Tag: Paddle Steamer

50th Birthday Holiday 6: Travelling on the Waverley

An account of my voyage aboard the paddle steamer The Waverley, complete with photo gallery.

This is the sixth post in my series about a holiday in the far west of Scotland. Additionally I scheduled a post to appear this morning, on the day itself, as I could not be sure how many (if any) posts I would be able to put up during the holiday itself. My previous post in the series was about the paddle steamer The Waverley, and now I follow up with one about our voyage aboard that ship.

ABOARD THE WAVERLEY

We boarded the Waverley at Tobermory and 2:15PM on Tuesday May 27th, and were aboard for approximately three hours. In that time the ship should have travelled around the Isle of Muck and back to Tobermory. However, the sea was rather rough, and the ship’s captain wisely decided that this plan was not safe under the circumstances. The voyage took in Loch Sunart instead (Loch Sunart is a ‘sea loch’, which is the same thing as a fjord). I spent most of the voyage outside on deck, enjoying the views, though I ventured inside on a few brief occasions – making sure I saw everything of interest inside the ship, and also using the fact that engine was viewable, and that this was the warmest area on board, which meant that it was suitable when a quick warm up was needed. The voyage was great fun, even with the route having to be altered.

PHOTOGRAPHS

These are the pictures I took while on deck during this voyage…

Tobermory seafronte from the ship
A flying seabird captured from on deck.
Hardy sheep grazing the slopes above Loch Sunart.
Glenborrodale castle (two pics)
A very large, very modern cruise liner.
Back at Tobermory

Scotland: Setting the Scene

Setting the scene for a series of posts about my recent holiday in Scotland.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this first in what will be a substantial series of posts about my recent holiday in Scotland. Although I still have a lot of photo editing to do from said holiday I do now have enough photos at my disposal to start the series, and I will look to interleave the rest of the editing with producing posts for you. 

THE HOLIDAY TIMELINE

I travelled up on May 26th and back on June 4th. These two dates were entirely taken up with travelling (14 hours each way approximately). In between these two days there were:

  • Saturday – most of the day spent waiting for my parents to arrive so we could go up to the house that would be our base for the week, three miles from Kyle of Lochalsh.
  • Sunday – a quiet day featuring some walking in the immediate vicinity of the house
  • Monday – A walk to Kyle of Lochalsh, lunch there and a bus back. A quiet afternoon. 
  • Tuesday – a visit to the Talisker Distillery on the Isle of Skye.
  • Wednesday – a brief visit to Plockton to book the a table at the Plockton Inn for supper, a trip to Applecross and then back to Plockton for the supper (the birthday meal).
  • Thursday – The Jacobite Rail Journey (steam train between Fort William and Mallaig, a section of railway known to vast numbers of movie goers as the route of the Hogwarts Express).
  • Friday – the final full day.

THE LOCATION

Kyle of Lochalsh is on the mainland of northwestern Scotland, very close to the Isle of Skye, to which it is nowadays linked by a road bridge. Ferry Cottage, where we were staying is located at Glaick (pronounced Glike), three miles from Kyle of Lochalsh. Here are some maps for further clarification:

Decorative MapWestern Isles Map, Ferry CottageMap, Ferry CottageLocal MapJigmap1Jigmap6Jigmap7

SOME PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE AREA

Here are a few photos from the immediate area in which we were staying:

P1000267

Kyleaking from above
Kyleakin viewed from high above

Ferry Cottage
Ferry Cottage, where we stayed.

Skye Bridge from above

Kyle of Lochalsh from above
Kyle of Lochalsh from above

Loch Alsh from the bridgeKyle and the minor bridgeKyle of Lochalsh from the bridgeView from the Skye BridgeUnder Bridge ViewLighthouse below bridgeSkye Bridge minorSkye Bridge both bits

Balmacara House to Craggan Cottage2
These last two pictures show the stretch of shoreline that includes Ferry Cottage.

Balmacara House to Craggan Cottage

THOMAS’ CALENDAR CHALLENGE

I saw some quite amazing scenery while in Scotland, and it has become something of a tradition to produce a photographic wall calendar each year. A number of my Scottish pictures will undoubtedly feature. If in the course of this series of posts you see a picture that catches your eye as worth a place in the calendar there are two things I invite you to do:

  1. Post a comment identifying the photo that has caught your eye and/ or…
  2. Create a blog post about the picture that has caught your eye explaining what it means to you and why you think it should be included. If you do this I will reblog your post.

Should you succeed in convincing me to include the picture in my calendar I will give you credit for doing so. I end with two final pictures, the second of which is almost certain to be in the calendar:

Double Framed Lighthouse
A rarity – the lighthouse is framed twice over, once by the bridge and once by the masts of the boat in the foreground.

steamer1
This is the view across Loch Alsh from outside Ferry Cottage on a sunny day (yes, Scotland does have such things) with the additional feature of the world’s last remaining ocean going paddle steamer – this will almost certainly be in the calendar.