It is June 1887, the year of the Queen's Jubilee. Botanical illustrator Rosalind Carey leaves the Broomielaw in Glasgow aboard the paddle steamer Columba, bound for a commission in Oban and an old friend, Isabelle, she hasn't seen in twenty years. The day takes her down the Clyde past the shipyards, through the Kyles of Bute and along Loch Fyne, through the locks of the Crinan Canal on the little Linnet, and over the evening sea to Oban. On the way she sketches a boy on the pier at Greenock for an old woman who remembers her own son standing just so, climbs up to the wheelhouse to talk with the captain, and goes below to see the steamer's engines at work. 00:00 Morning at the Broomielaw 11:20 Down the River Clyde 20:26 Through the Kyles of Bute 30:21 Across Loch Fyne 38:17 The Crinan Canal 49:48 Into the Western Isles 59:53 Approaching Oban Historical note: the "Royal Route" was a celebrated Victorian tourist journey from Glasgow to the Highlands — large Clyde steamers to Ardrishaig, smaller boats through the Crinan Canal, and connecting steamers on to Oban. The people in this story are fictional; the route, vessels and landscapes are drawn from the period. Behind the story: Rosalyn's route is the real "Royal Route" — after Queen Victoria passed through the Crinan Canal in 1847, Glasgow steamer companies sold the journey under that name, and by 1857 more than 40,000 passengers a year were travelling it. Further reading: Wikipedia – Crinan Canal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crinan_Canal No music. Narrated with a calm synthetic voice. Also on Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer and iHeartRadio — links on the channel page. #SleepStory #Scotland #VictorianTravel