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Gone but not forgotten

Having travelled from the UK to Spain on the cruise ferry Cap Finistère (Portsmouth) and Pont-Aven (Plymouth) many times, I have been following Galicia and Salamanca (SM, May) with interest. Compared to Cap Finistère, the new ships are larger, carrying ten per cent more cars and having 20 per cent more berths, but being operated by 20 per cent fewer crew. I am sure operating costs and environmental impact are improved, and they will be more profitable.

However, the 23-hour crossing time from Portsmouth to Santander or Bilbao on Cap Finistère (with one longer trip incorporating a crew change in Roscoff) now takes, as standard, over 28 hours to Santander, and to Bilbao over 33 hours (and two nights, not one) from Portsmouth. While I love travelling by ship, I wonder if some will now consider driving down through France as a quicker option? We will miss Cap Finistère (far from perfect but fast). We will remember the ship powering up to 28 knots,