Building into the millennium Shoreworks manager Howard Richings moves on to western Scotland, travelling from Kippford to Barra IslandHaving boldly gone from Berwick, on the north-east corner of England, we now cross the Final Frontier and enter Scotland via the shifting sands of the Solway Firth. This penultimate leg of our epic voyage starts at the village of Kippford, where the station's D class lives in one of the RNLI's smallest boathouses, tucked up a narrow lane down which the boat must be run to launch into the firth. All this isabout to change as conversion of a residential property has been going on throughout the summer to provide deserved new facilities.

After feeling our way cautiously out of the estuary we turn westwards past Hestan Island and Rascarrel Bay and along the increasingly rugged coast before entering the Dee estuary for a visit one of the more remote lifeboat houses - Kirkcudbright The crew assemble in the town and travel to the boathouse in a Landrover. New facilities were completed in 1997 when, after several false starts, a site was finally found near the town centre for modern supporting facilities. The journey to the boathouse, which is located several miles out of town, is not for the faint hearted, ending as it does in a series of hairpin bends on a narrow road.

As we leave the Dee estuary to head further along the Galloway coast, we encounter our first Stevenson lighthouse. Bella Bathurst's excellent book The Lighthouse Stevensons charts the remarkable achievements of three generations of this family in lighting the Scottish coastline and helping to limit the demands on the services of the RNLI.

The Little Ross lighthouse, built in the 1840s, is one of over 50 constructed under the supervision of Thomas Stevenson whose father, Robert, started this famous engineering dynasty with his work for the Northern Lighthouse Board. It was Robert who, earlier in the century, had constructed the Mull of Galloway lighthouse on the southern tip of The Rhins, that narrow hammerhead of land that faces west across the North Channel.

From Portpatrick, our next port of call, one can almost reach out and touch the Antrim coast. A Tyne lies afloat in the harbour and a modern extension to the old boathouse was completed in 1993. It is but a few miles by road to the ferry port Stranraer, nestling at the head of Loch Ryan, but some five times as far by sea.

A spacious new boathouse was built for the station in 1994, making it one of the first ILB stations on the Scottish west coast to be modernised.

Dodging the Lame ferry and leaving Milleur Point astern, we follow the gently rolling coast north-east to harbour at Girvan, where a Mersey lies afloat and one of the first of the modern facilities for an afloat lifeboat was completed in 1993. Built into the steep bank that borders the river, the building scales the slope, providing a link with the town, Sand and rock alternate as we sail northwards, with several famous golf links owing their existence to the relentless interaction of wind, sea and land.

The dunes and rugged headlands give way to the lowlands and the coastal conurbations of Ayr and Prestwick within the relative shelter of the Kintyre peninsular.

Golf links are much in evidence again as we enter the harbour at Troon, where work had just been completed on a new pontoon berth for the station's Arun lifeboat. In order to bring the lifeboat alongside the shore facility building, which was extended in 1997, the RNLI had to undertake renovation works to the old masonry quay wall toensure that it would be stable for the foreseeable future.

Looking into the future some 10,000 years ago, from the ice fields and glaciers that then covered Scotland and the immediate sea areas, it would have been difficult to envisage today's scene of sea lochs and mountains. The relentless grinding of ice carved out the deep valleys that, when subsequently flooded by the rapidly rising post-glacial sea levels, formed the deepwater channels of the Firth of Clyde.

These made possible the development, thousands of years later, of Glasgow's ship building industry. The same process created the fjords that probe deep into central Scotland, providing sheltered waters for salmon farming and a growing leisure industry.

Four inshore lifeboat stations lie within this area and all had modern boathouses built in the late 1990s. First we drop anchor in Largs with its twin town of Millport across the strait on Great Cumbrae Island. It is this island that gives protection to the seafront and the town's busy marina. The new lifeboat station stands prominently on the seafront of this popular resort.

Completed in 1998 it was opened by HRH The Princess Royal and houses one of the busiest inshore lifeboats in the RNLI's fleet.

Deeper into the Clyde, at the mouth of Gare Loch, lies Helensburgh, sheltered from the north by Bemns Ruisig and Chaorach. Keeping a careful watch out for submarines, we sail past the town to terminate this excursion into the interior at Rhu Marina, home to the lifeboat. The new boathouse and slipway were completed in the early summer of 1997 after some rather cold winter construction.

Our next destination can be reached only by tortuous routes be it by land or sea. It is, however, worth the trouble. Tighnabruaich lies on ihe shores of the Kyles of Bute, opposite the north-west corner of the Island of Bute. On the map it looks well sheltered but the new boathouse, with its contemporary curved roof, has a substantial sea wall to retain the site and to give protection from the southerly fetch out into the Sound of Bute. The new building, opened in 1997, replaced the small garage which had housed the station's previous C class ILB.

Leaving Ardlamont Point astern we set our sights on the 825m peak of Beinn Tarsuinn, pick up the coast of the Island of Arran and run south down its eastern flank crossing Brodick Bay and rounding the rugged Clauchlands Point into Lamlash Bay. Arran {Lamlash) the last of this quartet of Atlantic 75 stations, launches in the shelter of Holy Island. The new boathouse was completed in 1997.

The southern headlands of Arran are best viewed from the sea on a fair day when the prominent peak of Ailsa Craig can be seen due south. Our course, however, lies to the west where the island of Davaar guards the entrance to Campbeltown Loch.

Taking care to pass north of the island, we enter the well-sheltered harbour, which is home to an afloat Severn class lifeboat and a D class ILB. The latter is housed, along with crew facilities, in a boathouse on the Old Quay and was modernised and extended in 1996.

Leaving these relatively sheltered waters for the exposed Atlantic coast, it is hard to feel other than great sympathy for the keeper of the Mull of Kintyre lighthouse. According to Bella Bathurst he met with a grumpy response from Robert Stevenson when, in 1820, he complained of lack of transport and provisions due to the unfortunate demise of the lighthouse horse - it having fallen over the cliff. This is still a remote and rugged area with only small, sparsely scattered communities.

Lifeboat stations, too, become fewer and farther spaced needing, as they do, large communities to provide the necessary crew. With one exception, all the stations north of here have all-weather lifeboats, reflecting the conditions in which they operate and the distances they have to cover. Hugging the coast of the Kintyre peninsular we pass through the Sound of Gigha and then set course to the north-west and, with the Paps of Jura off the starboard quarter, enter the Sound of Islay and run into the sheltered anchorage of Port Askaig.

The Islay lifeboat lies afloat in a rocky basin that was dredged out in 1997. In the same year a new crew facility building was provided. With the autumn gales approaching there was a distinct temptation to stay on awhile and maybe sample just a few of the famous malts from Isiay's seven distilleries. No such luck! Returning around Rubha na Traile and up through the Sound of Jura, we pass into one of the most treacherous areas of tidal races in Europe. In particular we give a wide berth to the notorious Whirlpool of Corryvrecken, not wishing to suffer the fate of many luckless sailors in the past, whose attempts to cross from Jura to Scarba were scuppered by this vicious eddy.

Navigating the archipelago of rugged islands through the Sounds of Luing, Insh and Kerrera, we arrive in the busy port of Oban. A fishing port, railhead and tourist attraction in its own right, Oban is a bustling place. Until recentlythe station operated one of the three Brede lifeboats then left in operation. A Trent now lies alongside the purpose-built berth, completed in 1991.

The unique ramp allows casualties to be taken off at any state of the tide. In Oban's case.

casualties include a considerable number of medical evacuations from the nearby islands and thought has been given to augmenting crew members' training to include midwifery! In 1998 the station's shore facilities were much improved by the purchase of the old pier master's cottage and its conversion to provide all the comforts of home - including a bath.

We now follow in the wake of the Mull ferry for a tranquil halfday cruise to Tobermory, home to an Arun class lifeboat which lies alongside a new berth constructed in 2000. At the time of our visit the station was anxiously awaiting urgent action by the West of Scotland Water Board to alleviate a problem emanating from an adjacent sewer outfall, which manifestly belonged to a bygone age - perhaps they should call upon the legendary Admiral Stevenson, the 'Terror of Tobermory' to chivvy the company along. An excellent renovation and conversion job on a row of garages and lofts on Mishnish Pier in 1993 provided the crew with good support facilities soon after the re-establishment of the station in 1990.

The RNLI has no stations on the Inner Hebrides so, lacking an excuse to visit Tiree or Coll, we make our way around the western-most tip of mainland Scotland (and Britain). The pure white sands of Sanna Bay make the long drive down the Ardnamurchan peninsular well worth the effort, with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream making a dip in the sea to join the seals quite acceptable - the family album holds the proof! To attempt to describe the scenery of the west coast of Scotland in words would be as futile as attempting to visit all the nooks, crannies, coves and islets of this rugged and beautiful landscape. The port of Mallaig lies at the end of a long winding road from Fort William but no visit to this part of the world would be complete without undertaking the same journey by train - preferably pulled by a steam engine (June to September) - the crossing of the curving multi-arched viaduct at Glenfinnan is reason enough. In 1998 the lifeboat crew's facilities were greatly improved by the conversion of shop premises adjacent to the harbour and work is currently in hand on the installation of a pontoon berth.

One of the original reasons for Mallaig's importance was the link it provided to Skye via the ferry to Armadale. This is still a popular tourist route with the option of crossing back to the mainland from Kyleakin to Kyle of Lochalsh Our own approach is via the Sound of Sleat and the narrows of Kyle Rhea into Loch Alsh. Whilst the new bridge to Skye may have encountered some controversy, hopefully that has not been the case for the new lifeboat house that was completed in August 2000. Fortunately the aerial torpedo embedded just outside the entrance is not 'live' but is doing excellent service as a depository for donations.

We next set course west for the island of Scalpay and then through Caol Mor and the narrows of Raasay to pass under the slopes of Ben Tianavaig and into Portree harbour. Portree has a new Trent class lifeboat lying afloat in the harbour. In 1994 new accommodation was provided for the crew by the conversion and renovation of a redundant fish processing building on the quay.

The journey from Portree to Lochinver is one of the longest of our trip and takes us past some of the wildest coastline in the RNLI's domain. A new shore facility building and berth were completed for the lifeboat in 1994 at the same time as the harbour completed a new fish market and quay. The current berth will not, however, be suitable for the Severn class lifeboat that will be coming soon and plans are being drawn up for further works.

Fish is still big business here and trucks speed south from Lochinver and Kinlockbervie each night down roads that leave little room for error. Error is not something to risk when checking the weather forecast before setting out across The Minch to Stornoway. The station's Severn class lifeboat lies at a pontoon berth that was completed in 1995. Facilities for the crew are in need of improvement and it is hoped to have a scheme in hand in the not too distant future.

At this point we must cheat by taking to the skies. The only way to arrive on Barra Island is by plane.

Where else can you land on a beach and, if the weather so decrees, end up buying more rounds than anticipated in the Castlebay Bar - not of course that the lifeboat crew are to be found there. Barra also has a Severn class ALB and this has recently moved to a new berth. This was a major project for the RNLI that resulted from cooperation with the ferry company Caledonian MacBayne, who were enlarging their berth.

With the New Year approaching, a few more drams in the Castlebay Bar seem like a good idea. Much rest and recuperation is called for before we commence the final leg of this epic circumnavigation. There is a lot of action about to happen in Shetland and much to see on the north and east coasts - Happy Hogmanay!.