Ferry Travel in the Winter (Channel) Bring your own Paddle.

[Whyperion]

Closest I could think to put this , ferry travel in the winter , bring your own paddles.

Just had a little email from DFDS Visit Bruges in the New Year and you could get free ferry travel when you book a minimum two-night hotel stay.
Book your stay, anytime from 6 January to 28 February 2013, at participating hotel/s before 14 December 2012 and you could(?!) get one of 1,250 free return Dover-Dunkirk ferry crossings ( I think this includes car as the offer reminds one that Bruges is an hours drive from Dunkirk ) .

I would guess loads of people have had the offer email , but if anyone wants further info PM me to try for a free crossing and I will send the link. Of course with the conditions it may be there are cheaper overall alternates you could book ( and Dover is a long way from The Lancs/Yorks borders ) Megabus for example are doing coach services from around £2.50 single London to European city destinations dependent on when you book. And the English channel in Jan/Feb can be a wonderful enjoyable crossing for lovers of extreme sports.

I once had the task of selling hotel space in Ostend/Bruges to London coach operators - I was not very successful as at the time most coach destinations preferred longer distances to warm Spain or Ski Italy. I got a free trip to Bruges via Ostend on one of the Belgian Railways ferries and a local bus, one October , crossing the channel in a tin bath could not have been much more difficult. The outbound ferry was 2 hrs delayed , mostly due to difficulties docking at Dover. The hotel in Bruges may have been stayed in by Napoleon III , but was warm and cosy , its food only ran to continental breakfast. So for evening I found the only vegetarian restaurant in Bruges , I asked where they got their supplies from - 'Covent Garden' was the reply - the owner travelled twice a week to London (pre Chunnel) to get the best range of items. Although Bruges looks old I am told it was much built by the British in Victorian Times, and I think re-built after WW2 damage in original styles. The hotel was modestly priced from memory so you should be able to find it on the web.

I think there might be cheap deals out of Hull in the winter months for ferry crossings ( Yorkshire Post often carry ads for them in my memory ).

The story of the college trip to Rotterdam can wait for another day.