Roscoff to Morlaix

[jamesr]

Looking at booking a route via Plymouth-Roscoff on the way from Cornwall to a ski trip. The overnight sailing from Plymouth arrives Roscoff at 0800. There's a TGV to Paris at 0910 on a Saturday from Morlaix. Does anyone know if an hour and ten minutes is comfortably long enough to make that connection (given that there's 15 miles between the two)? Missing that train probably means I'll struggle to get down to the Alps.

According to my last Thomas Cook timetable, there's a bus that leaves Roscoff at 0820 with a note about "the bus runs from the ferry terminal on days of operation" - can this be relied upon to be there? If not, are taxis easily available?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[30907]

Years since I was last there, but the relevant info is here:
http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/guides/ports/roscoff#getting and
http://http://www.viaoo29.fr/horaires_ligne/?rub_code=6&lign_id=143&sens=1

Looks like the bus is a non starter (no doubt there's a reason it leaves before the ferry docks!) but a pre-booked taxi a possibility.

Question is, can you rely on the ferry arriving on time? There's lots of slack in the schedule but the Western Channel in a gale.....?

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

http://telechargement.ter-sncf.com/Images/Bretagne/Tridion/FH23_Morlaix_Roscoff_2p_tcm-16-91537.pdf


Above is the current time table from Roscoff to Morlaix - the buses are operated under the 'TER' banner under contract to SNCF. The 0835 bus on Saturday from the port is timed to connect with the 0915 TGV from Morlaix to Paris(MP). I guess something similar will happen from the new timetable in December. 35 mins to get through immigration to the bus will be OK - make sure you are at the front of the queue for disembarkation! Note that if you decide to use the train to Roscoff on your return, the station is a good 15 minutes walk from the port and bit of a struggle with any degree of luggage - as I found to my cost! Regards.

 

[jamesr]

Thank you both very much for your assistance - I should have really searched the detail on the Brittany Ferries website myself before posting! It's a pity the buses don't show up on the Rail Europe website, but this is really helpful.

I've now found a later TGV to Paris at 0932 - the extra twenty minutes makes me feel a lot more comfortable.

I was quite surprised to discover it's a ten hour crossing, to be honest, I'm sure it never used to be!

Anyway, I think I will give it a go. Thanks again for the help.

 

[Gordon]

.

SNCF doesn't show any early morning official connections Roscoff- Paris, maybe because the arrival time of the ferry is not reliably enough.

Personally I would never dare leave such little time between a boat docking and a train leaving from 15 miles away - especially when French rural transport is involved

 

[30907]

I was quite surprised to discover it's a ten hour crossing, to be honest, I'm sure it never used to be!

No, it never used to be, and the best time is under 6 hours - but BF have perhaps discovered that their passengers prefer a good night's sleep (and/or they will spend more on board) so, as it's low season and there's no pressure to fit in 3 sailings per 24 hours, you get a more civilised journey.

But, even though the bus is perfectly timed (assuming it's a Saturday morning arrival - Roscoff Port de Bloscon is the ferry port BTW) and the ferry schedule has a lot of slack, I'm still a bit cautious, like Gordon!

 

[richw]

35 minutes is probably not long enough as a foot passenger to disembark at roscoff at present. I did the route 2 weeks ago, and the roscoff gangway is broken (has been for several months) and foot passengers need to disembark by bus through the car garage. They need to wait until the car garage is unloaded first. i cleared immigration at 0840, 2 weeks ago, but I guess it depends how busy the crossing is how quick the garage is emptied and clear for foot passengers to be called down.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Thank you both very much for your assistance - I should have really searched the detail on the Brittany Ferries website myself before posting! It's a pity the buses don't show up on the Rail Europe website, but this is really helpful.

I've now found a later TGV to Paris at 0932 - the extra twenty minutes makes me feel a lot more comfortable.

I was quite surprised to discover it's a ten hour crossing, to be honest, I'm sure it never used to be!

Anyway, I think I will give it a go. Thanks again for the help.

i am guessing you are doing a thursday night crossing if its 10 hours, as the rest of the week the overnight crossings are 7 hours. There was an operational reason for thursday night having to leave Plymouth at 2045 instead of the normal 2300 departure. Day crossings are scheduled 5 1/2 hour