Plymouth to Roscoff Ferry

This is the route Brittany Ferries was founded to run in 1973, and it remains one of their core France crossings today. Daytime sailings take around 6 hours; overnight sailings take 8 to 11 hours and include a cabin or reserved seat.

The Armorique, built specifically for this route in 2009, carries most sailings, with the flagship Pont-Aven operating select sailings during the week. Foot passengers are welcome on this route.

The crossing covers around 99 nautical miles, and there's a one-hour time difference between the UK and France to account for when planning your arrival. Bicycles are accepted for both foot and vehicle passengers, and foot passengers have a baggage room on Deck 6 — though it isn't accessible once the crossing is underway.

Because it faces the open Atlantic rather than the sheltered narrow Channel, the crossing can be rougher than the short Dover routes — if you're prone to seasickness, a cabin is worth booking even on a daytime sailing.

Roscoff's ferry terminal is at Port de Bloscon, a little way from the town centre, and it's one of the more relaxed arrival ports — all the terminal facilities are on a single ground floor, with a bar and café, tourist information (summer only), baby-changing, and showers available for a small fee.

Parking at the port is free, in a large car park in front of the terminal with a 48-hour limit, though vehicles are left at your own risk. Foot passengers get a free shuttle bus between the terminal and the ship.

One thing worth planning around: Roscoff itself has no train station. The nearest is at Morlaix, about 16 miles away and reachable by regular bus, and from Morlaix there are direct trains to Brest and Paris and onward TGV connections across France. By car, the port is well signposted, with the D69 heading south towards Brest, Quimper and beyond.

Roscoff is the westernmost of the Channel ports, which makes it the natural gateway not just to Brittany but to the whole west of France — the Loire, the Dordogne and Aquitaine are all more sensibly reached from here than from the eastern Channel ports.

The town itself is an ancient fishing port of Breton stone and whitewashed houses, with seafood restaurants lining the old harbour and boat trips out to the nearby Île de Batz. Thanks to the Gulf Stream it has a mild microclimate that's long made it a market-gardening centre.

There's a genuine piece of Anglo-French history here too: it was Roscoff onion-sellers, cycling door to door in England from the 1820s, who gave rise to the enduring "Onion Johnny" image of the beret-wearing Frenchman with a string of onions.