Ferry to Ferry

Friday 2nd August 2019

Sunny last day on the Isle of Bute

Today was our last on the Isle of Bute, and it was lovely and sunny again. We spent the morning in Rothesay watching the ferries and boats coming an going before some lunch in one of the harbour front cafes.

We then drove up to Rhubodach at the north of the Isle of Bute to catch the roll on roll off ferry across to Colintraive. The ferry journey took less than 5 minutes.

View of the Kyles of Bute
Kyle of Bute and on the mainland (left) half way down you can see the ferry that goes across to Isle of Bute on the right – very short crossing.

Back on the mainland continued our journey over into Argyll, where we got a great view out of the Kyles of Bute which flow down each side of the Isle of Bute and could see the ferry we had just been on. We made our way down to Portavadie to catch our second ferry of the day, taking us across Loch Fyne to Tarbert. It is possible to drive around the loch but it adds an extra 90 miles onto the journey.

Tarbert Harbour
Tarbert Church

We stopped for a short while in Tarbert which has a very pretty harbour with lots of small fishing and pleasure boats. We walked up the hill to see Tarbert Church.

Skipness Castle
Gavin on top of Skipness Castle
Me on top of Skipness Castle

Gavin did a great job driving from Tarbert down a narrow single lane road with passing places to Carradale on the Kintyre peninsula. On the way we took a small detour to visit Skipness Castle. Skipness is also where the ferry goes across to Arran from, somewhere we don’t have time to visit on this holiday.

View from Kintyre Peninsula across to Isle of Arran
View from the Kintyre Peninsula across to the Isle of Arran.

Island Life

Thursday 1st August 2019

Calmac ferry arriving in Rothesay from Glasgow

Today we got to spend the whole day on the Isle of Bute. The sun was shining, unlike the heavy rain we arrived in, so we started the day with a stroll around the harbour and sea front in Rothesay

Gavin enjoying the sunshine in Rothesay
Seafront in Rothesay

As the weather was so good we took the decision not to visit Mount Stewart which was the original plan and hit the beaches. We went round the Island anti clockwise and our first beach to visit was Kilchatten Bay. Kilchatten Bay is a linear settlement of Victorian houses and villas that lies on the south west shore of Kilchattan Bay, a largely east facing bay with a mile-wide mouth offering views to Great Cumbrae, three miles to the east.

Kilchattan Bay

After Kilchattan Bay we travelled on to Scalpsie where there are look out places from where seals can sometimes be seen. On the way we passed an old phone box which is now a book exchange as well as having tablet, postcards, cards for sale and an honesty box. It was getting really warm by this point heading into the high 20’s and touching the early 30’s..

Once used for military purposes during the Second World War, today the secluded Scalpsie Bay is a tranquil place to relax and enjoy beautiful scenery.

The reddish sand of Scalpsie Bay is set against the wonderful backdrop of the Isle of Arran, and two viewpoints help visitors spot the area’s fascinating resident wildlife and take in amazing landscapes.

The view points were either a long walk to the beach or rather over grown so we didn’t get to seal view.

Scalpsie Bay

One thing we noticed on our travels was that on every sign we saw Rothesay was mentioned and sometimes in more than one direction, one say 7 miles left or 8 miles right!

Everywhere on the Isle of Bute leads to Rothesay!

Our last planned beach for the day was Ettrick Bay which we had planned to co-inside with a late lunch knowing that there was a cafe there. We both had a filled roll, shared some curly fries and had ice cream – hey why not it’s not supposed to be so hot the rest of the holiday. Ettrick Bay is a wide, sandy beach which runs for approximately a mile. Monitored by SEPA.

Gavin at Ettrick Bay in his new red shorts
Me at Ettrick Bay

After Ettrick Bay we completed the loop back to Rothesay and went through Port Bannatyne. Port Bannatyne is a coastal village on the Isle of Bute, Firth of Clyde, Scotland. It is a popular harbour, with a small yacht marina and boatyard and an unusual 13 hole golf course.

Port Bannatyne

We got back to Rothesay in time to heat up some soup with fresh bread and watch the sun set.

Sunset in Rothesay

Ferry to Bute

Wednesday 31st July 2019

After breakfast at the hotel we took our luggage to the car and popped into next door grand central station for a few photographs. We have been watching a programme on BBC Scotland called “Inside Central Station” which is all about Glasgow Central Station so wanted to see it for ourselves.

Grand Central Train Station
Glasgow Grand Central Station

We didn’t have chance to see that much of Glasgow itself but before we left we went to GSC, to go up the Glasgow Tower. The tower is 127meters tall (523 steps), weighs 500 tonnes, free standing and can be turned by 5 able bodied people, from the top you have 360° view over the Glasgow and the Clyde. It holds the world record for the tallest fully rotating freestanding structure in the world.

View down the Clyde from top of the Glasgow Tower
Too bright to tell but this is us at the top of Glasgow Tower.

We grabbed a sandwich at the cafe to take with us, I had a travel sickness tablet and we headed to Wemyss Bay to catch the ferry across to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.

Ferry on it’s way to take us to Isle of Bute

By the time we got on the ferry it was starting to rain and we were surrounded by thunder and lightning all the way across. It didn’t take too long to arrive in Rothesay, just over 30 minutes.

View from the apartment in Rothesay

It was only a couple of minutes from the ferry to the apartment booked for a couple of nights. We met Lesley at the apartment. From the lounge we can see out over the sea front and where the ferry comes in and out. There is a CoOp downstairs which will be useful.

Rothesay putting green
Sunset

We went for a walk in the evening, though it was still a bit drizzily, most places were closed but there are quite a few places to eat. Gavin went for an Indian take away and I had chip shop chips which we both took back to the apartment and ate watching the ferries coming and going.