the vital spark

It was on a stay in our friends' cottage on Uist that we first watched "Para Handy" - the TV adaptation of Neil Munro's stories about the crew of Clyde puffer, the Vital Spark. D learned some of the songs from "Highland Voyage", including "The Crinan Canal For Me", which he sang every time we passed Ardrishaig on our way to and from the Hebrides.

This Christmas, instead of more stuff, I bought him a week's stay in a cottage on the Crinan Canal. That's where we are right now!

On our way to Cairnbaan, we stopped at Invereray to say hello to the Vital Spark. Not the puffer used in the TV series, but VIC72, renamed Eileann Eisdeal, and later re-registered as the Vital Spark of Glasgow. This is the closest we could get. If you have £95,000, you could buy her - and the pier as well - for sale to the right buyer.