HM Coastguard Kilchoan

Her Majesty's Coastguard station, Kilchoan - in this photo, dwarfed by the mass of Ben Hiant behind it - is sited almost at the end of Pier Road, near the CalMac ferry terminal. The personnel who man it are fully trained for Search And Rescue, including Cliff Rescue.

The team's area extends from Glenborrodale westwards, covering some of the wildest and most remote coastline in the UK. The next nearest team is at Salen, twenty miles away, with Fort William, Mallaig and Lochaline available for support. The team has a Toyota Hi-Lux, a full range of search, rescue and emergency aid equipment, and can call in HM Coastguard helicopter from Stornoway and the RNLI lifeboats at Tobermory and Mallaig.

The eleven-strong unit has a station officer, Hugh MacLachlan, a deputy station officer, Rosie MacLachlan, and nine other volunteer members, all equipped with pagers and available 24 hours a day. The most common call-outs have been searches for missing persons, when the team has been used as far away as Loch Morar, but it also responds to emergencies ranging from kayaks in distress to small dogs which have fallen over cliffs. Its most recent call-out was to a spear-fisherman who went missing off Ardnamurchan Lighthouse, when team members searched a treacherous coastline for three days, some of it during a Force 10 gale.