In the calm of an early morning we slipped our moorings from Inverie pier and headed out of Loch Nevis Bay. We enjoyed good company yesterday evening in the Old Forge Inn, plus a concert from three talented local musicians playing a combination of guitars, mandolins, violin and squeezebox to a packed hall of locals and visitors. The stamping and clapping from the audience was mixed with slapping and scratching as somehow an unruly mob of midges had managed to get in without paying!
Our course this morning was past the ferry port of Mallaig and out into the open waters to the Small Isles, past the southern tip of Skye, yesterday’s playground. A fine panorama lay before us, with the dramatic volcanic island of Rum to starboard, the low island of Muck to port, and the distinctive silhouette of Eigg on the bow. Seen from northeast, it has a distinctive notch, which prompted its Viking name, but the most striking feature is a cockscomb ridge called the Sgurr, remnant of an outpouring of hard volcanic pitchstone which has left it with its trademark helmet. The currents that swirl between these rocky islands create rich feeding grounds for the local wildlife. We saw small groups of porpoise close to Eigg, and numbers of guillemot and razorbill, among them the first fledged chicks of the year.
Eigg is unique for many reasons, with a fascinating history that includes Mesolithic remains, Neolithic flints, Bronze Age cairns, Iron age hut circles and a 6th century monastic ruin, all testament to the fertile ground of its volcanic bedrock. But it is now making history too: it is the first island in Scotland to have managed to buy out its former playboy landowner after a dramatic national fundraising campaign that brought support and funds from all over the world: £1.5million pounds finally secured the future for the tiny island community who had been denied security or tenure for centuries under at last eight different private owners. It is now a pioneering and increasingly self-sufficient population of over 100 inspired individuals, who have set up their own power supplies through solar panels, aerogenerators and hydroelectric installations. We landed to the sound of bagpipes played by Donna, local musician and dance teacher, with her loyal terrier Pibroch running out to greet us, before setting off a fine walk through the woodland, fields and foreshore of this tiny but remarkably varied offshore island.
From here we crossed the most exposed section of sea to Mull, passing the dramatic lighthouse on Ardnamurchan Point. Ian gave a talk on the wildlife of Scotland meanwhile, and was delighted to be interrupted by huge flocks of Manx shearwaters on either side of the ship with spectacular displays of plunge diving by a squadron of gannets stooping vertically into fish shoals. By the time we had docked at Tobermory, the sheltered harbour on northeast Mull, the sun was out and we strolled along the colourful waterfront shops, indulging in ice cream and local chocolates, or writing postcards in the local tavern, the Mishnish Inn.
Our full day was completed after dinner by a talk on birds of prey by the bird hospital charity “Wings over Mull” who had brought a live barn owl, Harris hawk and a magnificent snowy owl to accompany their talk. Sleep came swiftly after a day packed with unforgettable images of wild Scotland.
