ex D Brown

Bonjour mes braves,

I'm a Scottish bloke living in Paris, which is In October I'll be heading back to god's country to take part in the Tour of Mull Rally as usual, this year Norma the 1600 Nova (triple class winner) in replaced with Moira the Mk2 Escort.

I'm looking into the travel options and found that the cheapest (remember, I'm a Scot) is to take my Yam Fazer 600 up to Zeebrugge and take the Superfast to Rosyth, hopefully kipping out on the "luxury, spacious aircraft-style seats".

So, I'm looking for people's experiences of this - what's the chances of getting some sleep / staying in the bar all night / meeting some floozies / being bugged by bogan weins all night / haein a news with some other biker dudes / suffering a pong of garlic and sweaty oxters / needing to kip in the Stirling Services as soon as I get off the boat / getting my bags nicked while sleeping / blagging a free cabin etc etc.....

all advice gratefully considered, merci and bonsoir,

Duncan

Corpulent Tosser

ex-Pa ?

My mother and sister went on one of these fine vessels from Rosyth, were very sick in both direction, both outbound and inbound sailings I mean, not that they were being sick in two directions, that would be awful !

They thought the toilets were very good despite being awash with vomit.

CT

ex D Brown

Cheers CT, will bear all that in mind and look in both directions for vomitting female Tossers.

ex-Pa (well, still Pa but lost all trace of passowrds etc in the move)

Zeolite

Duncan...
A friend of mine is just back from France with his caravan and family using the ferry. Said it was very good and has used it several times. Can't comment about the females though as he was with his wife and two kids.

Am I right in assuming that Doug has got rid of the Nova? The Mk2 isn't his old yellow one is it?

ex D Brown

Zeo,

Neither - the Escort is a "new" one currently being built at Auchmaud Motorsport, components being donated by ADMC members around the world (Aiberdeen, Oman , Paris etc.). Norma the Nova has been handed down to 17 yo Stevie Brown (Linda's boy) who made his debut at Ingliston the other weekend, will be out on the Speyside this weekend and fingers crossed will get an entry for Mull. 3-car team at TeamBrowns this year.

The old yellow Escort (Emma PSS146R) was up for sale last year, we thought about buying it and using it as a starting point.....

Dunc

Zeolite

Cheez.....Stevie is 17!!!!
I am getting way old! Last time I saw him he was about 7

fast bloke

How did I get in here

Anyway - the luxury seats aren't. Either get a cabin or stay in the bar getting pished all night, cos the night seems much longer if you are trying to sleep. (Its OK - The nice man will help you get your bike off the next morning - you can then lie down and have a decent kip at the port - at least - that is what we did)

Trucker Ted

We used it last year to go to Brugge and the boats are new and in first class condition,only downside for us was that the crossing going was really choppy , one minute sitting in the lounge enjoying a few pints ,the next we were lying down trying not to throw up .That said,i would use it again as it saves a lot of driving and fuel.What we noticed was that most people didnt use the seats and instead made a bed on the floor or after hours kipped on the bench seats in the lounge,the ship provided blankets ,but you would be better with your own sleeping bag(if your on a budget this is the way to go,but if not then i would go for a cabin).Not sure about prices as we used a special deal that was in the paper at the time.

kart_man

The crossing from Newcastle to Amsterdam might be worth considering too. Pretty good boats and a bit shorter/cheaper.
I used it in December and it had casino, bars, disco etc. Quite pleasant all in all !

H7

We took the ferry from Rosyth to Zeebrugge in early June and returned late June. Gotta say it was excellent. Outward crossing was very smooth, inward was pretty choppy, but didn't see too many folks unwell. We had an outside cabin both ways and I can recommend that - no experience of the aircraft seats. The bar's good and the beer's a reasonable price - about £2.20 a pint, if I recall. Food was excellent too. Take care heading back to Zeebrugge, though - the Feds were checking every car coming off the ferry and asking if you'd had anything to drink on the ship. Anyone who said they'd had a drink got pulled and breathalysed A lot better than driving the 500 miles to the south coast and back