A FERRY service that has been out of operation for 40 years is expected to be temporarily resurrected to transport residents cut off after a landslide closed a vital road.

The A890 Stromeferry Bypass, which runs along the southern shore of Loch Carron, was closed by a fall of about 100 tonnes of rock on December 22, blocking the route between Lochcarron and Plockton. A similar amount of rock came down on to the road the following week.

Council leaders met yesterday to discuss ways to open up access in time for the start of term next week, and said the 60 Plockton High School pupils from Lochcarron and Applecross would travel by train for the first few days of the week.

But later in the week, Highland Council plans to deploy a passenger and car ferry at Strome. A ferry last sailed this route more than 40 years ago; it was withdrawn when the by-pass opened in 1969.

The council has identified a 61-passenger boat which runs tourist trips from Plockton in the summer to use. It is hoped it can operate from the middle of next week, once trials at the slipways are completed and floodlighting has been installed. It would run from Monday to Friday for pupils and commuters, with a connecting bus service to Lochcarron and Kyle.

The six-car turntable ferry which usually runs between Glenelg and Kylerhea on Skye in the summer months has also been earmarked to take vehicles under 10 tonnes, with priority given to emergency vehicles and local traffic. This service will operate six days a week.

But Highland Council said that in the long term a solution would have to be found to make the A890 safe, with possible schemes including a new bridge, a new road or several miles of avalanche shelters.

Neil Gillies, director of transport, environmental and community services, said the council had been advised that significant works would be required to stabilise the rock, with the road remaining closed for at least another two weeks.

He said: "We are in discussion with Network Rail to see if we can divert traffic on to the railway line, but this is not likely to be a quick fix as - it takes time to lay sleepers on the track and adequately protect cars from the rock face and the loch."

The rock falls before Christmas are just the latest incidents to have closed the road, leaving local people angry, fearful and isolated down the years.

In 1989 there was an avalanche in the same area just minutes after two school buses passed, and parents condemned the road as the worst in Britain. But still two school buses travel along the road daily, and three are seen on Mondays and Fridays carrying the Applecross children who board during the week.

In 1994 the former Highland Regional Council produced a feasibility study of different options bypassing the A890. A new road inland by Glen Udalain was the cheapest, at £10 million, but it did not proceed because of lack of funding and other difficulties.