CRSC Member Raymond Rose knows how to mix work with pleasure, especially when his job in A&E and Critical Care means he has to take an ambulance to one of the islands. Here he gives an insight into an aspect of ferry-travel that few of us witness – fortunately!
The Boring Preamble
I’m a Glaswegian and pretty much grew up with going on ferries around the west coast, and even occasionally the Northern Isles, and have an interest in all things to do with ferry travel in these parts. I don’t have any engineering or maritime background at all; I just like ferries!
Raymond Rose and his ambulance on Islay
After 39 years working in the National Health Service in different roles, but mainly to do with A&E and Critical Care, I had clawed my way up to a senior management position and in 2015, becoming thoroughly fed up with NHS management, I got the chance of early retirement, if you call early retirement being one year earlier than I could have gone. I took it with the intention of finding more time to tramp up hills, take more ferry trips, and grow vegetables. This didn’t work out that way and within a month I was back in the NHS, but this time back on the ‘tools’ as a part time Ambulance Officer. Then of course Covid arrived, and I was in the thick of it organising incident response and crewing ambulances.
In 2022 I’d reached the point where I wanted to step down again (or had had enough!) and we were lucky enough to find a wee cottage down in Ayrshire right on the coast. In fact, I can stand at the kitchen sink and watch the ferries going over to Arran; and further up the coast I have the Cumbrae ferry, the Rothesay ferries and of course those going to and from Dunoon. Ferry heaven!
I made the mistake of agreeing to stay on the retained list for the Ambulance Service when I moved down to Ayrshire and found that because of where I now stayed, I could be utilised when they had no cover for the islands. But as a bonus to get to those islands it meant I had to go on a ferry, only this time with my employer paying. A bonus indeed.
To Islay (for starters)
My first Islay trip was a bit like the appetiser before the main event. On that occasion, a colleague and I got a one-off special job to collect a patient from Islay and take them to Paisley. We collected an ambulance from Helensburgh and off we set to Kennacraig where the CalMac staff were expecting us, and had a spot reserved for us where we were to wait for the ferry. As an aside I’ve always found the CalMac staff excellent in going that wee bit further to help and accommodate us when we are transferring patients, whether it’s shore staff or deck officers, though I did once nearly give the deck officer on Caledonian Isles a heart attack.
Into view came Finlaggan, a boat I’d never sailed on before, so it was very much an adventure for me. The deck officer positioned us to enable us to drive off the ferry before the other vehicles, pick up our patient and drive straight on again, before the loading of other vehicles. So we were positioned next to the lift to the passenger decks; this is what I mean about the cooperation of the CalMac crews in these circumstances. Different ferries have different arrangements when it comes to the transport of medical patients. Some have dedicated medical facilities and in others, mainly due to the size and configuration of the ferry, the patient remains within the ambulance, for example, on Loch Shira running from Largs to the Cumbrae Slip. Even on the bigger ferries with dedicated medical facilities, it may be that we want the patient to remain in the ambulance, in which case we ask the ship’s Master special permission for that. You may ask why every patient on the islands is not airlifted off, but whilst the number of land ambulance transfers has declined in my lifetime there are still circumstances which mean the patient has to be transferred by boat, because they are not suitable to fly off.
Pictured arriving at Kennacraig, Finlaggan has a well-equipped medical room for ambulance patients
Finlaggan has a dedicated medical room and it’s a great facility, situated near the passenger lift and fitted out with a hospital bed, its own ensuite toilet facilities and various items of equipment and supplies. The biggest bonus is that it has a large window in it to watch out of as we proceed.
Contrast this with Caledonian Isles’ medical room, which is just a metal box, deep in the bowels of the ship, literally off the car deck, and which contains nothing but a stretcher trolley. Attractive it is not. It also doubles as a prison cell if the police need to move anyone under arrest to the mainland from Arran.
In due course we arrived at Port Askaig, and the Islay ambulance was waiting for us. We drove off and reversed back up to the Islay vehicle, picked up our patient and drove back on to our spot next to the passenger lift. We then transferred the patient up to the medical room and got them settled in for the journey. Shortly after we were underway, a CalMac steward arrives with tea and biscuits for the patient. With around 20 minutes left till we got back to Kennacraig we felt the need to take the patient back down to the ambulance. As the passenger lifts are locked out-of-use on passage we asked for, and received, the Master’s permission to go back to the car deck along with an escort. We are swiftly offloaded at Kennacraig and took our patient off the ship.
To Islay (the main course)
Out of the blue, I got a call asking if myself and a retired colleague would go over to Islay to provide cover from a Thursday to Sunday. As related above I’d only ever gone to Islay once before and spent just ten minutes on the island before returning. This time I was going for longer.
Heading out for Kennacraig, this time in our own vehicles, I suddenly realised I had the opportunity to use several ferries to get home. Although I was heading out from Kennacraig, again, I’d be going into a different port, namely Port Ellen, another first for me. My plan for going home could involve 3 or 4 ferries depending on the route I choose. This gave me some good possibilities to mull over whilst working. My options were:
- Port Ellen to Kennacraig
- Kennacraig to Tarbert (Loch Fyne) by road
- Tarbert (Loch Fyne) to Portavadie
- Portavadie to Colintraive by road
- Colintraive to Rhubodach
- Rhubodach to Rothesay by road
- Rothesay to Wemyss Bay
Or
- Portavadie to Dunoon (Hunters Quay) by Road
- Dunoon (Hunter’s Quay) to Gourock (McInroy’s Point)
While on Islay, we had a call-out that involved a trip to Jura. I was only vaguely aware of where Jura was, and I wasn’t really sure how many people lived there and, crucially, how it was covered in an emergency. I soon found out that if we were on Islay we were covering – because we got an emergency call! The ferryman at Port Askaig was informed we were on our way which meant he could either hold the boat at Port Askaig, or summon it back urgently from Jura.
As we came down the hill into Port Askaig at a fairly rapid rate Eilean Dhiura was sitting waiting for us, and the ferryman ready to guide us. It’s a small single ended ferry, not Ro-Ro and it was an interesting experience reversing 5 tonnes of ambulance onto to the ferry, alongside a fire engine and police van. There was not much between us and the guard rails of the ferry.
The slipway at Feolin, where the ferry to Jura from Port Askaig lands
Having dealt with the issue on Jura the return journey involved reversing on again, at Feolin. It definitely taxes your driving skills as you also have to come off quite slowly due to the angle of the ferry ramp and the overhang at the rear of the ambulance.
Homeward Bound
It had been a busy four days – much busier than expected, and not helped by the fact we were called out at 0500 the next morning and then had to get the 0930 ferry from Port Ellen. Due to the fatigue factor induced, I resolved to ignore the first two options highlighted earlier and take a three-ferry trip option home:
- Port Ellen to Kennacraig
- Kennacraig to Tarbert (Loch Fyne) by road
- Tarbert (Loch Fyne) to Portavadie
- Portavadie to Dunoon (Hunters Quay) by Road
- Dunoon (Hunter’s Quay) to Gourock (McInroy’s Point)
One advantage of heading down to Port Ellen after we finished at 0800, was that we were at the front of the queue. We therefore got the unexpected treat of seeing not Finlaggan coming into port, but that grand old lady (and a personal favourite of mine) Isle of Arran, on relief duties as Finlaggan was away for her yearly health check.
That ‘grand old lady’ Isle of Arran arrives at Port Ellen
I have lost count of the number of journeys I’ve had on the ‘Arran’ – it must run into nearly 100, both pleasure and business including a CRSC charter where I managed to get a tour of the bridge. Me and my colleague settled down for a well-earned (well we thought so!) CalMac breakfast in the company of a coastguard officer we knew who was heading up to Oban. The two-hour sailing passed quickly and were soon back at Kennacraig. It’s a short hop by road from Kennacraig to Tarbert (Loch Fyne) where I caught my next ferry.
I’d timed it really well and had only 20 minutes to wait on the slip at Tarbert before the ferry came into view. For some reason it was Loch Tarbert (rather appropriately) and not Isle of Cumbrae as I was expecting. Still, I’d been on the ‘Cumbrae’ plenty of times and, to my knowledge, not on the ‘Tarbert’ so it was an unexpected bonus. It was a beautiful day and even better as some dolphins accompanied us for a bit. Even stranger, was that the chap collecting the tickets turned out to be a lad I know who usually works on the port staff at Largs and had managed to get a relief job on the ferries. It’s 30-minute trip to reach Portavadie.
The road from Portavadie down to Dunoon via Tighnabruaich is not for the faint hearted, especially so if you are driving anything rather big. It is single-track with passing places in many stretches and I had a fair compliment of rather large timber haulage lorries to meet and squeeze past. Although not long in mileage, as the crow flies, it takes a fair amount of time due to its winding nature and being single track. You are, however, treated to some beautiful countryside. I wish I could have stopped at Tighnabruaich (and I will later in the year with Waverley) but for now I wanted to push on and get home. Eventually Sandbank and then the Western Ferries terminal at Hunter’s Quay comes into view.
I’ve used the Western Ferries route quite a lot. It’s a good way to get over to Argyll and head up to Lochgilphead, another place I’ve worked occasionally. I’ve timed this well again and the waiting ferry is loading. It’s Sound of Shuna, another boat I’ve travelled on fairly frequently. Again, it’s another short trip and in a short time I’m off the boat and heading down the coast through Inverkip. I pass Wemyss Bay and then through Largs, past the Cumbrae ferry, and then I’m home.
It had been an eventful five days, but I don’t often get the chance to get on so many ferries. So the unintended consequence of working allowed me a chance to enjoy them.
Raymond Rose is a member of CRSC. Are you? If not, you’re missing out: we are a group of ship enthusiasts with an active programme of excursions, talks, publications, online presentations and much else. Sign up here and take advantage of all the benefits.
Published on 18 July 2025