Set sail for Devon and avoid the queues on the motorway

IF you’re planning to travel from Wales to north Devon this week but don’t fancy encountering motorway traffic jams along the way then you can now take an alternative route – by SEA.

For the MV Balmoral is finally launching her spring season which includes voyages from Penarth to Ilfracombe.

The liner’s first voyage from a Welsh port this season was due to have taken place last weekend (from Penarth to Ilfracombe) but the trip was cancelled due to technical issues.

White Funnel Limited, which runs the flagship vessel, posted a message on its website saying: “We regret to inform you that all cruises on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 May have been cancelled.

“This is due to the ship having to rerenter Sharpness Drydock for minor attention.”

But now the repair work has been complete and MV Balmoral will firstly set sail from Swansea to Ilfracombe and the nearby island of Lundy tomorrow before the Penarth sailings take place from June 1 to 4.

Following these “taster sessions” the MV Balmoral’s full summer season will launch on Wednesday, July 26, and there will be 39 sailings and excursions from the Bristol Channel.

The MV Balmoral was launched at Southampton in June 1949 and is licensed to carry up to 600 passengers and has a crew of 22.

Balmoral has twice served as a Royal yacht. Laid up at end of 2012 season by her previous owners the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society she languished in Bristol Docks missing 2013 and 2014 sailings.

With a very uncertain fate awaiting her she was bought for £1 by the MV Balmoral Fund – which has since raised almost £750,000 by public subscription and Costal Community Fund grants to return her to sailing in 2015, 2016 and now again 2017.

For full details of Balmoral’s sailings from Penarth this summer and to book tickets go to the White Funnel website at www.whitefunnel.co.uk