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Are they barking up the wrong tree?

Posted Saturday, August 9, 2008

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Scotch Boat

The Lairds Loch used to run between Glasgow and Derry three times a week, bringing over about 1,000 holidaymakers a week, a good percentage of them came up the road to Moville and other places in Inishowen.

I had been told that the service stopped when The Troubles began in Norther Ireland in 1969.

However, in looking into it further I discovered that the service ran from Glasgow to Derry from 1826 to 1966 - a stunning 140 years of connection between this part of Ireland and the West of Scotland.

The Lairds Loch was then put onto the Dublin route for a few years before being bought by an Israeli company for a Red Sea route where it eventually sunk.

Boat Route

Now, I hear voices in the area saying that a boat route should be revived between the West of Scotland and Derry.

It is good to see people looking at ways to revive this link.

However, I don't think that this is the way ahead.

Let me explain why.

On It

I only recently realised that I had been on the Lairds Loch on two separate occasions - once when I was about 2 and another time two or three years later.

Let me describe the journey.

The first time was when I went with my father.

It's funny, I do remember both journeys coming here from Glasgow but I don't remember either of the return journeys.

Smell

I remember going onto Broomielaw Pier where there was a very strange but slightly unpleasant smell.

It was a smell ingrained into the pier which I suppose was caused by lots of spilled cargo over the years.

Departure

The boat left at 7pm.

That would mean we would probably have left home in Greenock, about 26 miles away, at about 5:30pm to be safe, to get the train up to Glasgow.

How we got from Glasgow Central Station to the Broomielaw I don't remember.

Partial Memory

On the boat, I remember my father teaching me how to tell the time while we were waiting for the boat to go and my asking when it was going to get under way.

I also remember having a cabin on the boat where we slept.

It was an evening and night time journey.

I do remember my father getting me up to see Moville as we passed up the Foyle.

I remember it was dark and remembered wondering why the ship couldn't just dock there and let us off.

Moville in the Morning

It would be the morning before we would get to Moville.

We were allowed to sleep in our cabin till the morning whereupon we got a taxi to Moville, I think.

The second time I came, with my Uncle Liam (Montreal), we didn't have a cabin and had to sleep on seats or lie under the seats on the floor.

It wasn't very pleasant.

No Time

I don't think that people have time nowadays to do that sort of thing - especially as they mostly come for weekends now.

I think we probably need to build up the weekends here first of all before we expect big loads of people to come on one-week or two-week holidays.

I'm sure also, that they could get here more quickly using a Sea Cat.

However, what's the point.

The Cost

Because of something I'm looking into for the St. Patrick's Day Committee, I looked at how much it would cost to come over for a few days by plane from Glasgow Prestwick to City of Derry airport between the 16th and 18th of March next year.

I knew it wouldn't be that much if you booked in advance but I was astonished to see that, with Ryanair, the cost was only £9.88 - and that includes the airport tax.

Other Charges

There are other charges which they may or may not incur.

There is a Credit Card handling fee of £4.

There is a charge of £8 per bag and a fee of £8 for booking in at the airport rather than online.

However, these are not adding up to great amounts.

Indeed, if one took just carry on luggage (for a weekend) and checked in online I would think that the total cost would be just the £9.88 plus the £4 for the credit card.

It may be a little more if I've missed something out but the total costs are not to come to more than 30 or 40 quid return - even if you have baggage that must be checked in.

Time Advantage

Then there is the time advantage of coming by air.

Prestwick Airport is 29 miles from the centre of Glasgow.

There is a good train service between the two and you get a reduction if you show your airline ticket.

Current Transportation

Even though the boat to Derry has stopped, still the current means of getting people here is to pack them onto a bus, drive them down to wherever they get the boat, take the bus over on the car ferry and then drive them up through Northern Ireland to here.

However, it might be better just to drive the bus (or minibus) to Prestwick airport, let them catch the plane to Derry and then pick them up via a bus or minibus.

It makes it more flexible as you don't have to fill a bus every time.

People can even make their own way here without going through a bus company.

You could probably leave your home in Glasgow and be in Moville not much more than two hours after you left home.

Fly Here

Rather than trying to get the boat back on or waiting till travel companies have enough people to fill a bus, it would be a lot better to help publicise the fact amongst both travel companies and the people of the West of Scotland about how easy it is, and how cheap it is, to get here - as well as what we have to offer.

Other Methods

If we manage to get people to come here in large numbers for weekends and then for extended holidays then I'm sure travel businesses will be all too happy to look at Sea Cats or other ways to get people here.

First of all, though, we have to prove that they want to come here in decent numbers - and the easiest and most flexible way to do that is by getting them to come by plane whilst the seats are cheap.