Tuesday 25 February

The morning started so innocent and calm, not a cloud in the sky and all the rest of it. However, here we are, six hours later, and it is overcast and looking like serious rain in the next five minutes.

I was speaking to a passenger who had travelled on the ferry from Ullapool yesterday. Apparently, the MV Isle of Arran does not have enough space for all the vehicles that need to come across, so they are loaded on the MV Clipper Ranger whilst their drivers and passengers go on the Arran. Once at Stornoway, the passengers disembark at the ferry terminal and are then bussed to pier number 1 to be reunited with their vehicles. I was also told that the MV Isle of Lewis got a battering on the Friday morning crossing from Stornoway to Ullapool, with all the plates and crockery broken - my experience on the ferry is that whenever it gets rough the crockery gets smashed.