The Small Isles
Rum, Eigg and Muck. It sounds like an unlikely “cocktail of the day” - and one our barman is working on - but these three islands were our destination for the day, refreshment of spirit in a deeper sense. Together with Canna and Sanday, this group of islands is known collectively as the Small Isles, a distinctive and less frequented subset of the Inner Hebrides. The islands are volcanic in origin, a volcanic plug forming a prominent navigation marker for the harbor entrance at Eigg, our first port of call after an idyllic morning’s sail – in the course of which we had a good sighting of a basking shark, the second largest fish in the world after the whale shark. Despite its fearsome size, it’s a harmless filter feeder.
Eigg has a long and fascinating history. It was on this island that the Victorian geologist High Miller unearthed the remains of Jurassic sea turtles, a crocodile and a plesiosaur. Saint Donnan, a disciple of Columba, brought Christianity to the island in the seventh century. The remains of his chapel are still visible to the north of the harbor and the present Church of Scotland parish church carries his dedication. Ten years ago, the island became famous throughout Scotland when its inhabitants bought out the laird to manage the island as a trust, an enterprise that appears to be going from strength to strength.
Adjacent Rum, more rugged than Eigg, is managed by Scottish Natural Heritage. At over 100 square kilometers it is one of the largest of Britain’s national nature reserves, with a noted breeding colony of Manx shearwaters, some 70,000 pairs, making it one of the largest in the world. The white-tailed sea eagle, hunted to extinction by the time of the Great War, was successfully reintroduced from Norway in 1975 and is now also breeding successfully on the island. Equally exotic - and fortunately not reintroduced - were the owners of Kinloch Castle, a baronial pile built as a shooting box for an English industrialist, and kitted out with an orchestrion, a fairground-style organ built under the grand stairway that summoned the houseguests to meals along corridors laden with stuffed hunting trophies from several continents. Kinloch Castle is a time capsule of fin-de-siècle extravagance, not to say vulgarity. We walked the trails and toured the house: a Rum end to a perfect expedition day.
Rum, Eigg and Muck. It sounds like an unlikely “cocktail of the day” - and one our barman is working on - but these three islands were our destination for the day, refreshment of spirit in a deeper sense. Together with Canna and Sanday, this group of islands is known collectively as the Small Isles, a distinctive and less frequented subset of the Inner Hebrides. The islands are volcanic in origin, a volcanic plug forming a prominent navigation marker for the harbor entrance at Eigg, our first port of call after an idyllic morning’s sail – in the course of which we had a good sighting of a basking shark, the second largest fish in the world after the whale shark. Despite its fearsome size, it’s a harmless filter feeder.
Eigg has a long and fascinating history. It was on this island that the Victorian geologist High Miller unearthed the remains of Jurassic sea turtles, a crocodile and a plesiosaur. Saint Donnan, a disciple of Columba, brought Christianity to the island in the seventh century. The remains of his chapel are still visible to the north of the harbor and the present Church of Scotland parish church carries his dedication. Ten years ago, the island became famous throughout Scotland when its inhabitants bought out the laird to manage the island as a trust, an enterprise that appears to be going from strength to strength.
Adjacent Rum, more rugged than Eigg, is managed by Scottish Natural Heritage. At over 100 square kilometers it is one of the largest of Britain’s national nature reserves, with a noted breeding colony of Manx shearwaters, some 70,000 pairs, making it one of the largest in the world. The white-tailed sea eagle, hunted to extinction by the time of the Great War, was successfully reintroduced from Norway in 1975 and is now also breeding successfully on the island. Equally exotic - and fortunately not reintroduced - were the owners of Kinloch Castle, a baronial pile built as a shooting box for an English industrialist, and kitted out with an orchestrion, a fairground-style organ built under the grand stairway that summoned the houseguests to meals along corridors laden with stuffed hunting trophies from several continents. Kinloch Castle is a time capsule of fin-de-siècle extravagance, not to say vulgarity. We walked the trails and toured the house: a Rum end to a perfect expedition day.
