We're getting lots of enquiries in just now from customers who want to include some of the fantastic Scottish islands in their Big Tree Campervan adventure. We find folk often have a few questions when they're thinking
of including islands and ferry crossings, so we've put together our 'Top Ten Ferry Tips' to help plan your island
adventures:
- 'CalMac' as they are known across Scotland (or
to use their proper name 'Caledonian MacBrayne') are the biggest ferry
operator in Scotland.
- Their website http://www.calmac.co.uk/is great for planning
your island hops, especially the really useful Route Map which we've shown
above. If you'd prefer to talk to a real person, we've found the folk who
run the 'Enquiries and Reservations line (0800 066 5000) are really
helpful and enthusiastic.
- Think creatively about using CalMac routes to
plan a really big adventures, eg a ferry from Mallaig to Armadale, then
potter through Skye, and even then head off out to Harris on the Uig -
Tarbert crossing, before coming back to the mainland at Ullapool.
- There are lots of useful shorter crossing as
well, for example if you want a probabaly much quieter way of getting
to/from Mull, then the Lochaline - Fishnish route is great fun, and often
much less frequented than the normal Oban to Craignure crosing.
- Think carefully about the type of tickets you
want to buy - if you're going to making lots of crossings, it may be worth
buying one of the 'Island Rover' tickets, or even a 'Island Hopping' ticket -
there's loads more information about ticket types on the CalMac website.
- It's worth making a reservation if you have to
travel on a specific crossing in the summer months, especially at weekends
....
- .... but you should also think a bit
creatively about the time of crossing you want/need to take. For example,
the we once tried to book on the 9.45am Kennacraig to Port Askaig crossing
when planning a whisky tasting adventure on Islay, but that crossing was
full.... so we simply got up earlier and had an almost deserted (and very
beautiful) early morning crossing at 7.00am!
- Some crossings are more expensive at peak
times (eg the Oban to Mull) becasue you have to have a Full Fare ticket,
so again, check out the ferry times with CalMac and think about and
earlier or later crossing.
- Big Tree Campervans are 4.85m long, so they
fit into the pricing category of 'Motorhome Under 5m', which is great news
as it means they are the same price as a normal car!
- If you've rented a Big Tree Campervan bike
rack, then your campervan will be over the 5m length... but here's a
simple idea which we've done several times: book an 'Under 5m' ticket, and
when you get to the ferry port, take the bikes off the back, and put them
and the bike rack into the campervan for the crossing. Ok, you may have to
take the wheels off your bikes, and it will take a few minutes to
assemble/re-assemble, but it's worth the ££ savings!
So,
we hope these help to plan your island hopping Big Tree Campervan adventure!
