The Five Ferries

The first time I did this route I thought I was some kind of genius for figuring it out and tying in all the ferries, it wasn't until the last ferry of the day one of the crew said 'Ah you're doing the five ferries are you?!' and proceed to explain that it was a well know route and infact a large charity event takes place on it every year. Ah well, it's excellent none the less!

I genuinely love a ferry crossing, it really enhances the excitement of beginning an adventure and I thoroughly enjoy sitting up on deck scanning for sea-life with a cup of tea watching my favourite Scottish islands appear on the horizon. So in March 2016 I was delighted to squeeze in another five ferry crossings and cover some miles on my new bike, this time with my brother and Enzo (who is from Switzerland and was visiting Scotland for the first time).

We split the trip over two days so we could stay at my favourite hotel (Kames Hotel) and treat ourselves to a dip in the infinity pool at Portavadie. This was my first big trip on my new road bike and what a difference it made on the hills, we had an absolute blast! Better still my weather charm was working and the sun shone both days, Enzo now thinks Scotland is always jolly and sunny....we know otherwise.

This is a really beautiful but achievable route, the biggest cycle section (if you break it in the same places we did) is 15.8 miles and the biggest climb is Glen Sannox on Arran, reaching 653ft (there is a similar climb out of Portavadie). I've shown our plan below so you can get an idea of what's involved. It can be done in a day but we wanted plenty of time to enjoy the ride so we split it over 2 days.