Jupiter At Dunoon The sun comes out as I get to Gourock and waiting for the boat is pure pleasure. The Jupiter’s such a cheery ferry: a simple tea-bar, an open car-deck, passengers crowded into the sunny side of the boat.

Grandparents taking the weans for a day out, resplendent in freckles and red hair.

Pipers crossing to practice or play.

Old gentlemen with medals on their jackets, off to pay their respects.

And me: drinking in a sky of blue. Sails on the Holy Loch. Red Western Ferry boats doing the short crossing, signalling as they go:

Nearly there now.