| Brittany Ferries' entry into the true 'superferry' age came with the arrival in 1989 of Bretagne, superceding the venerable Quiberon on the Plymouth-Santander route. Representing a huge increase in capacity, Bretagne proved to be a massive success and proved to be the starting point for further new ships in the 1990s. Replaced on the Spanish link in 1993 by Val de Loire, she transferred to Portsmouth for St Malo sailings (although redeployments mean she could end up on any of the company's routes during the winter). In 2004 the ship shared operations to St Malo with newly started midweek runs to Cherbourg and from the end of that year she returned to Plymouth to replace the Duc de Normandie on the Roscoff route. In the event it was found that the Bretagne was rather too large for the Roscoff run and for the 2006 season she reverted to the St Malo run, replacing the Val de Loire which was disposed of to DFDS, Brittany taking on charter in replacement DFDS' Duke of Scandinavia (ex-Dana Anglia) which would operate as Pont l'Abbe in the Bretagne's place at Plymouth. |
