Pont l'Abbé - new BF ferry from Roscoff

[Liz]

I've just had a message from Brittany Ferries about their new boat Roscoff/Plymouth from April.  It sounds very small and it doesn't look to be cutting edge ferry design - no reclining seats for one thing!  I hope not a return to the bad old days of the Quiberon.  Does anyone know anything about it?

BTW I did a search for Pont l'Abbé on the Forum.  It came up with 2 posts about kids selling goods as part of their commercial BAC - fascinating  but hardly relevant.

Liz

[Val_2]

Liz. In Le Telegramme about six weeks ago there was quite a spread about this "new" ship. I think you will find she was built about 1978 and holds just about the same as the old Quiberon or even less. Have a look at one of Will Conq's threads recently about this as there is a bit about it and I have a feeling this ship is the old Dana Anglia from "Triangle" fame in the 1980's BBC. Anyway its only on loan until 2008 when the real Pont l'Abbé comes into service

[Liz]

Thanks Val.  I felt sure there had been some info on the new ferry on the Forum which is why I did a search!  Bit of a waste of time.

Liz

[Will]

It was discussed here;

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/585021/ShowPost.aspx

I believe the search is a bit iffy when dealing with posts from the old forum, probably because the way the system stored them meant they didn't respond to searches with the old software either. As the new system takes over fully, it should all sort itself out (we hope).

Incidentally, we were probably the first people to get the official announcement, and it was posted on the forum immediately it received. The news about the Bretagne 2 in the thread linked above is something that I hadn't seen elsewhere either - You sometimes get the news here first. [:D]

[Liz]

Thanks Will.  I did find it by the tried and trusted method of scrolling through recent posts!

Liz

[Will]

I am sure Liz has seen the information at http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1565, but others may be interested to take a look. Apart from the lack of reclining seats (which has been a problem with other former members of the BF fleet) it does look reasonably well appointed for its age and size. Of course, the newer ferries aren't necessarily the better - I personally prefer the Normandie to the Mont St Michel (except in bad weather), for example. Even the Quiberon, which, like the Duc de Normandie, was pretty dire as it approached its sell-by-date, was a good ship once. I remember travelling to Spain and back on it in the 1980s.