Pietons

[Chancer]

Speedferries will be carrying foot passengers from 11th july for £7.50 each way.

Until now the only way to do it was to either ride your push bike or try to blag a lift of of one of the drivers in the queue, nearly impossible according to the guy I let travel with me, his van had broken down not far from the terminal and he had had no luck with any of the drivers on the previous crossing.

And no he didnt look like a paedophile carrying a camera just a dejected traveller.

A good price I thought and a good alternative to Newhaven - Dieppe which I have had to use before when travelling by foot.

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

As well as the low prices I quite liked the idea of a ferry with no foot passengers. There is always a choice of seats on the boat and it seems not a lot of alcohol is drunk on any crossing. Consequently it's chav free, quiet, peaceful and a pretty pleasant way to cross the channel.

I'm sure Kurt (sp) needs the extra money and if it helps to keep my fare lower then good luck to him.

I think it's still a shame though.

[PeterG]

So you think the 'chavs' might be a problem on a 50 minute crossing.......... I think not.

You could always take the chunnel....

[Chancer]

Interesting point, I had no thought of that angle.

I reckon they are just going to use a minibus and probably carry it on the boat to avoid having two so that should keep the numbers minimal assuming that there is even going to be a demand.

The chav element only seem to like to travel in a (noisy) group usually in coaches, as speedferries already accept minibuses if they want to daytrip to Boulogne then we will see them en masse on the boat anyway regardless of a few foot passengers.

I like the fact that there are far more seats than pasengers on speed one due it being designed as a troop carrier and I can usually find a quiet corner and it is only 50-60 minutes after all.

I like my peace and quiet and a chance to relax while breaking the journey especially when travelling alone and a few times have moved to a seat in a quieter area, I find that "expressive children" running around the boat whose parents are unconscious of their existence are far more intrusive than a loud  group at the bar.

What is good for me about the Pieton service is the proximity to the rail station at Boulogne.

Re the tunnel, the carriages are pretty small and dont absorb sound like the furnished areas on ferries, even one car with noisy passengers can become intrusive (but is only 35 minutes) and you have little option than to sit it out in your ow car, which most people seem to do anyway - Chavs excluded!

[cooperlola]

Sounds great to me, JR.  I was trying to figure out a cheap way to go to Silverstone in September and this sounds perfect.  It seems like a great idea, and will encourage people to use trains rather than cars or planes when travelling alone or in small groups. 

I agree about the tunnel (which I am a heavy user of normally, as I get horribly seasick).  Why do I always get landed behind the family with two screaming brats and the radio on full blast?  A real b*gger as you are obliged to leave your windows open during the crossing.  My portable DVD player and headphones always take a bashing in the tunnel for just this reason.

[Chancer]

Coops

Expressive children (or perhaps I should really be talking about their parents) was something that I just accepted and thought was the norme, polite well behaved children being a pleasant exception, until I travelled the world and also lived in France.

I took many long and very rough coach journeys lasting up to several days in countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mozambique etc where children and backpackers (me) were forced to share the center aisle with domestic livestock and I never once heard a peep from the poor mites. When I arrived in New Zealand it was a massive contrast, in a museum I heard approaching what I thought was a very loud coach party of schoolchildren which turned uot to be two mothers in their early 30's with a total of 4 children.

On arriving in France and making comparison with my then more frequent returns to the UK I realised that in general French children were far better behaved and generally happier, just as were the children in the other countries. At first I put it down to the unhealthy modern junk/processed food diets, which whilst I am sure has an effect but is also eaten to a degree in France.

My theory now is that it is the upbringing in the home and French schools that is responsible, in about two weeks time I usually start to hear some children in supermarkets behaving like in the UK,  after a few weeks away from the good regime both food and discipline of their schools and being full time with (and I am searching for the right phrase here) unemployed or single parents or the grandparents.

I think that it is very telling that the same word "education" is used in France to describe a childs schooling and also upbringing.

[cooperlola]

I am just generally allergic to children, JR.

I don't know whether it's actually true that French children are better behaved than British ones, but I do think they are more accustomed to mixing with adults.  My neighbours (we only have one set within hearing distance) have two boys, whom they always bring with them when they come round.  Now these two little chaps can be heard on every warm evening when they are at home, playing in the garden and making an almighty row - as normal kids do, I guess.  But when they come to dinner/apero/whatever, they behave impecably - offering to help serving stuff, sitting quietly etc, and usually bring a pack of cards or a game with them so that after the meal they can go off into a corner and amuse themselves.

When we lived in the UK, if we were entertaining, nobody would dream of turning up with their young children, and one would have been surprised if they had (bl**dy furious in my case[Www]).  Hence, they never have any experience of this and seem to have absolutely no clue (I reckon) as to how to behave when out in public.  But like yours, this is just a theory.

[Chancer]

It is lots of theorys all mixed up I am sure.

I think it is great that children lhere earn how to behave in restaurants from their earliest days as babies and I agree with you generally they are well behaved in company.

Once on a ferry I had scouted out and settled in to what I thought would be a quiet seat, a very respectable looking couple aged around 40 then sat in front of me, the woman leaned over to her husband and sighed "thank god we managed to find somewhere quiet where the kids cant disturb people! Whereupon they arrived, started arguing and fighting as to who would sit where etc and generally giving the parents a hard time. 

[Benjamin]

No, no J.R. It's the parents who were giving themselves a hard

time by clearly not having instilled some discipline into their own

kids.

Mrs Benjamin will be pleased that she's not the only one Cooperlola.

I have to hide all sharp objects and lock the knife draw when there are children around.  [6]

[Anton Redman]

" I have to hide all sharp objects and lock the knife draw when there are children around.   "   Thanks great but how do you defend yourself ?

Back slightly on topic nice to know I am not the only one who has helped somebody hitch across the channel. Canterbury to Limoges probably does not make Ken Walsh's top ten these days but seemed a good run at the time.