 GILLS BAY FERRY TICKET RESERVATIONS |
Booking your Gills Bay ferry ticket online is safe and secure.
Simply select your outward and return routes below, enter the number of passengers then click 'Get Price' and follow the onscreen help from there.
If you are not certain of the port name in your destination country click here for country specific ferry route information or click anywhere on the ferry route map below to view an interavtive map of all Gills Bay ferry routes.
When booking your ferry ticket online a booking reference will be sent to you by email. On arrival at the port of departure present the booking reference number together with a photo ID and you will be given your ferry tickets.
Gills Bay, which is situated some 3mls. (5k.) West of John o' Groats with the community of Gills close by, has one of the longest stretches of low-lying rock coast on the northern shores of Caithness. Its main features are a small harbour and the pier used as the mainland terminal for Pentland Ferries. The harbour shelters some small local boats together with those used for working the sheep on the off lying island of Stroma. In the right sea conditions the area is sometimes used for surfing.
While Scrabster to Stromness is the longest continuously used ferry route to Orkney, started in 1856, historically the Gills Bay area has been the main setting off point from the mainland to the islands of Stroma and Swona and Orkney itself. This route, known as The Short Sea Crossing, is generally considered to be both the quickest and safest across the waters of the Pentland Firth. At present Pentland Ferries operate a year round service on this route to St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay.
In the late 1990s Andrew Banks, an Orkney entrepreneur and founder of Pentland Ferries saw the potential of re-introducing the short sea crossing and attempted to get the use of the terminal. It was only after he had threatened to build his own a short distance away that the council relented and he obtained a 99 year lease on the site. With a handful of local workers and some second hand construction machinery he spent two years, living in a caravan on site, making the terminal better able to withstand the swell and weather conditions experienced. This involved the construction of a pier, incorporating the ‘Dolphins’ (freestanding structures a vessel lies against) constructed by the previous operators, together with some dredging work.
By the summer of 2001 Pentland Ferries were ready to start regular sailings with their vessel the Pentalina B to St Margaret's Hope. It was soon realised that even with these improvements there would still be problems and that a much longer pier would be needed. Fortunately an old floating dock was available for disposal at Lerwick. This was purchased, towed to St Margaret's Hope, where it was cleaned of all contaminants and then towed to Gills Bay where it was sunk to form a continuation of the pier thus greatly increasing its length. Old oil transfer hoses from the Scapa Flow oil terminal were used as fenders for the ferry while rock armour was dumped on the seaward side for protection against the waves. The tanks have been filled with concrete and the dock itself filled with the spoil from dredging to make more room for the ferry to manoeuvre. By the time all this work is finished the dock will be incorporated into the pier.
With the largest selection of ferry routes and operators gillsbayferry.co.uk is able to offer you the lowest ferry fares with online reservations on all ferries sailing from over twenty six different countries across Europe including ferries to and from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and the UK.
Book your Gills Bay ferry tickets to and from the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Holland and Spain online in advance to benefit from exclusive online discounts of on all major ferry operators including P&O, Stenaline, Brittany Ferries, Seafrance and Irish Ferries.
