Sutton, where’s it at? And how to cross the waters….

[grantmac]

slightly annoying the Le Havre to Portsmouth overnight ferry will not continue next year. That has been my favoured way to get back to the UK in recent years from central and western France. Departs 9pm and arrives Portsmouth between 7-9am depending on the day of the week.
I only use the Tunnel if heading down to the Ardennes and Vosges, or further into Germany etc.

Seems over the years that ferry is on and off like a whore' knickers.....a few years ago off, then back on and now off again.
Is it still owned by the Dreyfus family? LDL Lines or something like that?

 

[wessie]

Seems over the years that ferry is on and off like a whore' knickers.....a few years ago off, then back on and now off again.
Is it still owned by the Dreyfus family? LDL Lines or something like that?

Yes, a troubled route. I used it for my first foray into France on a bike in 1995 when it was operated by P&O until 2004. LD started the route in 2005.

DFDS took over LD Lines in 2014. LD had tried to get services from Dover to Boulogne & Newhaven going but DFDS abandoned those and went to the current Dunkirk and Calais routes. DFDS binned the Le Havre route after a year. Le Havre has been operated by Brittany Ferries on and off since 2014. Initially under their Economie brand using the old LD ship under the MV Etretat name. That stopped in 2021 during Covid. For the last couple of years BF restarted the route using the ex Channel Islands ferry, the Condor branded MV Commodore Clipper with one return sailing a day.

You might be better informed on this hypothesis, but I think the trouble has been a lack of freight. In the P&O heyday they filled spare capacity with containers on trailers, shuttling them into the hold with a shunter tractor. I guess the Channel Tunnel took away a lot of their business model, then in more recent years, with less commercial traffic coming into the UK since Brexit the existing operators are affected. I have noticed more direct ferries to Ireland whereas in the past the UK was used as a land bridge for freight.

 

[grantmac]

yes, like on all of these so called ''passenger'' ferry routes the money is always in the freight. Exception is the short cross channel ferries from Dover but all the other crossings are predominantly freight driven

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Agreed but if you’re on a tighter budget isn’t the Chunnel a lot cheaper even with the extra mileage. Honest question as I don’t use the Southern coast ferries although the Santander one was expensive but that get s you into northern Spain so that’s another story altogether

FWIW I'm in Lincoln and always use the Chunnel when heading to the continent.
It's 200 miles from me, roughly 4 hours including a comfort break. I either head down after a breakfast, get into northern France for an overnight then start my holiday proper the next morning or, if Sarah is with me, head off early afternoon, overnight in Ashford then get a mid morning crossing.
I like the convenience and speed of the tunnel and it's often cheaper, plus I''m not helped by my ongoing refusal to use P&O Ferries.

Edit: Somehow the journey down is always a relaxed and pleasant one whilst I hate the return trip with a vengeance.

Edit 2: As there's been a bit of chat about Sutton 'Where' can we add Sutton Hoo to the list?