I don’t really like driving. Some people do. They’ll “go for a drive” to clear their head. I go for a walk with my dog. I don’t dislike driving and I like my wee Twingo but I mostly see it as a practical way to get from A to B, taking people, animals, plants and things with me.
So, recently, my car companions have been Juan, a young artist I taught to sail; Ben, my dog who adores him; Petunia, Daisy, Meela, Jessica, Pipsqueak, and Mildred (RIP), my new hens adopted via the BHWT; and a cute wee Hobbit clover I bought from a farmer in Saddell. The things I carry are mostly food and clothes, but there are books and other things like my wallet, phone, charger, etc.
There comes a point, in transporting all of the above, when it’s impractical to use public transport but I’d much rather either cycle or take a bus than drive. I’ve done the first, in combination with the train and ferry, both through Arran and through Bute, to get to Portavadie across from Tarbert in Kintyre. This trip, Plan B involved the second.
Plan A was to take the train to Ardrossan, about 50 minutes, and the ferry to Campbeltown (around 3 hours, with boarding) so all that time I could catch up on my law studies—or write this campaign blog! But CalMac have informed the public that this service no longer runs:
As a result of vessel deployments, and the ongoing issues with MV Hebridean Isles, this service will unfortunately be cancelled for the remainder of the summer period – we do apologise to our customers and the community for this outcome.
Caledonian MacBrayne, Timetables & Fares—Kintyre: Ardrossan – Campbeltown
This route just doesn’t appear on the Winter Timetable, so there’s no ferry to Campbeltown for the foreseeable. There isn’t even the option to go via Brodick on Arran and any other route from Glasgow via ferry involves at least two of them, as well as a lot of road, so the journey time is much longer.
Instead, I decided to go by bus. This option takes 4 hours and there are 5 a day (6 leaving Glasgow but one stops at Ardrishaig) on the daily line. There’s another line but it only runs on weekdays. I won’t go into all the details and I can’t advertise the companies (CalMac and ferries are synonymous in Scotland as far as I know, so there’s no point being coy about that) but suffice to say that taking the bus would cost me roughly as much as I’d pay in petrol.
As well as that, instead of having time in Campbeltown and the surrounding ward, before and after the Tarbert-Portavadie leg of my trip, I’d have to spend around £50 to have just 4 hours there (because the last ferry from Tarbert is 6pm and the boat needs moved across very early on Saturday due to the weather).
So, because this supposedly green government of ours can’t get its act together and provide a reliable ferry service for people in the Highlands and Islands, I’m having to drive up Loch Lomondside, across the Cowal Peninsula and down the whole length of the Mull of Kintyre just to get to Campbeltown.
There’s around 5,000 voters in South Kintyre, and there will be about that number again in the Kintyre and the Islands ward. Even if we imagine that only around half of them have a car, if there’s roughly one per household and on average 2 voters to a household, that’s still an awful lot of folk driving over the Rest and Be Thankful. According to a report, the Scottish Government has other priorities and, according to another, they care more for politics than people living in communities far from Holyrood.
Right, I need to sort my Mum’s breakfast now. I put the porridge on when I got up to let out the hens. Then I’ll check the car pool site I signed up to. If I’m going to be driving through Kintyre a lot, I may as well share the journey!
(Photos & videos copyright the author may be used—unconnected to commerce and without transformation—with a link to this blogpost)
Promoted by Cath Evans of Freedom Alliance, 83 Ducie Street M1 2JQ
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