Best thing to see at the seaside

LIGHTHOUSES www.nlb.org.ukThe Northern Lighthouse Board is responsible for 204 Scottish lighthouses, all now automated since Fair Isle South was de-manned in 1998.

The tallest is Skerryvore, south west of Tiree at 156ft. The first mainland lighthouse and first built by the then Commissioners of Northern Lights, was Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh, 1787, now occupied by the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses.

FISHING BOATS There are around 600 Scottish vessels over 10 metres. A full list, with vital statistics, is available (www.mfa.gov.uk). These include boats fishing for our most valuable catch, the prawn; a much-diminished number of dedicated white fish trawlers; scallop dredgers; and two dozen huge herring boats. The largest vessel is the 76-metre Shetland-based Altaire.

The oldest is Planet, built in 1952, operating out of Scalloway, Shetland.

LIFEBOAT STATIONS www.rnli.org.uk.The Royal National Lifeboat Institution maintains 48 stations in Scotland from Aith in Shetland south to Kirkcudbright, and from Barra Island in the Western Isles east to Peterhead. There's a string of 13 accessible stations on the east coast between Fraserburgh and Eyemouth. Most are open to the public, many have gift shops. Details available on the comprehensive website.

FISHING PORTS The Scottish Government lists 139 fishing ports (enter "Port Districts Scotland 2003" in Google). Visiting these will take you to attractive villages and wonderful coastal scenery. Start in the south-east with Burnmouth nestling below its cliff and a harbour used by a few creel boats; then Eyemouth where some weekends you can see around 50 vessels; St Abbs with its harbour, lifeboat station, and lighthouse on St Abb's Head; Cove, seaward of Cockburnspath, with rock formations and harbour, still used by two small crab and lobster boats, accessed through a rock tunnel from the picturesque hamlet.

CALMAC FERRIES Caledonian MacBrayne operate 31 vessels (www.calmac.org.uk). The largest is the 101-metre MV Isle of Lewis which carries up to 114 cars and 970 passengers on the Ullapool-Stornoway route. The newest is MV Loch Shira, capacity 24 cars and 250 passengers, which entered service last year between Largs and Cumbrae. Sister company Northlink operates five ferries between the mainland and Orkney / Shetland – Hrossey, Hjaltland, Hascosay, Hamnavoe and Clare.