May 12, 2015 – the Barfleur is the blue arrow heading north from Spain into the Bay of Biscay on this MarineTraffic live ships map
I sometimes think I am the only person in the world who cares about the beautiful Barfleur car ferry, seen so often going in and out of Poole Harbour in Dorset, as she shuttles back and forth to Cherbourg in France. And I am probably the only person who thinks her beautiful!
The Barfleur in Poole, August 2013
The Barfleur has been missing for a couple of months, as her owners, Brittany Ferries, have taken her away for £10m worth of modernisation work to be carried out.
By now I think the scrubbers will have been fitted to the ferry, born two decades ago. These will remove nasty sulphur dioxide from the exhaust, something that had to be done because of new environmental legislation this year.
Will that black smoke from the funnels be a thing of the past?
I am a little bit obsessed with the Barfleur, which is silly when I have never even been on board. In fact I may never walk her decks, as although I visit Poole every summer, my passport needs renewing, so I won’t be hopping over to France any time soon!
Until Barfleur went away for her refit, I followed her nearly every day on a wonderful iPad app called Marine Traffic. There’s also a browser version anyone can use, here.
Shipping in the Channel on the MarineTraffic app – red ships are tankers, green are cargo, orange are fishing boats, pink are yachts, yellow are high-speed craft, turquoise are others – and royal blue are ferries like the Barfleur
Every morning and night I would watch the royal blue arrow of the Barfleur arriving in or leaving Poole or Cherbourg. I learned the pattern of her travels, some days leaving Cherbourg in the afternoon and reaching Poole by 9pm, sometimes leaving a lot later and arriving in the middle of the night. But either way, she would usually leave Poole again at breakfast time. It took me back to summer holidays, sitting in the upstairs restaurant at the Poole Thistle hotel on the Quay, watching Barfleur going out.
Barfleur beyond the docks in Poole, August 2011
A closer look
A grey day in August 2013
Barfleur on her way out, beyond the yacht marina, August 2011
A more realistic zoom, showing the distance, August 2013
About to turn around the end of Brownsea Island, August 2013
Bye for now – August 2014
Barfleur always looks particularly romantic on the nights she arrives after dark in Poole…
Barfleur arriving late at night – this is Poole in July 2014
The Santander area, early April 2014. The Barfleur is a blue diamond at the bottom of the map, in the middle…
Zooming in on the map I could see Barfleur in dry dock at the Astillero shipyard
Every so often over the past two months I have looked for Barfleur on the map. Eventually she was out of intensive care and back on the water…
Barfleur out of dry dock in Astillero on May 7
Then yesterday I noticed she had moved from the busy Santander area, across to a small port called Musel Arnao, also on the northern coast of Spain. Last night she had a smaller red vessel snug up against her flank, as I had seen so often in Poole on the MarineTraffic app. She was being refuelled from a little tanker vessel.
Then today she was at sea. Hooray!
Barfleur today – is she perhaps returning to Cherbourg?
Why do I love Barfleur so much?
Barfleur in Poole, July 2014
Barfleur to me represents Poole, which I love, the place my mother and her ancestors were born. She represents holidays, and escape, too. But not just any ship will do. Barfleur has beautiful proportions and I love the simple white, red and blue livery.
Actually the paint-job makes a difference. This is a picture of Barfleur before she joined Brittany Ferries…
An almost unrecognisable Barfleur when she was with Truckline Ferries. The picture is by Kevin Hall on MarineTraffic.com – thanks to Philip Jones for telling me in a comment that this must have been around 1991 or 1992, as I had it captioned as two decades later!
There have been other Brittany Ferries…
Brittany Ferries’ Cotentin in August 2009 – not as good as the Barfleur
Then there are all the high-speed ferries from Condor, which travel between Poole or Weymouth and the Channel Islands or France…
Condor Rapide in Poole, August 2010
Condor Vitesse in Weymouth, August 2013
This summer I may see the new big Condor Liberation ferry, which should grace Poole with its presence…
The new Liberation – an image from the Jersey Evening Post – click on the picture to tour the vessel in pictures
Although the start of its service has apparently been beset with bad luck! See the BBC story here. It was pranged when it hit the quay in Guernsey and then had electrical problems. Oh dear…
But none of these superfast fliers can hold a candle to my beloved Barfleur. See you soon, girl, I hope!
Blue skies and seas ahead? A Brittany Ferries publicity picture of the Barfleur – click on the image to see inside the ferry
The Squirrelbasket 
Ah, what a great post. Thank you for sharing Pat.
Thanks Shaz, I know it’s a bit different from my usual outpourings!
All the best 🙂
We travelled on her just before Christmas, having driven from Austria to visit our son in Wareham. I think she was well due a re-fit, but what impressed me was the team work of the staff! Only moan was there were no sandwiches for sale. I hope she’ll be back when we next make a marathon to the UK!
Glad you liked her enough to try her again. She is quite an old ferry, but helpful staff always make a difference.
Austria is a long way from the sea!
Barfleur does seem to be back to her routine of shuttling back and fore across the Channel now for the summer.
All the best 🙂
Perhaps you know Whitecliff recreation ground at the edge of Poole Harbour, technically in Parkstone and bordering on to the edge of Poole Park. It is a special place for me as I have been going there since I was about 5 years old. Nowadays when I visit I always look across to Poole Quay and can often see these ships, including, I assume, the Barfleur. It makes a fine view.
I was thrown for a bit, as when I Googled it I was shown Turlin Moor in Hamworthy, at the wrong end of Poole!
But now I see Whitecliff is the place we would have reached if we had kept on walking from Baiter, instead of turning back through Poole Park. Maybe next time we will go there and on to Parkstone and Lilliput and maybe get a bus back from Sandbanks!
Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
I was thrown for a bit, as when I Googled it I was shown Turlin Moor in Hamworthy, at the wrong end of Poole!
But now I see Whitecliff is the place we would have reached if we had kept on walking from Baiter, instead of turning back through Poole Park. Maybe next time we will go there and on to Parkstone and Lilliput and maybe get a bus back from Sandbanks!
Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
Got to agree she is a fantastic looking ship and have a soft spot for her too as she has carried my family and I safely to and from France for the past 20+ years. Came back on her only yesterday after a nice weeks holiday in Normandy to visit the wife’s (French) family. The date under the pic of her in Truckline is wrong though, that was way back in 1991 or 2 when she first came into service on that route.
Glad you enjoyed your latest trip.
I will change that date!
Best wishes 🙂