Five Ferries: Day 3: Cowal Peninsula

The second ferry of our tour was once again, a “turn up and Go”, with a much shorter crossing this time.  (A much smaller ferry too, in fact at the time we thought it was tiny, but we hadn’t caught the Gigha one yet!)  Our route was Rhubodach to Colintrave and the cost was £12.10 for the 10 minute journey.

On arrival at Colintrave, we headed north along the A886, stopping at Strachur Bay for a picnic lunch, allthewhile debating whether we should take the B8000 southwards to Kaimes/Portavadie to be in place for ferry number three the next day!  The B8000 has limits: weight, length and width, and although we fitted with their dimension criteria, we thought better of taking the non-essential and potentially tricky route, so we backtracked until we reached the turnoff for Portavadie, taking the A8003 (an A road with single track sections, wow!) southwards, stopping at the Loch Ruel viewpoint en route (the view is the header photo).

We chatted with a bus driver who was touring Scotland with his group of seniors from the south of England.  We were amazed when he told us he took his full-sized coach over all the roads we had thought were narrow, and he even took the little ferries across to Kintyre!  We were glad we did not meet him traveling the other way on the B-roads!

Our stopping point for the night was at the Tank Slips, another find on SearchforSites in the lovely village of Kames.  Situated a mile outside the village, we walked to the good general grocery/post office that is Kames Village Store for some provisions and were once again surprised to pick up some gluten-free bread and buns!

As with all our overnight stops, there were fantastic views, and this time of the Kyles of Bute, and the misty weather the next morning gave us the chance to click some surreal shots.  We enjoyed our walks into the village and it was there we stopped to chat with some residents who were also motorhomers.  They were happy to share some tips for great places, including the Seafood Cabin at Skipness (read about it in our Kintyre blogpost), which was a very good tip!

It was only a short drive to Portavadie Marina, and although holiday villages are definitely not our thing, we were able to dispose of our black/grey waste and refill our water tanks there – and all for free, courtesy of Argyll and Bute Council!