hello guys i'm at ardrossan harbour this is the reason why i'm taking the caledonian mcbrayne
caledonian isles mv caledonian isles i should say over to brodick on the isle
of arran i'm really looking forward to this the weather is fantastic for the crossing
so why don't you come with me and i'll speak to you again once i'm on board cheers for now
The MV Caledonian Isles is one of the largest vessels operated by
Caledonian Macbrayne, or CalMac as they are more commonly known.
The company operate ferries connecting over 20 islands on the west coast of Scotland
from the larger destinations such as North Uist on the Outer Hebrides
to the much smaller islands such as Kerrera near to Oban.
As we lined up at the quayside ready to board I was thinking it was quite
a large vessel for this particular route though I later discovered that it’s one
of Calmacs most popular crossings so, as we boarded via the vehicle ramp,
it was not really surprising to see that there were already plenty of cars inside.
This reminded me (by the way) of lots of trips around the Greek Islands i did a few years back
where we always seemed to just walk on to the ferries this way. It’s much
more dramatic in my opinion - a bit like walking into the jaws of a whale!
and I think it’s quite similar to walking across the ramp and up the stairs
to an aircraft rather than using the jet bridge - its much more exciting in my opinion
but let me know what you think? Also notice how the ramp below the bow kind of folds out
to form a bridge between the linkspan and the ship. It's quite neat really isn’t it?
Well I ended up on deck to watch the departure. The MV Caledonian Isles has always operated on
this route which can be undertaken by the vessel up to five times a day. It has the largest passenger capacity of the
fleet at up to 1000 passengers along with 110 cars and I think you probably get a lot of day
trippers (like me) using the route - especially in the Summer. It was relatively quiet today.
As the bow closed slowly, we reversed out from Ardrossan Harbour, turning to face the open water
of the Firth of Clyde to commence our crossing which would take approximately 55 minutes.
The sea did look pretty calm today and as I said earlier, there was plenty of blue sky about,
certainly for this part of the journey anyway.
So, I thought it would be a good idea to give you
guys a bit of a tour inside of the boat. Starting with the lounge on Deck 5,
see how much yellow and black tape you can spot as we carry on through the ship!
This observation lounge was quite a busy area but there wasn’t really much else
on Deck 5 so I headed down to deck 4 which was where the main action was.
We have a substantial cafe bar here called Mariners, I didn’t try it but
if you did want to get food during the crossing, this was the only real place for it but they did seem to serve quite substantial meals
After the cafe, we’ve got this kind of lobby area where you have more stairs
and the doors where foot passengers would normally board or disembark.
There’s the usual slot machines/arcade games type of area that you find on most ferries of this size but
they were all turned off and I'm presuming that's because
it was a designated ‘high risk covid-spreading danger zone’!
This was an interesting area with lots of community information about Arran, sailing times etc
as I walked towards the stern, I was quite surprised to see a decent sized shop
selling all sorts of souvenirs and essential items. Again this is the sort of thing I would
be expecting to see on larger vessels on longer routes to be honest - I was quite impressed.
And at the back of the boat was a bar called ‘The Still’ which again was quite popular.
quite a bit more yellow and black tape around here you will notice keeping everybody safe and well.
I walked back up the starboard side of the boat, past some more seating and found this
very useful kind of tourist information area with lots of leaflets and inspiration for things to do
on Arran. Now if I was staying longer, I would have picked up quite a few bits and pieces here but as it was,
I only had a few hours and I wanted to make the most of the crossing really and the nice weather outside.
So I headed back up the stairs and out onto deck. As you can see, it was
again fairly busy out here. There were some beautiful views back towards the mainland and
just look how calm the sea was at this point.
It was much quieter on the starboard side where I sat for a while just
appreciating the scenery and taking it all in. This is, after all, one of the main reasons for
travelling really for me -especially when I haven’t been to a particular place before.
Now, as we headed closer to Arran, notice how the weather had begun to change.
This was fascinating really because, whilst it still looked nice from where we’d come from,
these dramatic clouds had started to form over the mountains of Goat Fell
and, as you can tell, the wind was really starting to blow around the boat a bit.
It was almost as if Arran had it’s very own microclimate really, and I was also quite
surprised to see how much snow there was on the mountains. Is this quite common for Arran at this time of year? Let me know.
Anyway, I was sure glad I’d packed an additional fleece, and my waterproofs!
The weather had calmed down a bit by the time we entered port though it had begun to rain so
I was quite pleased this time that we had a covered gangway when disembarking.
Well anyway, I managed to upset somebody’s dog by stepping on their toy but, apart from that, there were
no dramas and within five minutes I was out on dry land and my first visit to the Isle of Arran!
that was alright wasn't it i just arrived on the isle of arran aboard calmac's caledonian isles
and it was a great crossing it was pretty cold i must say and there's a bit of snow
on the hills as well about 55 minutes, £4.10 one way that's not bad value is it that?
so i'm going to take a bit of a wander round hopefully i'll stop raining it's not
too bad actually it's got its own little microclimate i think the isle of arran
but anyway i'm gonna have a bit of a wander up into the town and see what i can
find and i'll catch you guys on another trip soon well thanks for watching and cheers for now