The iconic Corran ferry crossing

There has been a Corran ferry for centuries. The crossing has connected the peninsulas of the western Highlands and southern and central Scotland for at least 500 years, when it formed part of a ‘drove route’ allowing cattle to be driven from the peninsulas of Morvern and Ardnamurchan to markets in the Central Belt.

The first car ferry was introduced in 1934, though it was little used at first. A 1930s radio script describes how two ferries were operated during this time- a motorboat for passengers and a larger flat-bottomed vessel for cars, this second taking only around 25 cars a day even on “a fine summer’s day.” Fittingly, this continued to transport livestock- “in the spring and autumn we carry a lot of sheep- thousands. We can make a sort of pen on the big boast and take them more a hundred at a time.”

A radio programme produced in 1952 for the BBC ‘Country Magazine’ series gives more details about the ferry during this time. A return ticket was 4 pence, and the route was getting busier. Peter McQueen, whose family still live in the area today, was one of the ferrymen.

"McQueen “I’m telling you, Ardgour and Morvern have only been discovered since the war. In 1945 our record for one day was 19 cars. By Easter 1946 it was still 19, and we thought we’d had a busy day. And then it started. Every year, more cars. This year we’ve had more than 100 in a day, and they’re still coming. I tell you, Ardgour’s wakening up.”

The ferry continued to be a lifeline, in more ways than once. McQueen describes using the vessel in lieu of a lifeboat to help fishing boats in trouble. They often had to respond to crisis situations, such as taking an ambulance across the narrows, even though this meant operating in the dark.

"McQueen: We do it in the dark, even if we can’t see a thing. And when you judge you’re about there, you switch on an ordinary electric torch, and hope the slipways’s where you think it is.

Borthwick: A winter night. Black as the inside of a cow. Half a gale coming down Loch Linnhe, and a 7 knot tide running. And a life in your hands. Pater, I don’t envy you your job.

McQueen: It’s a good job."

Extracts from ‘Country Magazine: Morvern & Ardgour’, broadcast on the Scottish Home Service July 6th 1952.

BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation

For more on this history, as told by Peter McQueens's grandson Steven Munro, listen to 'The Corran Ferry' on the Ardgour self-guided audio trail at https://geotourist.com/tours/6919/Explore_Ardgour.