the last time we’ll look out the window and see

the world’s last ocean-going paddle steamer, the PS Waverley docking at the Fort William town pier?

Could be, because she’s under threat. The company of enthusiasts (Paddle Steamer Preservation Society) who bought the ship from Calmac for £1.00 in 1976 are having serious difficulty keeping her going with current fuel prices.

So this may be the last shot we’ll get of her reversing away from the pier, beginning her characteristic reverse U-turn across Loch Linnhe, before heading off down the loch to Oban and beyond. Let’s hope not….




You can see more about the PS Waverley, and maybe contribute to help her survive another year, here, and on her Facebook page here

Tags: PS Waverley, Fort William, Loch Linnhe, Paddle Steamer

each year about this time we here in Fort William get one or two visits from the last ocean-going paddle steamer in the world.

Some years we’ve sailed on the Waverley, down Loch Linnhe to Oban and beyond to Iona, or out by the Sound of Mull to Tobermory and into the Atlantic beyond Mull and Ardnamurchan. This year we just happened to meet her as we were driving home from the Kilmallie Singers’ annual concert at Ardrishaig.

Saw her first by Castle Stalker, and drove on to await her by the Corran lighthouse,


then finally as she arrived at Fort William’s town pier


(Note: Built in Glasgow in 1948, the PS Waverley is just a wee bit older than Jim, and we wondered if she’d make it back this year. Not her age, you understand: just that a couple of days ago was the 70th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuations, and we wondered if the Waverley might be over there, since her predecessor, the previous PS Waverley, was sunk at Dunkirk.)

Tags: PS Waverley, Fort William, Loch Linnhe, Paddle Steamer