Hybrid ferry news

CMAL also gives the name of their RO-RO hybrid ferry, the first of its kind to be launched. Its name was chosen in a competition which hundreds of people entered, and of the choices offered, the clear favourite was MV Hallaig.

The name comes from a Sorley Maclean poem about an abandoned township on Raasay. Originally written in Gaelic, it is a reflection on the passing of time and contains vivid imagery of woodlands and deer. It was translated into English by Seamus Heaney.

As a sample, here are a couple of verses:

I will wait for the birches to move,
The wood to come up past the cairn
Until it has veiled the mountain
Down from Beinn na Lice in shade.

If it doesn’t, I’ll go to Hallaig,
To the sabbath of the dead,
Down to where each departed
Generation has gathered.