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We returned just today from Brittany and went Portsmouth-Le Havre with LD. The crossing is very convenient as it arrives in Le Havre at 07:30. I was really nervous about driving in France for the first time especially as we were going to Southern Brittany and I found out a couple of days before that we were travelling on the main holiday Saturday in France.

Driving, even on the busiest day of the year was really quite easy and  even though our trip was estimated at 4.5 hours by the viamichelin website it took 7 and I was pretty tired the last couple of hours. The Aires ( rest areas ) are really good and a couple we stopped at had excellent tour info with interactive displays and we spent longer than expected resting up before moving on. If you do use LD try to travel on a Thursday if possible. We went on Friday for a Saturday arrival but if we could have gone one day earlier we would have saved £100 or so.

I paid £4 each for the club class seats which although nothing special did give you a dedicated lounge and peace which we didnt appreciate until our return crossing when we had standard seats, these were fine themselves but it was difficult to get any peace with all the kids running around, not a big problem but if you have a long drive later something to bear in mind. The best looking seats were the sleepers which we would have liked on the overnight outbound trip but were fully booked. If you want a cabin you need to book quite early before you travel as they are fairly limited compared to other  ferry operators.

We really enjoyed our first trip to France and will definitely return, I dont know why we havent been before. We will definitely book earlier for next year and shop around for the best deals. We did it DIY which I thoroughly reccomend and loved Brittany ( south on the gulf of Morbihan ) and our site the camping-des-isles which I will post a review on as soon as the washing machine has finished its third load!

Glad to hear you had a great holiday. and welcome to the 'We love France.... ' club.  If you do go again next year, and have any choice on dates, then try to go last two weeks in August, prices come down, traffic is less, and sites are less busy - so you have a choice of a better pitch, and easier access to pool and other facilities. 

Best time to book a ferry seems to be October/November time - either directly with the ferry companies, or with the Caravan or Caravanning and Camping Clubs who offer good deals at this time.

Yes I think later in August would be pretty good. We were on the beach a couple of days ago and watched the sun set at 9:52 pm, I`m certain because the time is set on the camera. I just assumed it would be darker earlier in France rather than later for some reason.

One of the pleasing things was making an ( occasionally poor ) attempt to communicate with the French with 1970`s school lesson language and seeing the barriers come down, making an attempt to ask about wine or food usually did the trick and it just takes a little effort to get a helpful response.

Finding my favourite wine that I regularly pay £4.99 for at home priced at 1.99 euro`s in a French supermarket seems good enough reason to return at the soonest opportunity too