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History of Steam Lighter (Clyde Puffer) 'VIC 32' (continued)

I met Keith Shellenburg in a London Hotel and thence we negotiated a price in a local pub. After thinking about it all a bit more and after another visit or two, surveying her with large hammers at low tide, we set off for Udny Castle and bought her for £1,500. With the help of Bob Adam and his merry gang from the restored steam tug 'Kerne' at Liverpool, we prepared her for her trip down to London on the Whit weekend of 1976.

We started the conversion of the hold immediately. We put a false floor in the hold allowing 6 foot headroom in the lower area and by dint of raising the hatchboards by 23 inches and installing windows we created a marvellous saloon and galley and dining area on this level. At the same time we used the boat for trips down to the Medway, Erith and Greenwich. This encouraged our large volunteer work force to understand what all the hard work was about. We used the big tides on the Thames Estuary to double plate the hull from 2 feet below the waterline to deck level. We took the boat across the English Channel to France in 1977, intending to get to Paris but we ran out of human steam power at Rouen.

After two years in St. Katherine's Dock, we took her back to Scotland, starting off Whit weekend, 1978. We had printed a single sheet advertisement for berths on board for the journey. We had divided it up into 8 weeks, for instance London to Whitby, Whitby to Leith, Edinburgh, Leith to Inverness, Inverness to Crinan etc. and a few weeks pottering about the Argyll area experimenting whether it was going to be practical to operate the vessel in that area. Life was pretty basic and if you wanted to wash in hot water, you had to report to the engineer for a bucket of water which had had the steam lance treatment.

Rachel and I were married in Bellanoch Church by Crinan, in January,1979.

We started taking proper fare paying passengers in 1979. We used Tarbert, Loch Fyne as a base and mainly operated around the Clyde area. This included Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Millport on the Isle of Great Cumbrae and Lochranza on the Isle of Arran. We explored up all the local Lochs, Loch Long at Arrrochar where we climbed the Cobbler, Carrick Caste at Loch Goil, Helensburgh and anchored off Faslane in the Gare Loch. We used to go up to the Ministry of Defence pier at Inveraray, nearly at the head of Loch Fyne. Then in September we would cruise up to the Caledonian Canal. Since 1994 we have cruised from Crinan, down the Sound of Jura, round Kiels Point and up into the Fairy Isles in Loch Sween. Then on to childhood haunts in Tayvallich Bay. We explored the Queen's Beach in Loch Caollisport, the saint's cave on Eilean Mhor on the McCormick Isles, sometimes watching whales passing by and listening out for corn crakes. On a good day you can see Ireland to the South and Ben Nevis to the North! Sometimes its like being inside a watercolour painting Here. I recommend it!

Photo courtesy Ivan Shaw

On to Craighouse on Jura where we have been welcomed by the locals. Our ambition on the island is to get to the Victorian walled garden at Ardfin on the South end. This is called Jura House garden, a magic spot created by Peter the Dutchman and if ever you find you are not at the peace with the world, make your way there and sit on the little cast iron bench at the North end of the garden, overlooking the burn. Sometimes we took the Jura bus to Feolin, the wee ferry across to Port Ascaig on Islay, the big Caledonian MacBrayne ferry to Colonsay and had 5 super hours walking on Colonsay. We would return the same afternoon and be back on board for a delicious three course sea food dinner. Then having perhaps taken the school bus driven by Gwen to the top of the island, we would depart for Shuna Island, Loch Melfort, Arduaine Gardens and Loch Craignish.

We developed the cruise on the Caledonian canal over the years. We used to go both ways in a week, from the top of Neptune's staircase locks at Banavie to the top of Muirtown Locks at Inverness. Recently we changed this to a one way trip from either Inverness to Fort William via Fort George in the Moray Firth and the Corran Narows in Loch Linnhe. I thought this was definitely a better cruise as one then had a little taste of the sea at the Western and Eastern ends of the canal and made an entrance into the canal and an exit out of it! We developed taking people by mini bus to either Cawdor or Brodie castles and sowing people the Klava Cairns. Here I introduced dowsing with a polo mint suspended by a length of cotton which intrigued some people. We learnt over the years to seek out edible fungi in the autumnal woods, specialising in chanterelles, the penny bun, (boletus edulis), the hedgehog fungi and the brain fungi.

I rather miss the fun of the fair! Operating a steamboat in this day and age is blissful. The silence of steam allows one to listen to the sound of nature. Porpoises, whales and dolphins are fairly common in Argyll's waters but you hear them before you see them. We attracted thousands of people from all over the world and we could chat in the wheelhouse without having to make oneself heard over the thundering roar of a diesel engine.

We are now back steaming....come and join us.

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