Kyle of Lochalsh

Kyle is a most evocative place, I think, and I'm sure I'll be coming back to it a lot but for now here is an interesting old postcard of the Skye ferry from an era when the passengers went on a different boat from the cars.

The car ferry on the right is the MV Kyleakin (I). She was the first custom built turntable ferry over Kyle Akin and served from 1928 to 1951. For a few years thereafter, she served as the Kylerhea ferry.

Note that a crewman on the ferry appears to be punting with a long boathook and you just wonder if they were struggling to control the vessel in what looks like quite blustery conditions - was the owner of the car watching nervously from the launch wondering if his pride and joy was about to be washed up on the shore at any minute!

The passenger launch on the left is, I believe, the MV Skye which served as the principal passenger carrier on the crossing from 1923 to 1950.

Note that the hotel in the background is still called the Station Hotel and has not yet been extended and renamed the Lochalsh Hotel - I believe that happened in the mid-1930s.

Below - the Lochalsh Hotel from the Railway Pier in December 2009.