Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ferry and bus travel from Wemyss Bay ferry terminal (accessible by train from Glasgow)
to Mount Stuart, as well as admission.
REST OF THE ISLAND
In the southern part of the island you'll find the haunting 12th-century ruin of
St Blane's
Chapel
, set in a beautiful wooded grove, and a sandy beach at
Kilchattan Bay
.
There are more good beaches on the west coast.
Scalpsie Bay
is a 400m walk across a
field from the parking area, and has a fantastic outlook to the peaks of Arran. You can of-
ten spot seals basking at low tide off Ardscalpsie Point, to the west.
Ettrick Bay
is bigger, easier to reach, and has a tearoom, but it's not as pretty as Scalp-
sie.
There are lots of easy walks on Bute, including the
West Island Way
, a waymarked,
30-mile walking route from Kilchattan Bay to Port Bannatyne; map and details are avail-
able from the Isle of Bute Discovery Centre.
Cycling
on Bute is excellent - the roads are well surfaced and fairly quiet. You can hire
a bike from the
Bike Shed
(
01700-505515;
www.thebikeshed.org.uk
;
23-25 East
Princes St)
for £10/15 per half-/full day.
Kingarth Trekking Centre
(
01700-831673;
www.kingarthtrekkingcentre.co.uk
;
Kilchattan Bay)
offers paddock rides for kids (£5; minimum age eight years), riding les-
sons (£20 per hour) and pony treks (£35 for two hours).
Getting There & Away
BoatCalMac
(
www.calmac.co.uk
)
car ferries serve Bute from Wemyss Bay in Ayrshire
and Colintraive in Cowal.
Wemyss Bay to Rothesay
passenger/car £4.75/18.75, 35 minutes, hourly
Colintraive to Rhubodach
passenger/car £1.50/9.35, five minutes, every 15 to 20
minutes
BusWest Coast Motors
(
www.westcoastmotors.co.uk
)
buses run four or five times a
week from Rothesay to Tighnabruaich and Dunoon via the ferry at Colintraive. On
Monday and Thursday a bus goes from Rothesay to Portavadie (via the
Rhubodach-Colintraive ferry), where there's another ferry to Tarbert in Kintyre.
Inveraray
POP 700
