On a weekday the Kilcreggan ferry makes twelve crossings in each direction, on a Saturday eleven and on a Sunday none at all; that is the entire service, a thirteen-minute hop over the Firth of Clyde on CalMac's MV Chieftain. The winter timetable, in force from 19 October, keeps exactly the same boat times as the summer one, so the grid below holds until 25 March 2027.
Summer timetable 27 March – 18 October 2026 (sheet last updated 10 December 2025) and winter timetable 19 October 2026 – 25 March 2027 (last updated 7 July 2026). The boat times are identical on both. Read on calmac.co.uk and checked against CalMac's own sailing data on 1 October 2026. CalMac — Gourock-Kilcreggan summer and winter timetables (PDF) · 2026-10-01
Kilcreggan's pier was first built in 1850 and rebuilt in timber in 1897, in the years when Clyde steamers called at almost every village on the firth. Historic Environment Scotland lists it, with its old pier office, and counts it with Tighnabruaich among the last traditional Clyde Coast piers still in regular use. The steamers are long gone, but a boat still leaves it a dozen times a day, carrying commuters, shoppers and walkers between the Rosneath peninsula in Argyll and Bute and the railhead at Gourock in Inverclyde.
Keeping that boat going has not been straightforward. Caledonian MacBrayne ran the last scheduled service in 1974. A private operator, Roy Ritchie, kept the route alive until his death in 1979, and from 1982 Clyde Marine Motoring ran it for the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive, which paid the subsidy and even extended some trips to Helensburgh. In 2012 a new contractor, Clydelink, took over, dropped Helensburgh and endured years of breakdowns and suspensions, until Clyde Marine came back in 2018 with the boat it had built in 2007, renamed Chieftain.
The last change came on 1 June 2020, when SPT handed the route to Transport Scotland and it joined the Scottish Government's Clyde and Hebrides network run by CalMac. The Chieftain was leased from Clyde Marine, its crew moved across with it, and the timetable and fares stayed as they were. That is still the service today.
A day across the water costs an adult £9.60, which is exactly two singles; children from 5 to 15 pay half, and CalMac's fares sheet lists under-fives as free. Bicycles go free as well.
Nobody reserves a seat on the Chieftain. The online shop asks for a preferred date, yet what you actually buy is permission to board any crossing in one timetable season, and the season matters this month: a ticket bought for the summer period stops being valid after 18 October, and CalMac says these tickets cannot be amended or refunded.
| Adult (16+), single | £ 4.80 |
| Adult (16+), return | £ 9.60 |
| Child (5–15), single | £ 2.40 |
| Child (5–15), return | £ 4.80 |
| Bicycle | Free |
Summer 2026 fares, valid from 27 March 2026; CalMac has not published separate winter fares. Read on 1 October 2026. CalMac — Gourock-Kilcreggan fares, summer 2026 (PDF) · 2026-10-01
In a direct line the two terminals are about 2.7 kilometres apart: north-north-west from Gourock across the Firth of Clyde to the southern shore of the Rosneath peninsula. The same Gourock building also serves CalMac's Dunoon boats heading west to Cowal. Further down the firth, CalMac's Wemyss Bay–Rothesay crossing starts on the same Inverclyde coast, 35 minutes to Bute rather than 13 to Kilcreggan.
The Gourock terminal sits beside Gourock railway station, at the end of the line from Glasgow Central, and shares its building with the Dunoon boats. There is a waiting room with toilets and free wifi, a car park about 100 metres away and accessible spaces next to the building; McGill's buses to Glasgow and to Largs, where CalMac's car ferry to Great Cumbrae sails, leave from outside the station.
You board the Chieftain by the boat's own gangway laid onto a set of steps. Transport Scotland's route study notes that on big high tides the gangway can sit at a steep angle, which is worth knowing if you are carrying a bike or a pushchair.
Kilcreggan Pier runs out from Shore Road in the middle of the village, with a small car park and a bus stop at its head and a waiting room, toilets and wifi on the pier. Buses for the rest of the Rosneath peninsula stop opposite; the nearest railway station is Garelochhead, 8.5 miles away, which is why most people without a car arrive by boat.
The Chieftain berths alongside the end of the pier and puts its gangway across to the pierhead. Like the Gourock side, it can be steep at high water.
Gourock station is next to the terminal, and CalMac prints connecting ScotRail times on its sheet. They are a guide rather than a promise: some connections are tight, so check ScotRail on the day.
Cycles travel at no charge. National Cycle Route 75 passes Gourock station, and on the far side the Rosneath peninsula roads start at the pier.
The pier and vessel may not suit wheelchair users or anyone with reduced mobility, CalMac warns: you board by stairs, and the sheltered seating and accessible toilet on the lower deck are also reached by stairs.
CalMac's SMS alerts for this route use code 39, the quickest way to hear about weather cancellations before you walk to the pier.
The Chieftain carries foot passengers only. Drivers have to reach the Rosneath peninsula by road; for a car crossing to Dunoon, CalMac points you to Western Ferries, whose terminal is at McInroy's Point on the Gourock side.
A Sunday service was tried in 2012 and 2013 and withdrawn after carrying 1,061 and then 742 passengers. If you are staying on the peninsula over a weekend, Saturday's 18:36 is your last boat until Monday.
The shape of the day comes from the crew. Transport Scotland's route study describes a single two-person crew working a shift of about twelve hours, with a break around midday, which is why there is an hour-long hole in the middle of the timetable and nothing at all on Sundays. The same study puts the route's annual deficit at about £667,000 for the year to September 2022, with fares covering only 16% of the cost.
What the crew hands over at Kilcreggan is still a working piece of Victorian infrastructure. The pier office, built around 1850, keeps a blocked-up three-part opening in its west gable where pier dues were once collected, and the pierhead shelter dates from strengthening work in 1964.
No. The route runs Monday to Saturday only. The last sailing on Saturday is the 18:36 from Kilcreggan, and the next is Monday's 06:40 from Gourock.
Not the boat times. CalMac's winter sheet, running to 25 March 2027, repeats the summer departures minute for minute. What changes is the ticket season, plus four blank days: 25 and 26 December and 1 and 2 January.
The first weekday boat leaves Gourock at 06:40 and the first from Kilcreggan at 07:00, arriving at 07:13. On Saturdays the first departures are 08:04 from Gourock and 08:23 from Kilcreggan.
The service is worked by one crew over a long day. After the 11:30 from Gourock and the 12:00 back, the next departures are 13:30 and 14:00.
No. Every ticket on this route, ten-journey ones included, belongs to either the summer or the winter season, and a summer one expires after 18 October. CalMac will not swap or refund it.
CalMac. SPT used to subsidise the route and Clyde Marine operated it, but on 1 June 2020 it moved into the Clyde and Hebrides network. The Chieftain was built for Clyde Marine and was leased to CalMac at the transfer.
Yes, and it goes free. Remember that boarding is by gangway and stairs at both piers, which can be steep at high tide.