Hello Alastair

Welcome to the latest selection of The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday's leading transport coverage - and you can see all our stories at scotsman.com/news/transport.

There's only one place in the world where scheduled flights land on a beach, but, as I revealed this week, they are being intermittently disrupted by a mysterious weather phenomenon which appears to be restricting when the runway can be used - by keeping it under water for longer.

I chanced upon this surprising story when discussing a new angle to cover the Loganair service with its new chief executive, who told me the airline will be undertaking months of research in an attempt to find out why it is happening.

Coincidentally - and I find this keeps happening - hours after our story was published on Thursday, Loganair cropped up in the news again when the results of an official investigation into an aircraft fire were released.

The emergency forced the plane to divert to another airport en route, landing safely on one of its two engines.

This week also saw an unexpected development in the long-running saga over plans to transform one of Edinburgh's major streets, with a council transport leader making a bold claim about how much it will cost.

New visuals were also published for the revamp on Tuesday - but it still has a few hurdles to clear before work starts can start in two years' time.

Another long-standing roads story involved that other long-distance route which the SNP pledged to dual more than a decade ago - as well as the A9.

Even less progress has been made with the A96, partly because it was put on hold by the now defunct power-sharing deal with the Greens.

But the results of a consultation into the scheme were published on Thursday, indicating the level of public support - and which bits they think should be done first.

I keep saying how ferries dominate my reporting, and this week it one particular vessel in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

My audio visual colleague John Devlin captured this vivid image during sea trials off Arran on Tuesday.

Things are alas going from bad to worse for this CalMac veteran, which has been under repair for longer than any in the fleet.

The operator announced on Tuesday yet another delay to its return to service to enable sailings to resume on a critical route, only to put this off two days later because the vessel will need to return to dry dock yet again.

A further update is due on Monday, but, as I reported, CalMac is already making plans in case it remains out of action for the whole summer.

Finally, I wrote again about my new love for running as part of reviewing a hotel in Newcastle, which has teamed up with a local running club to offer jogs for guests - and refreshments there afterwards.

Such themed runs are catching on in Scotland too - such as innovative way of exploring heritage in Glasgow.

News from Elsewhere... Racing driver Vicki Butler-Henderson pondered the future of the clutch and gear stick - and whether their use is a dying skill - in a column in FT Weekend as largely automatic electric cars take over from manual vehicles. 

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My apologies for mistakenly adding the wrong link to my colleague Alison Campsie's heritage newsletter last week - which took you to arts instead. Second time lucky I hope if you click on this button:

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Please email adalton@scotsman.com or message me on X at @AlastairDalton or on Bluesky at @alastairdalton.bsky.social

Thanks

Alastair