A friend of mine has suggested a tour of some Scottish Whisky distilleries, next year, and I thought it might be fun to do the tour by bike, doing the Island hoping via ferry and staying in B&Bs.

Aside for the obvious H&S issues surrounding cycling whilst inebriated, can anybody with experience of getting around the Islands cast judgement of the initial plan? (About 260 miles at the moment)

Drive to Ardrossan
Bike on ferry to Brodick, on Arran
Cycle to Lochranza and catch ferry to Claonaig in KinTyre
Cycle to Kennacraig and catch ferry to Port Ellen, on Islay.
Cycle to Port Askaig and catch ferry to Feolin Ferry on Jura
Cycle to Craighouse and catch (fast) ferry to Tayvallich in Kintyre
Cycle to Tarbert and catch ferry to Portavadie
Cycle to Dunoon and catch ferry to Gourock
Cycle back to Ardrossan

The amount of time spent and exploring done on each island will depend entirely on how many distilleries we stop at, the length of our trip and the ferry timetables.

Any input you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Regards.

I really don’t fancy the cycle from Gourock to Largs, as it’s a really tight road for large chunks of it (hugs the coast), but people still gun on at 60. A wee bit of a climb, but better to climb up the old Largs road out of Gourock up past Loch Thom.

Then it’s a cycle path all the way to Ardrossan from Largs.

On Arran, if you don’t mind more miles – head south from the ferry and go round the bottom of the island, makes for a really nice scenic ride and should only take about 2 1/2 hours to get to Lochranza.

I live on Islay and can hopefully give some useful advice on your plans.

There are 2 ferry ports on Islay, one at each end of the island. Make sure you check the timetable to see which one the boat arrives at. If you are arriving late you’d be better off coming into Port Ellen as there’s more choice of B&Bs close to the ferry.

Cycling around Islay is easy and the roads are relatively quiet (some are single track).The wind is likely to be the biggest issue.

Depending on which distilleries you want to visit and if you want to do the guided tour/tasting thing bookings may be required. There’s an excellent café at Ardbeg so worth planning on being there when you’re hungry!

If you are going to do justice to all the Islay distilleries (and everything else the island has to offer) I’d plan on being here for at least 3 days.

Your plan of Jura and passenger ferry to Tavayallich sound good in principle and there’s some lovely countryside along the Crinan Canal. But, for the same reasons that Nobeer has suggested on the Ayshire roads, I wouldn’t recommend the A83 from Ardrishaig to Tarbert. There are folk cycling on it from time to time but it is a tight twisty road with a lot of timber lorries and fast traffic. Not many ways to avoid it unless you take a fairly long detour via Kilberry.

You could come off Jura back to Isly and sail out from Port Askaig to Kennacraig, then its only a 5 mile trip back to Tarbert.

I think Ton on here did a similar trip a couple of years ago. He may give you some good advice.

Have fun

rather than cycling to Dunoon from Portavadie you could just go round to Colintraive and get the ferry on to Rhubodach and cycle for the Rothesay ferry to Wymess bay. Though i dont fancy Wymess Bay to Ardrossan on the bike myself.

Alternatively in summer you can get a ferry back to Ardrossan from Campbeltown

Though i dont fancy Wymess Bay to Ardrossan on the bike myself.

it’s quite an uninteresting route and best done at a quiet time, also as noted by nobeer earlier. Do it at least annually when doing 5ferries, but usually start at Wemyss Bay at 730 on a Sunday morning, so little in the way of traffic.

Islay is fab, take waterproofs, actually given free soup in a pub before they opened as they felt sorry for us….

Thanks for the feedback, guys, will take them on board for my next map investigation session.

@nobeer – was think of using cycle routes 75, 7 & 73 to get from gourock to ardrossan. I always try to avoid busy roads where possible.

It’s a top combo Ferries and whisky. Did a stag do earlier this year. One night in Lochranza then 2 boats across to islay. Stayed 2 nights at the port Charlotte YHA and then back to ardrossan in a day. It was a stunning trip.

I think Ton on here did a similar trip a couple of years ago. He may give you some good advice.

I was with the big man on that trip.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/mcandtheswearynorthernersgoislandhopping

Gourock to Ardrossan – use the routenburn road from the meigle (nr skelmorlie) to Largs to avoid most of the nastiness, you can get down to Ardrossan with minimal time on the a78 (through Fairlie only) with a bit of local knowledge/maps

Sea view cafe in Wemyss bay for lunch though….awesome…

The Rothesay ferry is currently sailing to Gourock(for at least the next 6months) due to refurb of Wemyss Bay pier. So you would be quicker heading for Dunoon – Gourock, i might even see you on the ferry… There is a NCR from Gourock back to Ardrossan, its mostly shared paths and B roads, but keeps you off the A78.