway]
Shields Ferry
Windermere's chain ferry
[Some of the boats around The Lakes are also sort of ferries, even if they don't always go the shortest route]
Farne Islands [as you can get off on certain Islands]
Whitby [when the swing bridge broke in the partly open position !] I used the Old Lifeboat Mary Ann Hepworth & helped crew her for the afternoon one of these occasions; it was 50p one way on a triangular course above & below the bridge]
Weymouth to Jersey [and on the boat train, too]
Dover to Calais & back, also crossed from a very smelly Boulogne and had a roughish passage [used Eurotunnel instead after that]
Portsmouth to St Malo
Across the Gironde [Loire estuary]

Isle of Man on all three Steam Packet's passenger ferries.
Various Cal-Mac routes on the west coast of Scotland / Clyde - some of those are really very short. Largs to Cumbrae, Corran and across to Luing [Cuan Sound] all come to mind.
Also the trip to Inchcolm [you have to negotiate if you want to overstay between booked trips].

The range in technology is quite wide and some safety standards have had interesting interpretations, especially the further back in time you go.

E2A - never managed to get a trip on the HoverSpeed ...

 

[bellaozzydog]

This year

Fishguard - Rosslare

Plymouth -Santander

Tarifa-Tangier’s ville

Despite working and living on boats 6 months of the year I found all my car ferry jaunts this year to be satisfactory, expensive as fuck and geared to extract as much coin off punters on board as possible but

 

[Voley]

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

Similar to me. I've done Plymouth-Roscoff toi and that one from Harris / Leverburgh to Berneray is it? Something like that. A couple of the wee Orkney ones: Mainland to Rousay / Hoy and ... another that escapes me.

I used to get a ferry in India from one side of the Tiracol river to the other on my moped very regularly. Captain gave me a go at the controls one day. The currents were unreal, how he docked it so accurately each trip was beyond me. Everyone driving on and off before he'd stopped didn't exactly help either.

Eta: this fine seagoing vessel.

 

[Voley]

Pukiest one I've been on is The Scillonian that goes from Penzance to the Isles of Scilly. Affectionately known as The Vomit Comet.

 

[t0bytoo]

I spent three weeks on a ferry from Kisangani to Kinshasa once. Back when it was called the Zaire river.

(not my photo, but it looked like that -perhaps a bit less lopsided)