By Steamer to the Argyllshire Coast

From the dawn of steamer travel, people were taking day trips to the coast. Alistair Deayton tells the story of steamers to the Argyllshire coast.

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At the turn of the twentieth century, new laws introduced paid holidays for the masses and the seaside towns of Scotland saw a huge influx of visitors. Holidaymakers poured from Glasgow, Paisley and the industrial heartland of Scotland on the Fair Holiday trip 'doon the watter'. Some Scottish resorts such as Dunoon, Hunters Quay and Campbeltown saw their populations double or treble for much of the summer. By the end of the 1960s, the annual Fair Holiday was in decline. No longer was there as great a need to close factories for a week, nor was the holidaymaker so reliant on the pleasure steamers. Cars and aircraft had taken their toll and the resorts began to decline. Alistair Deayton, one of the acknowledged experts on the Clyde pleasure steamers, and author of many books on the subject, takes a look at the Scottish seaside resorts on the Argyllshire coast and the steamers that brought the holidaymakers in their thousands every summer, only one of which, Waverley, remains today.