Off to the wonders of Greenock and the eclipse

Whilst in Holy Loch, we felt the need to walk into Dunoon. Not because Dunoon is a must visit place (it is getting more and more sad actually) but because the walk along the waterside is lovely. Well, it is normally. We managed to do the first half of it in drizzle (Scottish liquid sun).  Arriving in Dunoon we were looking forward to lunch in Livingstone's restaurant. Excellent spot, introduced to it by the Toddlers and visited once since with Andrew and Linda in tow.

Only it wasn't. Open that is. The Facebook page said they were. The building said they were not. Friday and Saturday lunchtimes only now. Maybe they have made too much money or the general air of depression around Dunoon has taken a toll on their customer numbers. So, we ended up in the food desert known as Dunoon, hungry, a little soggy and pretty annoyed.

Luckily after a large bowl of soup (yes, it is June) things cheered up and we wandered around the waterfront a little further enjoying the clearing views.

Back in Holy Loch, a new "cruise ship thing" has arrived, fresh from the builders for the final fit out. Meet Glen Shiel:

In case you think she is a little "plain" we can tell you that this is her best angle. Very  ugly and rough finish from the outside but apparently nice inside according to the guys doing the final fit. 10 days on board costing around £4,400 - we undersell ourselves. Must put our prices up. Apparently she is the second "craft" built to this rather ugly design - we had to ask why she did not float to her marks properly when they already have some real world experience.

The timber quay was busy too, a coaster came and was duly loaded up and departed with the smell of resinous timber floating around most wonderfully:

Departing Holy Loch the next morning, we gently headed across to Greenock. Hardly an ocean voyage:

but an interesting one. Some naval ship activity, ferries etc. Queen Victoria was alongside at Clydeport:

Maintenance on the Cunard ships is not what it used to be it seems, rusty marks along the waterline used to be touched up during port calls on a regular basis but she looked a bit weatherbeaten in places:

Entering James Watt Dock in Greenock we saw the superyacht Lady Rose:

Quite an elegant older lady that made us less interesting to the folks who came to gawp. Graeme the marina manager mentioned to us that there was an even bigger superyacht due to arrive that evening. Well, he was not kidding. The Fountainhead duly pitched up and berthed opposite. She made Lady Rose look quite inferior (if much prettier!) 88 metres of opulence built for an American billionaire (you would have to be) who ran Sears amongst other interests. Packing a mere 14,500 HP or so she must struggle against the tide sometimes. The shame was that she also packed 24 all American boys  / girls as the crew. The next morning they had to wash off the beast and needed loud music broadcast around the ship to do so. Oh, and they had to yell at each other too. All American boys with a deep suntan wearing their shorts on a champagne laden superyacht was clearly a temptation for the local ladies who are more used to pasty white / blue skin and Irn Bru. We saw three of them carrying their shoes leaving the boat later on one evening......

A wander around towards Greenock town was perfectly timed. Both to avoid a rain shower and to see the poor old Queen Mary being dragged into the dry dock by a couple of tugs:

The poor old girl has had a rough time since being released from her Clyde trip / ferry duties. See Wikipedia. She looks very sad now and a local guy commented that when she was last dry docked the repairs to her hull plating were done on the cheap to a minimum standard. Hope she survives - very elegant craft (unlike the in your face Fountainhead).

The morning sun gave us quite a view opposite and a taste of what life is like for the slightly better off folks:

Watching the Fountainhead crew bring out industrial polishers to clean up the teak deck aft was amusing. Watching them clean the port side of the hull from the deck of a large sportboat style tender by holding it in place using the bow thruster made us feel sorry for the thruster and the batteries.  We guess that a billionaire could afford some new ones as needed.