Community-owned ferry makes waves

BBC News - April 2, 2007

The Glenelg to Kylerhea ferry will run during the summer

A ferry service between the mainland and the Isle of Skye has made its first sailing since being taken over by a community group.

The purchase of the Glenahulish went ahead after the Big Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £60,000.

The Isle of Skye Ferry Community Interest Company had chartered the vessel to keep it going from Glenelg to Kylerhea last Easter.

It has made its first trip of the summer season.

The group had previously won £60,000-worth of funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) Skye and Wester Ross.

The link is the only crossing to Skye that is not subsidised.

Routes between Mallaig and Armadale, and between Uig and Tarbert and Lochmaddy, are run by the state-owned Caledonian MacBrayne.

The future of the service, which carries six cars as well as foot passengers, was thrown into doubt when ferryman Roddy MacLeod announced his retirement about three years ago.

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