Just a Wee Blether…

About nostalgia for my favourite Queen

A few years ago we took an evening sail on the paddle steamer Waverley. It was raining so heavily that the excursion had to be abandoned halfway up Loch Goil. But of course it was mobbed, passengers of all ages loved the entire experience – the scenery, the engines, the music, the booze.

I remember we approached the rickety old pier at a village called Blairmore, not far from Dunoon. The PA system on the pier was playing the old Scottish song Down in the Glen and there were a couple of dignitaries there to welcome the famous old vessel. The Waverley has that effect on people, especially those of us who grew up along the Clyde Coast.

So it was with great pleasure – and more than a little nostalgia – that I read this week that another old Clyde steamer, the Queen Mary ll, is to return home after lying disused for years on the River Thames. Her sailing days may be over but she will be permanently berthed near the Finnieston Crane in Glasgow, a reminder of a golden age of Clyde cruising.

For me there is more than nostalgia involved here, I have something of a personal attachment to these old boats. My first proper hobby as a six-year old boy was standing on the piers at Largs and Wemyss Bay and watching all these vessels come and go (Yes – I was on my own with no adult supervision and miraculously survived. Amazing eh?).

The Waverley was one of four paddle steamers on the Clyde then. The others were the Jeanie Deans, the Caledonia and the Talisman. There were the impressively large turbine vessels the Duchess of Montrose and Duchess of Hamilton, the four Maids – of Skelmorlie, Argyll, Ashton and Cumbrae – the small workhorse vessel Countess of Breadalbane and many more.

My fascination for these boats was fueled by a kindly great aunt who took me on every one of them. Together we went on long sails to resorts such as Dunoon, Rothesay, Campbeltown and Brodick, and to smaller places, Craigendoran, Arrochar, Lochranza, Innellan, and the stunning Kyles of Bute. Long queues of holidaymakers waited the arrival of every boat and the Clyde resorts boomed.

I remember, on the Duchess of Montrose, going for lunch in the large and spacious dining room and being given the ‘silver service’ treatment by waiters and waitresses dressed in smart black and white uniforms.

Fast forward 10 years and most of these boats were gone, many to the scrapyard. The Waverley and the Queen Mary ll had survived but the Clyde that captivated me as a small boy was gone. Cheap Spanish holidays were the in thing, Scots preferred the Costa Blanca to the Costa Clyde.

Years later, in 1990, I was helping produce a radio programme and was in Banchory, Kincardineshire, talking to local councilor Douglas Black. He pointed up Deeside where the old rail line used to carry the Royal family and said, “Can you imagine the tourists that would love going up there in a steam train now? It was a tragedy.”

Of course Douglas Black was right. Now they’re bringing back boats and re-opening rail lines and stations. It’s too late for the Deeside line and the long ago scrapped Duchess of Montrose and Jeanie Deans. And of course the magnificent old buildings that were sacrificed in the name of progress. It seemed that, at some point during the 60s to the 80s, Scotland lacked any foresight or vision. As if the past had no place in our future.

The same is true in the United States. The great railroad system that opened up the West and brought prosperity to thousands of small towns is now just a memory. The car is king here. In Arizona, the O’odham Indian tribe is fighting to prevent an eight-lane highway being built through land they have held sacred for centuries. Their chances of winning are slim.

I would love to see the Queen Mary ll sailing on the Clyde again. Perhaps I’m an old nostalgic but so are many millions of others. And that’s the point. The past is important to everyone – so let’s not carry on destroying it.

One thought on “Just a Wee Blether…”

  1. We had tickets for a trip on the Waverley a couple of years ago but the North Devon summer weather prevented us from cruising the Exmoor coast. I was very disappointed but hope to one day enjoy a few hours on this old lady. Failing that I will get to Lundy island on the Oldenburg one day. I’ve only been saying that for twenty years! I sailed from Ardrossan to Arran last week in glorious sunshine. Calmac may not be as romantic but it was still the highlight of my holiday.

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