The sight of the good ship Waverley practising berthing at a Helensburgh pier from which none of us can embark is a particularly painful irony. 

The slow death of this pier from serial neglect is one of the main reasons why folk round my way are so exercised by not allowing our own iconic structure to fall into the same kind of disrepair.

The much trumpeted plans for Kilcreggan's pier would leave only the Waverley making an intermittent pit stop here, whilst the regular ferry would make use of a rather ugly pontoon and a breakwater pile of concrete to protect it.

This is a matter of some concern, and not just to the houses bought for a spectacular lochside view which would be forever altered. 

For starters the new ferries were clearly designed with more populous areas, like Gourock, in mind. And we still await the long promised local consultation on why these plans have relevance to the villages on our side of the Rosneath peninsula.

The counter arguments I’ve heard range from "we’d better go along with this or we might lose our ferry service altogether" to "well, I haven’t a view so why should I care about the few houses which will lose one".

Yet our pier, literally the last of its kind, has long been used as a visual marketing tool by the folk who have been working hard to make this an attractive destination for visitors. I’m guessing a snap of a pontoon will prove somewhat less attractive to potential visitors.

One of the driving forces behind the proposed scheme is to make disabled access possible.  Which is obviously the right idea. Less obviously the right solution.

Just back from a long weekend in Dumfries and Galloway which decided that one of the ways to raise the profile of their area was to run an annual Spring Fling.

The idea is both simple and brilliant – attract the public to the workplaces of the very many artists and makers who have made this corner of south-west Scotland their home. Then ask them to open up their studios for one holiday weekend.

No fewer than 104 of them did!  And given that few of us could manage all of them, even over three days, there are six colour coded routes ranging from Moffat and Thornhill in the north to Kirkcudbright in the south and Stranraer in the West.

Every year I give myself a stern lecture. As my walls are awash with works of art I must buy no more or succumb to more earrings. And every year I take no notice of my instruction.

The only element which didn’t go according to plan was the elements.  The south west of Scotland, like much of the rest, had more than its fair share of rain over the piece.

On the other hand, where better to shelter than a studio where some of the artists are very happy to chat about their work and what inspires it?

Admittedly most of the places wouldn’t be very accessible without your own wheels, but the drive is very much worth it.