Back to Stromeferry ...

A few years ago, I wrote a series of articles about Stromeferry in Wester Ross and today I spotted on Ebay the postcard pictured above. Postmarked at Stromeferry on 14 September 1906, it shows what was at the time the Strome Hotel (now a private house) at the north terminus of the ferry.

The picture is not particularly special but the message on the back is outstanding and worth reproducing in full:-

 "This is the ferry hotel on the other side. A large flat-bottomed barge, almost as broad as long takes over cattle & sheep, gypsies and their carts, wedding parties and their piper, merchandise in general and motor cars. The landing on our side [i.e. at Stromeferry, the south side] is always picturesque and at times exciting especially when a particularly fine and large motor car has to be put ashore. The boat draws up to the side of the slip and the car is backed on to it. Slip is only 20ft wide & slippery oft. Car has to turn on it."

Photo credit Rob Beale

That's a car being loaded onto a ferry around the same time our postcard was sent. It's not actually the Strome Ferry but the Dornie Ferry (also known as the Aird Ferry, replaced by a bridge in 1940) about 20 miles south. And below is a car boarding the Ballachulish Ferry in 1926. The operation has become a bit slicker in the intervening 20 years but see if your heart leaps into your mouth at the same moment mine did!