Hopping Across the Cowal Peninsula by Ferry! Tarbert /Portavadie/Dunoon/Gourock (Calmac & West. Fs.)

Enjoy two scenic ferry crossings and save two hours' driving time. Perfect!
Travellers going from the Kintyre peninsula to Glasgow and the central belt face a long journey up Loch Fyne and down Loch Lomond, but there is another route, taking two ferries to hop across the stunning but little visited Cowal peninsula.
Arriving off the ferry from Islay and headed home for Dumfries we drove straight to the Tarbert slipway. This is one of Calmac’s turn up and go services. The crossing takes about 25 minutes.
Calmac have operated a small car ferry across Loch Fyne from Tarbert to Portavadie since 1994, although it took another four years to become an all year round offering.
The summer vessel is the Isle of Cumbrae. She’s an old lady of the fleet, having been launched way back in 1976.Loch Fyne (Loch Fìne in Gaelic) is, of course, a sea loch, so the waves here can whip up on a stormy day.
There used to be very little at Portavadie but these days there’s a marina with holiday accommodation and even a spa. However, we motor on.
The Cowal peninsula coastline is a forgotten corner of Argyll. Indeed, it bills itself as Argyll’s secret coast. This is a very different experience to driving the A83 and the A82. Most of the route is a single track with passing places. Few people live here but you can still get a great coffee courtesy of the Argyll Coffee Roasters. Take a break at the wild kitchen at Kame, just follow the aroma of home baking. The main settlement is Tighnabruaich, a gorgeously picturesque village that looks across the water to the barren north coast of the Isle of Bute. The Wild about Argyll site describes the village as a hidden gem and it’s impossible to disagree. Alas today we have no time to stop. From Tighnabruiach the road rises and falls through the rolling glens of the southern Cowal peninsula before arriving at the town that houses most of Cowal’s population Dunoon, a town which used to attract hordes of tourists on the Clyde steamers until holiday habits changed forever in the 1960s and 70s.
This is another turn up and go service but on a completely different scale. Western Ferries operate around a year round service with as many as 60 sailings from Monday to Saturday using four vessels that can each take 40 cars. You never have to wait for too long. Ferries leave every 20 minutes, or every 15 at peak times. It really is non-stop.
Western Ferries have been running a service across the Firth of Clyde since 1973. It’s convenient ferry for tourists but a lifeline service for Dunoon, a town which has struggled in recent decades after the nearby US submarine base closed but which comes to life for the largest Highland Games in scotland.
I’ve always loved taking this ferry. The views are spectacular. North into Holy Loch and Loch Long, south towards Arran, and east down the Clyde to Helensburgh and beyond. At only 20 minutes, this voyage is short and sweet.
Filmed March 2024
Jonathan Wheeler
eye scotland
‪@eyescotland‬
(See also Travel Obscurer UA-cam channel)
Music licensed through Artlist.
#cowal #wildaboutargyll #tarbert #portavadie #argyllssecretcoast #calmac #westernferries #firthofclyde #dunoon

[@jonathanwheeler4444]

No sooner had I made this film than the Isle of Cumbrae was sent away to deal with yet another Calmac ferry problem. Never a dull moment on the Scottish ferries!