Every Hebredean ancestor I possess (and thats a lot) just rose up from those rocky shores and took offence at Sheila's comment about the "sad" Glaswegian dentist!!! But I will recover quickly and play the game with this suggestion for most beautiful (and smoothest)...

In Italy, you can take a ferry from Termoli on the Adriatic coast to the Tremiti Islands. On a clear day (and there are more here than in Scotland, I can promise that...), the views of the Gargano are breathtaking and the Tremiti themselves have much to offer.

This is a bit of a cheat for shortest trip.

I live in South West London. We have several ferries across the Thames which are for foot passengers and bikes.

My favourite links Ham House (near Richmond) and Marble Hill House (near Twickenham). Both houses are worth visiting if you are in the area. Ham House is owned and run by the National Trust and Marble Hill by English Heritage (rival heritage bodies).

I'll vote for the roughest ferry trip - the overnght ferry from Oslo to copenhagen through the Skaggerack (sp?). We did this in September and the water was so rough that you had to hold onto the wall of the ferry with both hands to be able to walk. They even shut down the elevators - said it was too rough to use them safely - so folks on lower levels were forced to use the stairs. The dining room began to clear out as soon as we hit the rough water - and some folks still had not recoverd when we got to Copenhagen in the morning.!

I agree with the earlier posts that the CalMac system is the best and most beautiful way to commute the Scottish Islands.

Here are a couple of other contenders:
- Venice's northern lagoon, including Burano (not Murano and Torcello)
- The Sausalito to San Fran ferry
- The Chicago RiverBus -- at $1.50 this pedestrian ferry is the best and cheapest way to see the city.

Haven't done many ferries in Europe, but here's one that's quite enjoyable.

Haifa - Limassol - Rhodos - Piraeus &
Piraeus - Crete - Rhodos - Limassol - Haifa

Nice thing is that the ferry takes long stops during the day at Limassol and Rhodos. Enough time to walk around town. Unfortunately, this service has been discontinued.

Sorry to have given offence:) As an afficionada of Cal-mac ferries, I concur that they're wonderful. But I wouldn't want to spend a week at a stretch on them.

The book, incidentally is terrific.

There's a short ferry ride across the Mosel at Beilstein. Seems to mostly carry people camping on north bank back and forth to Beilstein on the south bank.

One of the more interesting and shortest ferry rides is across the Russian River on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska--it is powered by the river and carries fishermen across the river. Interesting as much for people watching as anything else.

The most pointless ferry trips are the ones that leave from Belfast, but never actually arrive anywhere. People pay to take day trips. My old office organised one. I've traveled the Belfast/Larne-Stranraer/Troon routes often enough to know that the less time spent on those ferries the better. Of course, it's always fun to watch people drinking at 7 a.m. But not so fun when you get stuck on one with Rangers/Celtic fans. They're bad enough on their own. But together, it's quite spectacular.

Oh what a lovely thread! It's bringing me back wonderful (and not so) memories of travels by ferry.

Sheila, I remember the Scrabster-Stromness Ferry! I must've been very lucky that day, because I did NOT get ill. And if anyone will get sick on a ferry, I will. It was a clear and cool day, and the water was surprisingly still.

Now, moving over to Brittany, France, the ferry between Quiberon and Belle Isle was one of those memorably bad experiences. It was, I think, all of an hour, but I was so ill after that trip that I spent the day lying on a bench in the port town while my then-boyfriend biked around the island. Yes, I lay sick while he went off on his own (reader, I did not marry him!).
Paule

Is Stoclholm Finland generally rocky?

Very rocky: ferry to any Cycladic island from Mykonos when the meltemi is at full force. The cigar smoke added to the nausea!

Beautiful: same ferry as it got nearer Santorini, and the winds calmed down. Approaching Santorini at sunset by ferry is a sight to remember.

As said above, Stockholm to/fro Helsinki is a great overnight ride in big beautiful ships. It's a good party ship and the food is great.

Roughest ride I've had was Calais to Dover. There was barf all over and the ship was stinking of it. Ride in the aft end because it doesn't heave as much back there. Another rough ride was from France around to Ireland.

Best party boat was from Ancona to Patras. It's more upscale than the Brindisi to Patras ferry.

One of my shortest

Oops, got cut off. . .

One of my shortest was from Vila Deal de Santo Antonio to Ayamonte. It's just a flat barge crossing the river.

The most beautiful and serene rides were a couple of ferries in Norway, part of a bus trip from Bodo to Narvik. The fjords are magnificent.

A few years ago I was in Oban (on the West coast of Scotland) on business. An unexpectedly cancelled appointment left me with a few hours to spare and I wandered down to the bustling ferry terminal to find that the ferry to the Isle of Lismore would be leaving shortly. As it was a scorching hot afternoon & the return trip only took around a couple of hours, I thought it would be a very pleasant way to pass the time.

What I didn't realise until I got on the ferry, was that it was Oban's market day & that I had to share the relatively small ship with quite a substantial number of cattle making their way over to Lismore with the local farmers. Well, the cattle did what cattle do & by the time we got halfway across Loch Linnie the smell was unbelievable. It was one of those still, breathless days you get from time to time on the West coast, but I would have been very happy for a gale to have blown up to "freshen us up" a little.

When we got to Lismore the cattle disembarked & I was treated to the charming sight of the crew desperately hosing the deck clear of all the "keepsakes" the cattle had left on board to remember them by.

At least I was able to enjoy the magnificent scenery on the way back!

Jim

I once took the postferry from Stavanger to Bergen, Norway.
Very (ferry fast) over the sea and in the fjords. Stops at small isles where people came and went with chicken, radio's and whatever they needes, like on an Indian train.

I am remembering (a few years back) a smooth and relaxing ferry ride on a sunny afternoon from Piraeus to Patmos ... it didn't get "rough" until evening with the frantic rushing & pushing to disembark along with cars, produce trucks and carts, goats and motorcylcles. It was a memorable arrival to the beautiful, friendly island.