by Helen Westwood

A few years ago my husband booked a day trip for us around Ailsa Craig on the Waverley. The Waverley was built in 1946 and is the last seagoing passengercarrying paddle steamer in the World, although it’s currently undergoing a massive £2.3M boiler refit. Hopefully it will be running trips again soon. Up until recently, the ship was operating trips all along the Clyde and we spotted it once off the shore while on a trip to Rothesay with its glorious and unmistakeable red, black and white funnels.

We had always wanted to get up close to Ailsa Craig to watch the sea birds so a paddle steamer trip was the perfect opportunity. Ailsa Craig is a famous granite island because all the Olympic curling stones are made from it.

The island is also sometimes called “Paddy’s Milestone” as it’s around halfway between Belfast and Glasgow and was a traditional route of emigration for many Irish labourers travelling to Scotland to seek work. There’s even a variety of tomato called Ailsa Craig which we’ve grown in our greenhouse and you can use in my recipe if you fancy.