The Five Ferries is an iconic Scottish road cycle on the west coast of Scotland.
Regarded by many as a one day challenge and indeed run as a challenge in one of it’s guises, the Five Ferries is a approx 100 miles long, you travel on Five Ferries, two islands and 3 peninsulas.
There are a number of ways to cycle this route my preference is to start at Ardrossan and get the ferry to Arran and head south around the bottom of the island. Arran has a spectacular coastline and it is laid out before you as you head around the island. This is the longest cycle leg with the most climb and is an ideal stopping point if you want to do the ride over 2 days rather than 1.
Ferry number 2 takes you from Arran to the Kintyre peninsula and a ride north to the village of Tarbert an ideal lunch stop. You have cycled 50 miles by this point and climbed almost 4000 ft! Alas if the group speed is not sufficient to build a cushion its no lunch and straight on Ferry No 3 to Portavadie and the Kyles of Bute.
If you would like some luxury rooms for an overnight stay this is the place! This is the third cycle leg and the scenery is just awesome. You cycle round the Kyles of Bute to board ferry No 4 at Colintraive travelling to the Island of Bute. A short fast 8 miles sees you in Rothesay for the final ferry to Wemyss Bay and the final ride to Ardrossan.
This is not an easy one day ride and the added pressure of ferries to catch with the chance that they might be cancelled for one reason or the other makes it an adrenalin raising ride!
There is plenty to see on this tour I would recommend that you take your time and take the two day tour and as I said there are a number of ways to do this ride it can be shortened reducing the 100 miles to something more like 80.
Scottish Bike Touring 