For those in Dunoon and South Cowal up early enough on Monday morning to see the sunset over the icy water, they may also have noticed a large CalMac ferry slipping by, Glasgow bound.
It was MV Hebridean Isles, which has served the Outer and Inner Hebrides faithfully for the last 39 years making her final voyage – to be asset-stripped in Govan.
With two blasts of its horn, MV Hebridean Isles bade farewell as it left the quay at Stornoway for a final time on Sunday evening.
As the vessel passed Dunoon the following morning the approaching MV Argyll Flyer gave her the briefest of toots, perhaps afraid to disturb the poignant scene.
The decision to break up the boat – on which islanders have loved, laughed and cried for four decades – was not an easy one for owner CMAL as it struggles to maintain services with an ageing fleet while awaiting the delivery of new vessels.
But, with its five-year survey due and certificates expiring, the cost and time required to keep the ship sailing was not considered feasible.
Many of the vessels in the CalMac fleet are now so old it is impossible to source spare parts and they have to be manufactured specially.
Any useful parts from Hebridean Isles will end up in a large CalMac warehouse in Gourock – a store of ferry equipment used to keep the elderly members of the fleet sailing.
Farewell Heb Isles…
