Sunday 21 September

A nice late September afternoon in Stornoway, quite hazy with a moderate breeze. A year ago today, the Muirneag had just completed her last crossing as our freight ferry. After discharging her cargo of trucks, she was relocated to Arnish for repainting, then to the eastern side of pier number 3. On 3 October, she departed Stornoway for good. The darker image below was taken on 21 January 2014 in a Russian port, by Vesseltracker.com user Torgachkin. Muirneag has been idle since 8 July, after plying between the Turkish port of Samsun and the Russian port of Novorossiysk. Although Muirneag was not without its problems, I somehow still expect her to pop into view from behind the Coastguard Station at 8 in the morning. But that will never happen again.