Yumpu_ May_June 2017_02

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Five Weeks on the Monachs Five Weeks on the Monachs Like Watered Silk In spite of being almost featureless, the highest point is only 62’ above sea level, great beauty features, both on a large-scale and in its details. For example, in high winds the sand-dunes re-arrange themselves in stripes like watered silk. In storms the sand has it unwanted side when a gently sloping beach could become a 30’ high cliff, impassable for new-born seals that were swept out to sea. One could spend a whole week sharing the island with 5000 seals and their pups and, occasionally, with a feral cat which a visiting zoologist had left behind. No one but us went to the north and west, though the south-east and school-house would fill with lobster fishermen if the weather turned. We would then move out of the school-room, with its graffiti of ships, to the larder, with its powerful odours. They were lovable fisherman, bringing us fresh supplies and the occasional crab or lobster. In exchange we unravelled old nylon rope to make lobster-pots and brought firewood from the beach. Oakum or tarred fibre was picked out on the Sabbath because it was an indoor activity and therefore not visible to the Free Church minister, allegedly on North Uist ... with binoculars! Working-lives The fishermen had varied life-stories. One was a native of the Monachs and had attended the school until evacuation. We had not appreciated that most of them had spent their working-lives in the Merchant Navy until one usually silent individual startled us by joining the discussion with “The last time I went through the Panama Canal ...” Most were crofters from Grimsay and Benbecula, but one was Glaswegian, formerly a bouncer in a Paisley dance-hall before taking up a new life as a fisherman on retirement and entering public life as a community councillor. The army personnel connected to the Benbecula rocket range widened his social contacts and he was known to almost everyone by his conversational line, “So I said to the Brigadier ...” It was he who took us out for a day’s lobster fishing, thwarted by the few, undersized catches. As a bonus he took us to the then derelict lighthouse on Shillay where we saw Scotland’s only black white-coat seal pup - not melanistic, but born in the former keepers’ coal-house and thick with coal-dust. The ascent and descent of the lighthouse was made in total darkness for a torch had not been taken for fishing. Our Memories Here was quite a terrifying experience, with the steps treacherous from bird-droppings and the twigs of their nests as well as our memories from literary sources concerning the wicked uncle trying to kill Alan Balfour in Kidnapped. The writer was, of course, the really appropriate author, Robert Louis Stevenson, a member of the lighthouse-building dynasty. We recalled our personal space being invaded when at one sunrise a Sea King helicopter landed a few yards from our door landing a doctor wearing a wet-suit and carrying his medical bag. The reasons are too complicated to explain, although connected to Ceann Ear being the only uninhabited island to have a solarpowered telephone. On another occasion a Zodiac inflatable was run onto the beach, disgorged two telephone engineers and half-a-dozen squaddies who spent the afternoon building a large and ambitious sandcastle. This was quite a contrast to the time spent afterwards at home with our reference books, which provided such information that the Monachs were an official reserve because of the quality of the machair flowers. Exists in the Minds As autumnal visitors we could have been forgiven for asking, “What flowers?” Would someone who visited in June say, “What seals?” Would we have known about migrating geese if we had not stayed extra days because of bad weather? Every visitor to an island has a different picture to take home and arguably the island only exists in the minds of those experiencing it. Equally the memories in the minds of visitors and the images depicted in their photographs bestow immortality on the seals, the geese and on such as the infinite re-arrangement of sand grains to make ever-differing patterns. Rosa Baker (1940 - 2016) was born in Hereford, brought up in the Welsh Marches and lived for most of her life in North Wales. Her first Scottish island was Tiree (excavating with the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow) and then Orkney. With her family she continued excavating and holidaying in Scotland. She joined her husband on seal-research field-trips to such as the Monachs and North Rona. She visited 83 Scottish islands, as well as 91 others worldwide, and was in Orkney just two months before her death despite infirmity caused by Parkinson’s Disease. Page 8 Top: The school-house, Caenn Ear. Below: The author being rowed ashore, Ceann Ear. Left: Cutting up driftwood to burn. Below: A sleeping week-old seal pup on Ceann Ear. The photographs were taken by John Baker. 10 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER MAY / JUNE 2017 MAY / JUNE 2017 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER 11
Bute has Four A-rated Attributes MILLPORT GREAT CUMBRAE Cathedral of the Isles Britain’s Smallest Working Cathedral Accommodation for Groups & Individuals Programme of Retreats and Creative Workshops cathedraloftheisles.org office@cathedraloftheisles.org • 01475 530353 Garrison House Café Food … for Thought Open 10.00 - 17.00 School-holidays 9.00 - late Hearty Breakfasts Lunches and Dinners Healthy Options garrisonhousecafe.com lynne.fitnut@gmail.com Bute has Four A-rated Attributes Jack Palfrey particularly enjoyed the Bute Backpackers Hotel in Rothesay Bute is the place to be - with access, activities and accommodation, all attracting an A-rating. Access from Glasgow is fast, with direct rail and road routes, taking in a scenic journey along the Clyde and an hourly, 35-minute ferry-ride from Wemyss Bay. Alternatively there is a similarly-frequent service from Colintraive to Rhubodach in the north of the island, involving a 500-yard crossing in only five minutes. Activities are multiple with daily events in the season and various festivals focused on such attractions as music, cycling, motor-cycling, flight, sailing, gin and beer. Accommodation is plentiful with a range of accredited hotels, guest-houses and bed-and-breakfast establishments, together with individual properties connected with Mount Stuart. My attention, however, was drawn to the Bute Backpackers Hotel. Here is a capacious hostel-style residence, with space for 50 guests housed in private rooms rather than dormitories. Located on the esplanade, with sea-views, it offers kitchens, common room and even conference facilities. Bathrooms and showers are to be found on all floors, adjacent to the bedrooms. This is generous accommodation that is available at the equally generous bargain-price of £20 per night. A warm welcome is assured by the proprietor of over ten years, Sandy Johnston, who understands the needs of guests and strives to provide them. His interests are wide - in property development, classic cars, writing poetry and music as well as performing in bands - and his local knowledge means that sound advice is available for island-explorers. Bute is certainly an island that invites explorers of all sorts - from riding the buses operated by West Coast Motors, cycling both on- and off-road, walking a variety of footpaths, playing golf on a course with dramatic views, fishing waters from chartered boats, discovering its six beaches and the fabled architecture of the Victorian Gothic mansion, Mount Stuart, with its gardens and woodland. This was an island famed for providing pleasures. Many took advantage of the fleets of steamers available in their heyday to sail down the Clyde to Rothesay. In 1938, the Rothesay Pavilion was opened on the Promenade and attracted visitors and residents alike with its grand ballroom, concert hall, wedding venue and civic centre. It is now a £12 million restoration project that is due to be completed in 2019. The map shows that there is much open country between, ironically, Buttock Point at the top end and Garroch Head at the bottom. Lochs Fad and Ascog are centrally situated, landlocked from an extensive coastline. There is even its own off-shore island, Inchmarnock. So consider Bute as a ‘must’ to visit and experience, with a fourth ‘A’ word to be included - ‘Adventure’. Bute Backpackers Hotel, Rothesay. Further Information Bute Backpackers Hotel www.butebackpackers.co.uk Sandy: 01700 501876 / 07746 794935 butebackpackers@hotmail.com MAY / JUNE 2017 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER 13
Page 1 and 2: SCOTTISH ISLANDS THE UK’S ONLY MA
Page 3 and 4: Editor’s Welcome / Guest Columnis
Page 5: Five Weeks on the Monachs Five Week
Page 9 and 10: Colonsay’s Ruined Village Colonsa
Page 11 and 12: Hideaways in the Outer Hebrides Hid
Page 13 and 14: Page READERS’ Index Header OPPORT
Page 15 and 16: Machair Machair Unfortunately, the
Page 17 and 18: A Quiet, Natural History A Quiet, N
Page 19 and 20: The Flying Duchess The Flying Duche
Page 21 and 22: Skye Excites the Emotions Skye Exci
Page 23 and 24: Fibre Optic Broadband Fibre Optic B
Page 25 and 26: RESPONSES Responses CROSSWORD Page
Page 27: ISLAND AND WILDLIFE CRUISES OFF SCO

Yumpu_ May_June 2017_02

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?