At the pier, Lochnevis was loading at the second berth, with Coruisk occupying the linkspan berth. The gangway was quite steeply angled due to the height of the tide.

The pre-recorded safety message was a brief distraction as we backed out from the berth. It made Dave jump out of his skin as he had made the unwitting mistake of standing under one of the speakers...! There was life on the Coruisk, even at this time in the morning although her first sailing wasn't for a while yet. Her crew were up and about, emerging from their cabins on the upper decks.

Coruisk at 0730 on a Saturday morning

The engine tone of the Lochnevis rose in an encouraging way as we passed the end of the outer pier and made our way out through the narrow channel that provides access to Mallaig harbour. At this time in the morning and at this state of the tide there didn't appear to be a channel of any description, but as they say - appearances can be deceptive! It was in this channel that we were now passing through that the Coruisk came to grief when she lost one of her propeller pods, left high and dry for all to see as the tide went out.

After the ferry passed the marker light which identifies the safe entrance to Mallaig, the master pushed the azi-pods hard over and we made an acute turn to the left and headed off down the Sound of Sleat, bound for our first island call.

It was a cool morning as we left Mallaig and the sun was trying to make an appearance, although there was a layer of cloud to burn away first though. Dave went inside to sit down (in the hope of falling asleep) but found most of the seats in the small observation lounge to be taken up as it seemed that this area doubles up as a passenger dormitory. So instead it was to plan B...B for breakfast!

Feeling rather fortified Dave emerged out onto the open deck while we passed Eigg to our left. We were now heading west from the Sound of Sleat to the Isle of Rum which at this time was still quite a distance away.

The water was flat calm once again and this improved our speed, bringing us into Kinloch Bay a few minutes ahead of the timetable. We slowed as we approached and the engines were cut in preparation for the turn.

As we made the wide sweep into the bay and reversed towards the slipway, Dave caught his first glimpse of the famous sandstone castle which stand just a few hundred yards away at the head of the bay. The enormous stern ramp was released and it made its slow journey down towards the water. Once the ferry was in the right place the second section was lowered to allow the handful of passengers ashore. 

As with the rest of the Small Isles, the supplies are brought in on pallets and in large canvas bags. A tractor came down the slipway and onto the car deck so that the pallets of supplies could be lifted onto the trailer. The mail was also taken ashore on the tractor and the ship was then readied for departure once more. No-one actually joined the ferry for the remainder of the sail round the isles and back to Mallaig.

This was Al's first trip round the Small Isles and he spent much of the cruise outside taking pictures of Skye and its Cuillins, as well as Rum, Canna, Muck and finally Eigg.

With the ramp locked and the safety blurb done the engines fired up once more and we left Rum behind. After leaving the bay we came around the headland and headed up along the eastern side of Rum, as we made our way north west to Canna. There was a spectacular view over to Skye. The Cuillins were in and out of the clouds and the sun was finally breaking through.

It was about an hour or so from Rum to Canna. Roughly half way from one to the next we spotted a fisheries protection ship to the north west, making its way in from Harris where she had been seen a couple of days before. The ship was a long way off and on the horizon but was heading in, down the west coast of Skye.

By the time we got closer to Canna it was turning into a glorious day. We slowed up and the crew got themselves in position for arriving at the most remote of the Small Isles. The tide by now was very high and this meant that passengers would have to leave the ferry though the side door, accessed from the lower deck, in the cafeteria. As we were secured alongside, a tiny gangway was put in place and another handful of passengers were let ashore.

At Canna it looked as though there were building works going on just beyond the pier. Al thought that it could be a new ferry slip being constructed for the Lochnevis, like the one we saw at Rum just over an hour ago.

Without the use of a slipway on Canna, goods had to be craned ashore using the orange hydraulic crane just behind the single funnel. Dave experimented with the video capture feature on his camera while Al snapped away as the loading continued. The gangway was only attached for a couple of minutes - it was the crane loading that took the time here.

As we left Canna Dave carried on filming while we turned to face Rum once more. Once clear of the headland we made another sharp turn, this time to starboard as we went out into the Sound, between Rum and Canna. In the distance, right down low on the horizon Al spotted Oigh-sgeir - that lonely and isolated patch of rock rising only a few feet up from the Minch, and the turn point for ferries bound to or from Lochboisdale on South Uist. At this distance Oigh-sgeir lighthouse was the proverbial stick on the horizon and at this point we swung round to the left, carrying on our journey to the third island; Muck.

The journey down from Canna to Muck, from one end of the archipelago to the other, took almost two hours to complete. Once out in the Minch  Canna and Oigh-sgeir soon disappeared to the north and Coll, Tiree and Muck slowly appreared in the south. 

This leg of the cruise also saw some of the crew carrying out maintenance on the fast rescue craft on the outer deck. Dave had hoped that we might see a practise launch, however it was just one member of the crew being shown the basic workings of the launch mechanism. 

Al had a bite to eat on this long leg of the cruise while Dave went inside to get a few minutes sleep before we came round the south side of the tiny island of Muck. On the final approaches to the narrow access channel, about half a mile offshore we spotted the Lord of the Isles on the horizon to the south west. She was making her speedy way out to Lochboisdale, having set off from Oban just over two hours previously. She was quite a few miles away and was just out of range for Alan's camera, but Dave did get a couple of clear shots. The larger ship soon vanished behind some rocks while we started to turn towards the pier, passing through the channel markers.

We berthed cautiously at Muck's slipway and Dave got the camera out once more to do some filming. The phrase 'there's always one...' seemed particularly appropriate while we berthed, for the obligatory know-it-all decided to give his poor, long-suffering family a lecture on the various operations involved in docking the Lochnevis. Normally Dave wouldn't have been bothered by this prat - but this guy had one of those really stuffy, posh accents combined with an irritatingly loud voice; all of which completely ruined the footage taken when we arrived.

With the ramp down and the sirens silenced, the island's tractor came aboard and parked in the appropriate position to allow the crane operator to load the island's supplies onto the trailer. Quite a few passengers joined the ferry for the trip back to Eigg and Mallaig and the open decks became quite the place to be as the sun became firmly established in the now glorious blue sky.

Dave eventually got some uninterrupted filming done, including capturing on camera the moment one poor woman's chiller box handle came off in her hand (although fortunately the contents of the box didn't spill out over the car deck...)

It was only a short call at Muck and as soon as the tractor was clear the ramp was brought up and we left the smallest of the Small Isles in our wake. The Lochnevis did another of her sharp turns to port as we left, causing the vessel to lean over rather impressively in the process. Crossing from Muck to Eigg was by far the shortest leg of the cruise, taking only half an hour to reach the island.

As we approached we slowed right down due to the tricky channel to negotiate on the way in. The water was so clear that the rocks could be seen very clearly under the surface. We reached the end of the pier and came to a halt as the master started to swing us round to berth at the slipway. This took a few minutes because of the tight clearances encountered in and around the channel.

The terminal on Eigg is not actually part of the island itself. Instead it is actually a separate, purpose-built island set out in the bay and connected to Eigg by means of a causeway. With the ropes tightened and the ferry secure the crew lowered the ramp yet again and the final change of passengers was undertaken (including that pain in the neck that endeared himself to Dave at Muck - much to Dave's delight!). A member of the shore crew was in charge of the tractor this time, bringing with him a couple of metal cages destined for Mallaig, for loading of food supplies ready for the return trip later.

We left Eigg and suddenly there it was in front of us - Mallaig. In the distance we could see the Coruisk crossing Armadale; the white superstructure shining brightly in the sun. Dave took advantage of the cafeteria being open for another few minutes and went down below to get a drink while Al was busy fiddling round with his camera settings. Talking of cameras - there was a guy on the ferry during the cruise who had a camera identical to Graham's - how jealous were we?!? The zoom lens was enormous - now it was clear how Graham gets the pictures with such high quality!

As we entered the Sound of Sleat and drew near to Mallaig the Coruisk set off on her next sailing to Skye. At this time she was quite some distance away but the hills behind made a great backdrop.

We sailed almost straight past Mallaig before making the turn into the harbour entrance. At one point we could see up into Loch Nevis and the remote village of Inverie - cut off from the world and only accessed by boat. A crane could be seen in the village because there is a new terminal being constructed so one day Inverie could be served by the appropriately named Lochnevis.

We entered the harbour and the rocks that line the channel were now well above the waterline. Before going to the unloading berth we went to the side berth to unload cargo via the crane. This took a few minutes and we then backed out and turned to go in to the linkspan. Again this took some minutes to complete because of the breadth of the ship. Mooring ropes eventually secured the ship in a suitable position to lower the ramp and let us off. 

Because we were in about ten minutes late there was not much time to get round to the end of the outer berth. Fortunately there were a lot of passengers waiting for the afternoon round trip and departure was also about ten minutes late.

The Lochnevis left and turned towards Eigg as he Coruisk approached once again. The heat was incredible by now - looking back it is hard to believe that this morning it was dull, grey and cold.

Coruisk unloaded and reloaded before setting off on the next return trip. Dave got some more video footage as she passed by and made her way out of the harbour. As usual and despite the calm conditions, there was a car alarm going off on the car deck!

With the harbour now devoid of ferries we returned to the car and set off on the long drive down to the Clyde. The first part saw us take what is generally known as the 'Road to the Isles' - only we were heading the opposite way towards Fort William. A quick food stop in Fort William and we then made our way down Loch Linnhe, past the Corran Ferry and on towards Tyndrum via the Rannoch Moor road. 

The road through Glencoe is by far and away the most dreary Dave has ever had to drive along - just one massive convoy, driven by people absolutely desperate to stay awake. And in the heat of this afternoon this was magnified several time over. We eventually reached Tyndrum after witnessing some downright stupid and dangerous displays of driving by some others - generally they were BMWs and Audis that were giving themselves a bad name in the driving stakes!

There was a brief stop in Inverary to relieve the odd call of nature and we finally got to Dunoon four and a half hours after leaving Mallaig. Juno was just emerging from Kempock Point over on the other side of the Clyde. Dave took advantage of the break to get out and stretch his legs before the ferry arrived. We managed to confuse the lass in charge of the ticket sales this evening - she had never seen rover tickets before and didn't know what to do with them. (Still, that didn't seem to matter to Al, who had taken a shine to her and decided that we will be coming back through Dunoon tomorrow night as well!!)

Juno came across and berthed starboard side in as normal. Al decided it would be a good opportunity for pictures if he went on as a foot passenger - what he really meant to say was 'Dave, if I'm already onboard then I'll be able to catch you on camera and there's nothing you can so about it...!'

With about eight cars on we pulled away from the pier and the Voith units spun us round to face Gourock, twenty minutes away. The last crossing of our day went very quickly indeed and all too soon we were backing into the linkspan at Gourock.

After disembarking, Juno set off on her last round trip of the day. By the time she passed McInroys Point (home of the slow red tea-tray ferries) we were parked up on the front and out with the cameras once more. Coming this way Juno was lit up brilliantly as she passed behind the Sound of Something-or-Other, waiting to dawdle across to Hunter's Quay. As she passed by she was silhouetted against the Cowal backdrop.

We returned to the railway station and parked up ('forgetting' to get a ticket for the pay and display car park) before wandering through the station and out onto the landing stage just in front of the main ferry berth. Dave felt decidedly uncomfortable wandering through the station - as though someone was about to jump him at any moment. Thankfully this wasn't the case.

The Juno appeared round Kempock Point right on time - it must have been a quiet last sailing. Her skipper brought her round to the linkspan in one smooth, swift movement, and Dave got the last photos of the day.

Returning to the car and through the station, Dave once again felt the uncontrollable urge to hide the camera under his top! Back at the car and we set off back to Al's house (where Dave has very kindly been invited to stay over for the remaining nights of the Grand Tour!) to download over 500 photos from our cameras onto the laptop.

Tomorrow should be interesting too - rumour has it we're off to Gigha again (and back via Dunoon of course).