Island Hopping Continued

As mentioned before, there is a ferry crossing from Kintyre to Arran, leaving from Claonaig near the northern end of the peninsula and arriving at Lochranza at the northern end of the island.

Arran is described as Scotland in miniature and with its mixture of higher ground to the north and relatively low-lying land to the south it is easy to see why. It is also more usually approached from the east, on a ferry that takes 1 hour to cross from Ardrossan on the Ayrshire coast to the island, landing at Brodick on the eastern side. As the ferry approached the town, Goat Fell, which is the highest point on the island, dwarfs Brodick Castle and offers a taste of what awaits the traveller.

However, travelling from the island back onto the mainland allows for more island hopping opportunities. To the north of Ardrossan is Largs, yet another ferry port that offers a connection to the small island, known as Great Cumbrae, that site about a mile from shore. The smaller Little Cumbrae sits to the south of its larger partner. Back on the mainland, there is another ferry point further north at Wemyss Bay with the ferry this time making a 35 minute crossing to Bute.

This last named island sits close to the Cowal peninsula, separated by the 1 mile wide Kyles of Bute to the north of the island. This also marks our next potential crossing point, leaving the island and making the short hop back onto the mainland! Once on Cowal there are a couple of options for travelling if ferries are to be considered. First of all, on the eastern side of the peninsula, are Dunoon and Hunter’s Quay with ferries running from each to Gourock to the north of Wemyss Bay. On the western side of the peninsula, at Portavadie, there is a 20 minute crossing to Tarbert at the northern end of the Kintyre peninsula, which would neatly bring this section full circle!

However, returning to Gourock instead, a couple more ferries run from there. The first heads north to the Rosneath peninsula while the second heads northeast to Helensburgh. However, it should be noted that these are passenger only boats.

So, once more returning to the northern end of Kintyre, it is time to consider some of the other islands that can be visited. One, Davaar at the entrance to Campbeltown Loch, can be walked to at low tide. Another, Seil, can be driven onto over the Atlantic Bridge. Of course, some purists might not consider these to be islands!

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