The Sea Road to Rothesay is a passenger and vehicle

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service across the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde, is the estuary of the River Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland. The Firth has some of the deepest coastal waters of the British Isles. The Firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre, Kintyre Peninsula. The ...

in western

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It links

Wemyss Bay Wemyss Bay () is a village on the coast of the Firth of Clyde in Inverclyde in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the traditional county of Renfrewshire (historic), Renfrewshire. It is adjacent to Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire. The town ...

on the mainland with

Rothesay Rothesay ( ; ) is the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies along the coast of the Firth of Clyde. It can be reached by a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry from Wemyss Bay, which also offers an ...

, Bute.

History

Following the opening of the Wemyss Bay pier and

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in 1865, the steamer service between Wemyss Bay and Rothesay became one of the most important routes on the Firth of Clyde. Today it is one of the busiest crossings operated by

Caledonian MacBrayne Caledonian MacBrayne (), in short form CalMac, is the trade name of CalMac Ferries Ltd, the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries to the west coast of Scotland, serving ports on the mainland and 22 of the major islands. It is a subsid ...

with about 725,000 passengers and 200,000 vehicles being carried each year. The journey time is approximately 36 minutes, with MV Argyle (launched 2007) and

MV Bute MV ''Bute'' () is a ferry operated by Caledonian MacBrayne, on the route between Wemyss Bay on the Scottish mainland and Rothesay on Bute (' Sea Road to Rothesay'). History She is the seventh Clyde ship to bear the name ''Bute'' and Calmac' ...

(launched 2005) being the two vessels in service.

References

Caledonian MacBrayne Transport in Argyll and Bute Transport in Inverclyde Ferry routes Rothesay, Bute Firth of Clyde {{scotland-stub