Brittany runs ferries to northern Spain all year round, though slightly reduced service in the winter months as the ferries are taken out of service, one by one, for maintenance work.

My favourite crossing heading south is the two nights on board. I can't remember the exact timings, but you would have all day to ride to Portsmouth, board the ship about 9pm, it leaves an hour or so later. You have one night on board during which the ferry travels slowly, calls in at Roscoff the next morning for a crew change, then carries on with a second night on board and you arrive at Santander at 8am (7am UK time). You are now totally refreshed and have all day to make progress heading south through Spain. The price for this crossing is the same as one-night versions.

One word, however. After Switzerland (OK, and Andorra), Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe and crossing in mid winter can be very cold. On one trip a group of seven of us set out from the UK on Boxing Day. We were heading for Lisbon to follow the Dakar rally into Morocco, six of us had electrically-heated vests and were fine, the seventh suffered big time and had his wife buy and ship a vest to a hotel in Algeciras for the return trip.

A Gerbing heated vest is worth three layers of clothing and you can dial in the amount of heat as you wish. You will need this at altitude in Morocco as well. I also ride with handlebar muffs in winter.

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Yes it gets cold in sunny spain !
I always find the worst part when going to maroc is just past Salamanca when you climb and pass Beja ( ski resort on left ) and after the that it tends to warm up !

Thanks for your replies everyone, great they sail throughout the winter.

I'm expecting a very cold ride through Spain so currently looking for a set of handlebar muffs that will fit over Barkbusters to compliment my Oxford heated grips and Keiss heated vest; thanks for reminding me Tim.

A good shout about the two night boat being the better option, I'm sure I took that crossing last time in 2007. The boat got into Bilboa early and I was on the road by 8am, in Algeciras by 6pm, then in Tangier Med lunchtime the next day. But that was in April and the weather was on my side.

There only one Uk to Spain ferry that’s 1 night on board and that’s the Pont Aven Plymouth to Santander route that doesn’t operate over winter.

All the new ferries (Salamanca, Santona and Galicia) are 2 nights on board for the Portsmouth to Spain routes. Non of the times I’ve used these has it stopped part way.

I came back on the Salamanca last week - only one night.
Looks the same southbound from the current BF timetable.
I've also never noticed stopping in France on on this route in all my years, but I suppose it's possible.
From what I recall of the Pont Aven, I prefer it over the Salamanca.

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Adventure Motorcycling Handbook 8 • Morocco Overland 3 • Overlanders Handbook 2 • Twit

The portsmouth to bilbao night ferry has been stopping in Roscoff for a crew change for ages hence the 36 hrs travelling time . Most people are still asleep then anyways

We didn’t stop in Roscoff at the beginning of March or any of the other crossings I’ve done on the new ships over the last 3 years although I do usually use the Portsmouth Santander route.

2 nights on the way out, 1 night on the return though.

So maybe it's only Bilbao route that gets the Roscoff.
I think I have only gone via Bilbao once, and that was northbound.

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Adventure Motorcycling Handbook 8 • Morocco Overland 3 • Overlanders Handbook 2 • Twit