July was the planning month (see my blog post that month). August was for implementing the plans.
We did get to Northumberland and Durham, so maybe I’ll write about that later.
The Gigha trip came off too! A big success. It may also merit a blog post on its own later, but this one is about the travel to and from the island.
In spite of Dr D’s sea sickness affliction, she decided short (20 minute) ferry crossings would be fine. She was right. None of them cross the open sea, so that helped.
So, we took the route from Fife to the island which involves the Western Ferries service between Gourock and Dunoon followed by Calmac’s Portavadie/Tarbert and Tayinloan/Gigha ferries.
A fantastic choice.
The scenery is wonderful from all three ferry routes. So is what you see on the road between Dunoon and Portavadie.
It does add a bit of cost to the journey – in excess of what you save on fuel by driving less miles. The Gourock-Dunoon fare was £16.80 each way for the car plus driver. £4.40 for an extra passenger. The Portavadie-Tarbert equivalent was £13.35 in total.
The Tayinloan-Gigha fare was £24.70 return (again, car plus driver and 1 passenger) but you have to pay that whichever route you take to/from Tayinloan.
ⓒ iain taylor 2016