LD lines have at last put up the crossings and prices for 2014 well at least until after April, this has now posed us another question as there is a huge difference in price if we don’t come back on the Sunday crossing but wait until the 05:30am on the Monday, which is the Bank Holiday.
This means we can change the timing of our travel back, to everything slightly later, maybe stopping at Bayonne on the way back as well as on the way down which means we could leave Portugal a bit later say around 9 or 10:00 am rather than 5:00am which is good, based on the time down that should get us to Bayonne around 5-6:00pm. That sounds quite palatable, time for a nice evening meal somewhere in Bayonne; perhaps we could drive down into the town a bit and have a look around as we wouldn’t be so tired and as we wouldn’t need to be up at the crack of dawn the next morning.
The leg then back to Dieppe would be the same as on the way down as well, so maybe we could leave again around 9-10:00am (Sounds nice) drive for say 4-5 hours that’s about 2:00pm have a nice leisurely lunch what 2 hours and back on the road about 4:00pm that would target us to be back in Dieppe around midnight. The crossing as at 5:50am so 2 hours before at the dock is 3:30am, so gives us 3.5 hours cover for any delays. All this and save £110 um got to be worth a try hasn’t it?
That said need to see where 4-5 hours from Bayonne would get us. Time for Google directions. Looks like Poitiers or Châtellerault could be likely contenders; they are about 30 minutes apart.
Next Job is to find rooms for the night we have always use the f1 on the way down so we could do that both ways, the issue with the f1 is that the bathroom and toilet are away from the room, which when you are getting up at 4:00am it’s not a problem as there is nobody around, but that could be a problem at 9-10:00am could get busy so maybe get a room somewhere with a bathroom attached. 
After a bit of research the B+B looks a good contender, we have used a B+B before at Bordeaux and it was good value. Maybe use it both ways?
Last job then before getting all this booked is to check with Marc & Mieke if the apartment we stay in is available? If it is I think we will give this a try, it’s the same route so we won’t have those problems, the timing may be a problem, and getting home first thing in morning rather than last thing at night may not be good, but let’s try it and hey if it is not good we won’t do it again.