Liz thinks that John has made this up, but he says its definately a thing and it is on the CalMac ferry website. It's labelled as 'an island hopping adventure' and targeted at the ambitious cyclist, but equally cars or motorbikes can take the route - we chose to bring Liz's XKR out of its hibernation and give it a good run.
So on a sunny Wednesday morning, when we got up at 8:00 Liz put the obvious question to me - why not today? We're not doing anything else and the next opportunity / good weather day would be weeks if not months away.
Liz had drawn up a schedule for the route both clockwise and anticlockwise. For us, starting on the Cowal peninsula, we think that anticlockwise is the best.
So, the first ferry is a 30 minute ride from Portavadie to Tarbert on the Campbell peninsula and we caught the 9:30am. A short drive south and picking up a well needed full tank of petrol, then we were soon at Claonaig waiting for the 11:20am to Lochranza. In hindsight, getting the 8.30am from Portavadie would have potentially got us on a ferry 10:05am to Lochranza - first lesson learnt for next time, but, we were still making good time and hitting all our targets.
Sailing to, and then arriving on, Arran you are hit with some amazing beauty of island, mountains and sweeping roads rising gently (we were in the car, not sure how the cyclists would comment). We grabbed a coffee at the sandwich hut then set off to the main town and next port, Brodick. We stopped within 200 yards as a stag was grazing by a small stream with the sea and a castle in the background - can't get much more idyllic than that. He simply wasn't bothered by tourists taking his photo.
On the way to Brodick we called in at a community run bookshop with lots of local publications, an art exhibition then the Arran cheese shop for some local cheese. Grabbing some tasty sandwiches, we headed on to the port.
First real mistake of the day - unlike most of our local ferry services which operate on first come first served, the route from Arran to the mainland is huge and busy and you need to book a particular service. They are often sold out, so turning up 30 minutes before the 2pm ferry with no booking resulted in being put in the standby lane. Not one vehicle from standby made it onto the service. Whilst we were waiting, we had taken advice and booked a space on the 4:40pm which should still allow us to complete the challenge. So we headed off for a little treat of seeing a few more bits of the island including a standing stone cycle and a beautiful view over to Holy Island with some compulsory Arran ice cream in hand!
We returned in time for the 4.40pm ferry with check no later than 30mins before sailing, whereas all other ferries are so small you can turn up and drive straight on if there is space. This is also the longest sailing, at an hour and we sat in the busy lounge area.
Arriving at Ardrossan we had plenty of time to get about 20 miles up the coastal road to Wemyss Bay where the 7:05pm would take us to Rothesay on Bute. We called in at Largs for 5.0 rated fish and chips and continued onto Wemyss Bay and parked up, where eagle eyed John spotted the CalMac sign saying next ferry 8:05pm .... the 7:05pm is cancelled until February 2025 at the request of Argyll and Bute. Why? The 6:05pm and the 8:05pm are ok - but the 7:05pm gets the boot (the one we want). The 8.05pm would not have worked for us (and the 6:05pm had been late setting off anyhow!) because last and final ferry to Colintraive and home being 9pm. Revised plan of action changed our 5 ferry challenge to a 4 ferry compromise taking the Western Ferrry service (turn up and go every 20 minutes) back from Gourock, a few miles further up the road, to Dunoon.
By the time we got home we had driven over 100 miles. A really great day out and we will be back to Arran either for the day or longer, an amazing island.
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