Two readers got in touch about a column from last week's
Travel
Peter Kelly got in touch in response to Catherine Mack’s Plain Sailing column, last week
I’m afraid sailrail.co.uk is not quite as functional and user-friendly as you suggest. It is aimed at UK-based users: all journeys must commence in the UK. A more fatal flaw is that it compels you to specify the route. If you wish to travel to or from the Dublin region it is normally immaterial to you whether you travel by Dublin Port or Dún Laoghaire. However, the SailRail site forces you to select between no fewer than three Dublin-area routes, so it doesn’t automatically find the best deal for your circumstances. You still have to wade through the offerings of the various ferry companies.
Valerie Webb contacted us about the same article
Plain sailing? No such thing. Just returned from Dún Laoghaire port, annoyed. No ferries. Read your article. Now distressed. No Dublin Swift, either. Your Donegal man has
it right: if you were to take the night boat you would be looking at three or four hours at Holyhead train station, and I can assure you that it remains a difficult place to spend time.
Catherine Mack responds ]
Sorry if my article rocked the boat a little. It was simply aimed at reminding readers that the sail-rail option is much better than it used to be, as well as being much more carbon friendly. Valerie Webb was annoyed that some ferries were cancelled during the snow. I was not claiming that this form of transport was perfect, but as a regular sail-rail passenger I come across a lot fewer problems than when I travel by air (although I agree that late-night arrivals at Holyhead do not make for a particularly pleasant trip). Peter Kelly commented that SailRail does not offer tickets for passengers travelling from Ireland. I have booked tickets several times using this service for journeys starting in Ireland, and SailRail says this service is still on offer. The only downside for me is that, as I mentioned, you have to wait up to 10 days for the tickets to arrive, so it’s not great for last-minute bookings.