Blue Boat, Port Ellen

Cathleen and I  arrived in Islay at Port Asking and left via Port Ellen and thoroughly enjoyed our brief visit, the first time I have been to the island as a tourist, rather than for work..

Last night I "opened" a horse box converted cleverly by the local SNP branch into  a mobile hub for independence campaigning in this community (my extra photo shows it, with me alongside my successor as the local MSP Jenni Minto).

This morning I was reminded of the importance of community by this very bonnie blue boat which is  the community skiff, one of quite a few that have been built in recent years as local projects  thanks to the Scottish Fisheries Museum and the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association. 

The splash of colour was also welcome on a grey and sometimes very wet day.