Stranraer

The North Channel between Scotland and Ireland narrows here into the Straits of Moyle, 22 miles (35 km) across. It's deep: the Beaufort Dyke goes down to 1000 ft (300 m), carved out by glaciers and swept clear of in-fill by the currents. Shipping traditionally plied between little ports such as Donaghadee in Ulster and Portpatrick on Galloway. The channel is pinched to 12 miles further north off the Mull of Kintyre, but that is a long way from anywhere else, and St Columba sailed across that way to put distance between himself and his Ulster enemies.

The small ports lacked shelter, and from the 19th century vessels grew larger, so a Victorian port developed at Stranraer as it did at Belfast. The railway from Glasgow created a fast link from central Scotland. Cairnryan a few miles north of Stranraer has deep water and during the Second World War was developed as a back-up military harbour, in case others such as Liverpool or Greenock were bombed out. Its postwar military role was to handle surplus explosive ordnance, chemicals and other nasties, which were dumped in the Beaufort Dyke. In the late 20th century, large ro-ro ferries outgrew Stranraer, and Cairnryan became the chief port. Stranraer continues with fishing and freight but has become a backwater.

From time to time there's talk of a bridge or tunnel across the North Channel. Modern engineering has made great strides across equally daunting stretches of water, but this one seems impractical with present-day technology. The latest revival of the idea was the "Boris bridge" spanning from Ulster to Mull of Kintyre. The guestimate cost was £20 billion, but others put it at over £300 billion. Nothing happened and the idea was dropped.

By boat:

Ferries from Northern Ireland sail to Cairnryan a few miles north of Stranraer.

1 Loch Ryan Port is north of Cairnryan village and about 8 miles from Stranraer. Stena Line ferries sail here from Belfast, with 4-6 per day taking 2 hr 15 min. Buses from Belfast either connect with or cross on these ferries and continue to Ayr, Glasgow and Edinburgh. There's a car hire desk at the Loch Ryan terminal.

2 Cairnryan harbour is four miles north of Stranraer. P&O Ferries sail from Larne, with six a day taking 2 hours. There is no linked inter-city bus for these, so either catch a local bus (below) or take a taxi.

By train:

From Glasgow Central there are four or five connections daily via Kilmarnock to Ayr, where you change for the train via Girvan, taking 2 hr 50 min to Stranraer. It doesn't run via Cairnryan so for the ferries change to the bus at Ayr.

3 Stranraer railway station is on the town harbour quay, right where the ferries aren't. It's half a mile walk into town centre, with buses and taxis. There's a staffed ticket office but no machines, and the toilets are only open during ticket office hours. There is step-free access to the single platform.

By bus:

Scottish Citylink / Ulsterbus 923 runs four times daily from Glasgow Buchanan Station and Ayr to the Stena terminal at Loch Ryan then to Stranraer town. It's billed as a through-service to Belfast but doesn't board the ferry, so you lump your luggage off it to get on the ferry, then onto the Ulsterbus at the other end for the short ride to Belfast Grand Central.

Hannon's coach does join the ferry on its way between Glasgow and Belfast but has no local pick up / drop off.

Buses no longer run from London direct to Stranraer, you have to travel to Glasgow and join the Citylink.