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Displaying items by tag: ArdrossanCampeltown

#NewFerryRoute – A new ferry route linking Campeltown on the Mull of Kintyre peninsula and Ardrossan on the Firth of Clyde via the Isle of Arann started last month, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The introduction of the new service between Kintyre and Argyll is Caledonian MacBrayne's (CalMac) first new route in nearly 20 years.

The new service is to benefit both communities from a boost in tourism and trade opportunities according to Scotland's Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Since the service started on 23 May, the route which is operating on a pilot basis to 28 September is running to three sailings weekly throughout the summer, with an en-route call to Brodick on the Isle of Arran on Saturday's.

The 3,296 tonnes Isle of Arran is running the new service and the veteran of the Caledonian MacBrayne fleet built in 1984 has a capacity for 659 passengers and 62 cars. For sailings timetable and more about the new route visit this link.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Campeltown is also served by another operator, Kintyre Express which two years ago started a passenger-only service to Ballycastle, Co. Antrim.

The route is only 50km /30 miles long and uses RIB craft which take 1 hour 30 minutes to complete the passage.

 

Published in Ferry

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.