Sailing Down the Clyde

Christina McLeod

When I was a child I often went on day trips down the Clyde Coast or to Loch Lomond with my grandparents. Every time before we went on one of our trips my brother John would ask can I come? and the answer was always when youre bigger.

The day finally dawned when John was deemed old enough to go and my grandparents decided to take us to Dunoon on the Firth of Clude. Normally they would have taken the train to Gourock and the ferry to Dunoon but this time as a special treat we were sailing all the way from Glasgow. In great excitement we took the tramcar to the Broomielaw and boarded The Queen Mary; one of the Clyde Steamers. Aunt Jenny my mothers sister was there too on the pretext that two children aged 11 and 6 might be too much for my grandparents, now in their seventies, to handle. In truth, she just loved the sail down the River Clyde. She had no children of her own and was very fond of us, so we were happy to have Aunt Jenny along for this special trip. ... (continues)