Wheeling it on - your bike on a ferry

[horizon]

Most our trips with the children involved a ferry (I made sure they did). Living in south Cornwall, this was easy - we take the Fowey ferry as a matter of course. At one point I decided to go further afield and plan a trip for myself that involved as many small ferry crossings as possible. Much to my dismay, there were few others apart from the main ones in the Scottish islands (we had even done the IOW by bike). I've done Gosport by bike, added Plymouth to Santander a couple of times and have done the Channel by Bike Express (although that doesn't count as it's the wheeling on and off that's fun). There must surely be more (Mersey? Thames, if it still runs) so I've started a new thread to find out.

So have you used a ferry by bike and if so where was it? Extra points for pics and anecdotes of course. Top scores for nostalgia (Aust Ferry anyone? Saltash?).

PS Thank you to andrew_s for Topsham on the other thread.

PPS I've just remembered doing the ferry by bike from Bournemouth to Studland in Dorset.

[Sparta Fan]

I found the Cromarty to Nigg ferry rather cute during LE-JOG in 2002.
http://www.cromarty-ferry.co.uk/index.asp

[irc]

I'll use the Yoker ferry later today.

[Goosey]

Hayling Island to Portsmouth, Couêron to Le Pellerin, La Rochelle to Isle d'Oleron, last year, all described here...http://holidaysouthwestfrance.com/wordpress/?p=133

[nickp]

If its cute you're after how about the ferry across the River Bure at Horning in Norfolk? You get a tour of the marina thrown in as well! Saves battling with the traffic through Wroxham.

[Big T]

Caught the ferry from Sandbanks across the mouth of Poole Harbour to Studland. They gave us a ticket but when we got on to the western bank, there was nobody to give it to, so I threw it away, only to find a checkpoint a mile down the road, where you had to hand in your ticket! I managed to persude them that I'd bought one but it blew out of my pocket. Luckily my companions had retained theirs.

This was part of our Badger Beer Appreciation Society Tour Around Rural Dorset.

[Gearoidmuar]

Cork Harbour Ferry from Passage West to Great Island (Cobh). I take this regularly as I like to cycle around Great Island (Cobh). There are two boats which were on the ferry to Skye at the Kyle of Lochalsh before the bridge (I've cycled it) was built.
I've often got the Brittany Ferries to Roscoff from Cork.
I've also crossed three times on the Prince Harry Ferry across Carrick Roads in Cornwall. Another ferry near Plymouth.
I've got ferries to Arran, to Kintyre from Arran, Mull, Mull to Ardnamurchan, Skye, Uig to Harris, Harris to North Uist, South Uist to Oban, to Bute, Cowal to Tarbert, Tynemouth, ,three different ferries across the Rhine, a ferry from Peloponnisos to mainland Greece, a ferry in Cape Breton Island, a ferry from Nice to Ajaccio in Corsica. In Ireland, Ferry from Tarbert to Killimer, Rosaveal to Innishmore, Innishmore to Galway, Bantry to Whiddy Island, Ferry from Alcoutim in Portugal to Sanlucar de Guadiana in Spain. Ferry to Isle de Batz in France. Ferry from Germany to Denmark.

In short I've rolled my bike onto ferry many ferries. I, like the OP, love ferries for some reason. Don't know why.

Favourite ferry journey??
Oban to Mull, I think, or Tobermory to Ardnamurchan.

That's 28 different ferries that I can think off. I'll keep editing this as I think of more.

[eileithyia]

I think at sometime or another I have used all the Cornish ferries except out to the isles of Scilly
and that includes some very tiny ones.

Best has to Rock - Padstow and manhandling a fully laden touringbike up and down the very narrow gang plank!
Ever since I was kid holidaying with parents I have loved the King Hal Ferry.
Then there was another across one of the northern estuaries that was literally from beach to beach, don't know if that is still running.

A fair number of the Scottish ferries, a whole variety in Denmark, though I guess some of these could be disappearing as bridges are built.

Ireland; Doolin - Arran Islands is a great little ferry esp when it is a rough crossing and all around are puking their lunch

Greatest shame was the ferry that ran for 3 years Ballycastle - Campeltown it was great way to design a tour taking NE Ireland and then on to some of the Scottish Islands. Had all sorts of EU funding, brand new state of art terminal but I think it was decided it was not financially viable.

[Cunobelin]

Gosport to Portsmouth (Ferry 1)
Portsmouth to Fishbourne (Ferry 2),
Fishbourne to Cowes (Ferry 3)
Cowes to Yarmouth
Yarmouth to Lymington (Ferry 4)
Lymington to Hythe
Hythe to Southampton (Ferry 5)
Southampton to Warsash
Warsash Ferry (Ferry 6)
Warsash to Gosport

70 miles and 6 ferries in one day!

Or for the adventurous, Add a loop around Hayling Island to the Portsmouth section and bag a seventh Ferry

Needs careful timing though as otherwise the waiting times eat into the cycling time.

[Mick F]

I did Corran Ferry, Mallaig Ferry, Lochranza Ferry and Brodick Ferry on my Grand Tour in 2008.
http://my-grand-tour.blogspot.com/

I use the Torpoint Ferry and the Cremyll Ferry every now and again and also the Bodinnick Ferry to Fowey at times.

I've done the Polruan Ferry and the King Harry Ferry too, also the Dartmouth Ferry.

[Cunobelin]

We used to take the Mass x-ray unit across on the Torpoint Ferry every Tuesday to x-ray the new entries at HMS Raleigh - used o take up an entire ferry lane!

[irc]

Favourire ferry? Crossing the Mississippi just north of St Louis. Crossing a major physical boundary, going between two states and two time zones all at once. Watching the ferry coming in was interesting. It approached at 45 degress fighting the current.

Despite appearances the ferry is coming straight towards me at this point.

[Mick F]

We used to take the Mass x-ray unit across on the Torpoint Ferry every Tuesday to x-ray the new entries at HMS Raleigh - used o take up an entire ferry lane!

When was that?
Did you x-ray me?

Actually, thinking about it, I had all my medical stuff done at the recruiting office in St John's Lane Liverpool. Summer 1969. No New Entry medicals done at Raleigh when I joined up.

[McVouty]

I don't know if it still happens (I did it in about 1991), but if you wanted to cross the Kyle of Durness to the Cape Wrath road, you persuaded the man to take you over in his open boat (about a 10 footer, with an outboard motor). I think he made a regular trip twice a day, at 10am and 4pm IIRC, to meet a minibus which was ferried over in April and taken back in September, but I made my crossings the week before the bus was taken across.

[Barrenfluffit]

The Danube in Hungary.

Its a really big river so ferries are commonly used to cross. But catching ferries is not as easy as it seems. In well set up places you have lots of shoreside equipment and information and you can often see the landing point on the other side. You can can work out if its running and when it will arrive.

However many ferries are not like this. In turkey different boats used the same quay but there was nothing to tie a particular ship to a destination or hints about the fare arrangements. Even information about where the ferries landed was sketchy.

In Hungary the only hint was a quay; no timetables just a narrow chain across the entry gangplank. The ferry service had been cut back the previous year; the old fleet of boats was gone and now a couple of boats zigzagged their way between the landing stages upriver and back down again. So there might be a boat but there might not.

The campsite was on the island directly opposite.

Plans had changed and I arrived at the riverside mid afternoon on Sunday. Stood around on the slipway in the sunshine pondering and jovially stuck out my thumb at a passing dingy.

He stopped.

We negociated and a deal was struck. He looked a bit concerned about how we were gonna get the bike on. So I took off the panniers which he laid in the bottom of the boat and laid the bike down flat across the front. So there was a photo of me crossing the danube by dingy with a bike across the front.

On the shore at the other side he passed out the panniers then the bike. Ten minutes later I was at the camp site.

With a bike why stick to ordinary ferries!