Riviera makes for plain sailing

FLYING to your family holiday destination may have its advantages in terms of speed, but there’s a lot to be said for taking the scenic route by car.

For a start, the ferry journey isn’t the trial it used to be in days gone by. I have some sickly childhood memories of seemingly interminable sailings of a ship creaking and lurching its way across choppy waters to France, but doing it today is a very different experience.

We went on Brittany Ferries’ flagship, the Pont Aven. The experience is far more like a luxury cruise than a perfunctory ferry. There are bars and restaurants that don’t rip off the captive sea-faring customer, interior and exterior lounge decks and, to complete that pampered feeling, there’s even a swimming pool. As there were five of us in the family, we went for a deluxe cabin. The extra space was fantastic — you get a large window (rather than a porthole), separate bathroom and toilet, television and dvd player. Moreover, they wake you up and feed you by bringing you breakfast in the morning.