Travel

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Travel

Postby LANDROVER ROGER » Sun Mar 06, 2016 2:29 pm

Does anyone on here use the ferry route from Gourock to Dunoon and then Portavadie to Tarbert please?Just fancy a different way of getting there in April.Thank you.
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Re: Travel

Postby odds » Sun Mar 06, 2016 5:48 pm

Certainly different Roger. :)
What's the travelling time doing it that way, just out of interest.

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Re: Travel

Postby LANDROVER ROGER » Sun Mar 06, 2016 7:01 pm

Similar time Pete.The last bit from Erskine Bridge to Tarbert gets a bit tiring after a 6 hour drive,so I fancied doing something different.
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Re: Travel

Postby LANDROVER ROGER » Sun Mar 06, 2016 7:02 pm

Plus there will be rest periods on the Ferries.
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Re: Travel

Postby Tricky2 » Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:36 pm

Just relax and absorb the scenery.Spectacular!!!!
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Re: Travel

Postby MPR » Mon Mar 07, 2016 1:30 am

its a nice alternative, and defo cuts out a lot of road travel.
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Re: Travel

Postby LANDROVER ROGER » Mon Mar 07, 2016 9:54 am

Thank you for your replies.All the best!
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Re: Travel

Postby WC1 » Tue Mar 08, 2016 4:38 pm

I regularly use this route, Roger, in preference to the long drag round the road. It's not too much more expensive, given that you save something on fuel, and can be done in roughly the same time as the full road trip if you time the connections right. You're roughly 40-50 minutes Glasgow to Gourock, 20 minutes across to Hunters Quay, 40-45 minutes from there to Portavadie, another 20 minute ferry crossing, and then 40-45 minutes from Tarbert to the town. I find it a much more stress-free way of getting to and from the city. A wee tip if you do go by the ferries - buy your Western Ferry tickets in Greenock (the wee Co-op on Eldon Street, the main road out) or in Gourock (Danny's Food & Wine on Kempock Street). It's very much cheaper than buying them on the ferry. At the Dunoon end you can get the tickets at the small mini-market/post office at Sandbank).
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Re: Travel

Postby cathian » Tue Mar 08, 2016 4:43 pm

Yes, we've done that route but only on the way home. It's only a short sail from Tarbert to Portavadie, then a 40 minute drive to Dunoon where you can either sail with Calmac or Western Ferries the short sail to Gourock. From there you are about half an hour to the motorway. Have a great holiday !
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Re: Travel

Postby LANDROVER ROGER » Tue Mar 08, 2016 5:59 pm

Thank you Cathian.Thank you WC1 for the information and tips.Really look forward to staying in the area but the road from Erskine Bridge to Tarbert gets very tiring after being on the road for six hours.Really looking forward to the end of April now!! :D
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Re: Travel

Postby WC1 » Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:37 pm

then a 40 minute drive to Dunoon where you can either sail with Calmac or Western Ferries


Sorry, Cathian, but there hasn't been a Calmac ferry service from Dunoon to Gourock for some years. Argyll Ferries from Dunoon to Gourock is passenger only.

Roger, by the end of April the Ardrossan to Campbeltown service will have restarted (28th April, I think - Calmac website will have details).
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Re: Travel

Postby LANDROVER ROGER » Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:55 am

The Campbeltown Ardrossan ferry looks good.I may use that on the return journey thank you.I do have a highlight on my drive to Cambeltown.The A83 from Tarbert to Campbeltown is a superb driving road with superb views.I steer clear of the B road route to Carradale since a German tourist made me drive off the road as he came round a tight bend on the wrong side of the road a few years ago.
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Re: Travel

Postby Shona » Thu Mar 10, 2016 4:33 pm

Once, I went a very long way round. Wales to Dublin by ferry. Drove north to Ballycastle and then took the crossing over to Campbeltown. It was one of those glorious early summer days with a clear blue sky and the sun glittering and sparkling on the sea like a million diamonds. The views coming up to the Mull were spectacular. That was when it was a car ferry. I've done the Portavadie route in the past, but by contrast, it was a stinker of a day with a deluge coming from the sky.
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Re: Travel

Postby LANDROVER ROGER » Fri Mar 11, 2016 4:11 am

Wow Shona!That was some trip.How long did that take?
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Re: Travel

Postby Shona » Fri Mar 11, 2016 10:12 am

Well, Roger, we weren't in a hurry as we were stopping off and visiting my husband's family en route through Ireland. Faced with the long haul driving from London to the Toon (a non-stop slog of at least 10 hours, if you drove through the nigh to avoid weight of traffic), we decided to take advantage of the (subsequently short-lived) car ferry from Ballycastle to Kintyre. It must have been the late 1990s.

The drive to Holyhead can be done in about five hours with the ferry taking a couple of hours. Dublin to Belfast can be done in a couple of hours as well and it's just over an hour from Belfast to Ballycastle. I seem to recall that the ferry took about 90 minutes to get to Campbeltown.

But...those timings through Wales and Ireland are based on taking the fastest routes. We didn't and meandered from Dublin to Belfast. Rather than take the main road to Ballycastle, we drove along the coast via the Glens of Antrim (where a lot of Kintyre kin are from) - one of the best coast routes on these islands and rivals Tarbert to Campbeltown.

Must dig out the pics of the crossing and post them on the forum.
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