There are ferry delays and then there are ferry delays.
But as the old saying goes, “better late than never”, and that was certainly the attitude of one holidaymaker who took up the offer of a free trip to Staffa and Iona yesterday – 40 years after the original was cancelled.
Despite bad weather resulting in her cruise decades ago being redirected to pick up livestock, and making it impossible to stop off at the tourist hotspots, Marlene Gullon, now 75, had a ball.
At the time ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne wrote to her apologising for the cancellation of the planned trip and invited her along as a guest of the company if she was back in Oban “at some time in the future”.
Mrs Gullon, whose father’s ancestors originally came from Iona, kept the letter for all the intervening years and was delighted yesterday when CalMac honoured its old promise.
The Newcastle woman and her husband Laurence were due to take a day cruise on the MV Columba in September 1977, but the trip was cancelled when the ship had to be deployed to pick up livestock from Lochboisdale.
Then area manager John Mackenzie wrote to the couple apologising for the cancellation but inviting them to take the day trip as guests of the company, next time they were in the area.
She said: “We went round South Uist but couldn’t get off the boat because of the weather. We ate on the boat and the food was superb. I remember hearing the sheep on the car deck, it was quite surreal. We just loved it, the whole thing of sleeping on the boat and everything.
“I always kept the letter with the offer of the other trip. It has become a bit of a joke over the years with my sons telling me they think its time I tear it up.
“I was booking another visit and decided I was going to mention my letter. I had a good laugh about it on the phone with CalMac staff.”
Speaking just before the ferry left Oban yesterday morning, she said: “I always wanted to go to Iona, Staffa and Mull and that’s what I’m doing. I think the islands are fascinating. I’m looking forward to seeing Fingal’s Cave. Next I would love to do Bute.”
Mr Gullon doesn’t feel up to travelling much these days so instead she took their friend Colin MacPherson.
Robert Morrison, CalMac’s head of service delivery north, said: “We were delighted to be able to honour this 40-year-old commitment and booked Mrs Gullon and a friend onto the popular “Three Isles Tour” which we operate jointly with West Coast Motors and Staffa Tours.”
