Ali Cat

This is the smaller of the two passenger ferries currently operated on the Gourock-Dunoon town centre route - the ferry taken by foot passengers who want to catch a train , visit Inverclyde Hospital, or simply get to the other side of the Firth of Clyde without the use of a car. Today there was a flat calm, and it was operating as per timetable - but the number of text alerts I've had since Christmas warning of its possible demise is so great that I've lost count.

Quite apart from its obvious size and the fact that there is a door in the side of the vessel - we embarked via this door, disembarking via the stern - the mooring of the boat is quite a manoeuvre, either rotating slightly on the end of the pier area (as here, in Gourock) or reversing over its own wake to get into the Dunoon slip.

The crew are a delight, by the way.