Last holdout may get Sunday ferry service

STORNOWAY, Scotland, April 8 (UPI) -- The Isle of Lewis could lose its traditional Scottish Highlands Sabbath now that a consultant has recommended Sunday ferry service.

Lewis became the last holdout a year ago when ferries to nearby Harris began running on Sundays, The Scotsman reports.

The consultant, hired by the local council at a cost of 15,000 pounds (almost $30,000), said Sunday ferries would bring new jobs to the island. Lewis has had air service on Sundays for four years.

The run from Ullapool to Stornoway on Lewis is one of the busiest operated by Caledonian MacBrayne. The Isle of Lewis is the line's biggest vessel, with room for 680 passengers and 92 cars.

Angus MacKay, secretary of the Lewis and Harris branch of the Lord's Day Observance Society, argues that keeping Sundays free of pressure helps everyone, not just Presbyterians. But he could be fighting a rear-guard action.

"I think that in the future, people will look back on the situation here in Lewis and wonder why it took so long and how a single group managed to so dominate civic society on this island," said Finlay MacLeod, a writer and broadcaster who supports Sunday ferries.