Glenelg Ferry to Skye
"Speed bonny boat like a bird on the wing, over the sea to Skye"
Looking for different things to do while we were away, I discovered that there is still a ferry with a difference running to Skye from mainland Scotland.
I was quite surprised when my wife agreed to use the Glenelg Ferry to do our outward crossing to the Isle of Skye, I mean, there is a perfectly functional bridge that we could have used.
I was even more surprised when I showed her a video of the floating 6-car pontoon, with a border Collie (Spot) as a member of the crew, when she still said yes!
The ferry is unique, in that it is the last operating ferry of it's type - IN THE WORLD - so it really was an opportunity too good to miss. The ferry is the MV Glenachulish, and is the last manually operated turn-table ferry in use. Cars drive onto the ferry, once onboard the whole deck of the boat is rotated, manually, so that the cars can drive off, forwards on the other side.
Just to add to the difference factor, because of the tidal effects around Skye, and only having a short concrete landing slope on each side, the ferry actually comes alongside the landing slope, the crew then turn the deck again, to an angle to allow the cars to drive off safely. It was only a short journey, but it was fun and nice to do something to help keep this ferry going.