Our Summer Road Trip: Setting sail

Over the last few months in the build up to Summer, we planned out a three week road trip starting from home, up North in Lancashire, down to London, further down to Cornwall, over to Dorset, across to France, back to Guernsey, up to Winchester, across to Devon, and back up to Windsor. And sitting here now, two weeks since we returned home, I still can’t believe we pulled it off. We had our best Summer yet, creating the most amazing memories, and I wanted to share some of our favourite parts with you all, starting at the point where we set sail to St Malo.

Obviously there are many ways to get to St Malo, France, but for the second year running we were fortunate to work with Condor Ferries who run regular crossings from Poole to Guernsey where you can then switch boats for St Malo. Our journey from Poole started early in the morning, boarding the Condor Liberation for a three hour sailing over to Guernsey. We had pre-booked upgraded seats in the Horizon Lounge with panoramic views of the sea, an exclusive bar to purchase light refreshments, and high speed wifi (available at an extra cost).

In the on-board cafe you can also purchase meals throughout the day and although after last years sailing I didn’t dare risk it, Gaz and Lewis both enjoyed a full English and the children were more than happy with a croissant.

I won’t lie, I was nervous about the sailing after all of us had suffered with sea sickness the previous year. With the sea lovely and calm and the sun shining I hoped that the crossing would be a little kinder to us this time.

Unfortunately just fifteen minutes into our sailing the children started to feel unwell and over the next four hours all six of us suffered with sea sickness for the entire duration. Unlike other ferries we have been on the Condor has a very unusual motion and despite taking sea-sickness tablets, I think sadly this just doesn’t agree with us.

By the time we arrived in Guernsey we were so relieved to get off the boat we completely forgot we had to get straight back onto another! Luckily the Condor Rapide felt very different and we were able to sit outside on the top deck where the fresh air made the sailing far more pleasant!

Inside there was a large seating area, duty free shop, bar and cafe and I felt the lay out was far more spacious and airy compared to the Liberation. It was lovely to see the children regain some colour in their cheeks, enjoy a snack and keep their eyes peeled for their first sighting of France.

We have never been to France as a family before, although I spent a huge portion of my childhood there, and St Malo has been somewhere I have wanted to visit for as far back as I can remember. When we saw France in the distance the last few hours of sickness seemed like a distant memory and we were just raring to get back in the car and drive to our destination…..

* We were gifted our crossing to St Malo in exchange for an honest review. All words and opinions are my own. **