We made it! The final lorry drove away this week taking the last of the spoil with it, the fencing was taken down and finally our lovely new curved bench was installed, a place to rest and admire the view.

Champagne was used to toast the handover of the slip by the contractors, Macleod Construction  to Carradale Harbour Enterprises Limited, part of Network  Carradale Limited, the village’s community business. The project was part-financed by Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund 2007-2013 programme with contributions from Marine Harvest, East Kintyre Windfarm Trust and the Carradale Community. The main subcontractor was local firm AJC Civils.

The slip is available for use by anyone, with users being requested to make a small contribution to ongoing maintenance. It will be useful for launching small boats by visitors and locals and should be of great assistance to the Marine Harvest fish farm. One project, put forward during community consultation was a small ferry service across Kilbrannan Sound to Arran, which now has the capital infrastructure to get underway.

One use that was not anticipated, however, was as a picnic area in fine weather.

But no sooner is the slip open when the Flick family, from Hilversum in Holland, made use of it to spread out their lunch. Bon appetit!