Accommodation for Autumn

There's something special about a fine garden in Autumn and there's something remarkable about the Gothic design of Mount Stuart House on Bute. They are open until 31 October for visitors and at all times for receptions and meetings. Full details of these facilities as well as accommodation provision are worth acquiring through contactus@mountstuart.com   However, not all rooms are on the scale of the hall below!

Scottish Islands Explorer - in its way, impressive

Changing Perceptions

Loch Skipport, situated on the north-east side of South Uist, is a lonely place. It was a port used by cargo ships until as recently as the 1950s, but its facilities are now derelict. One of the magazine's subscribers took the above photograph and there is a benign quality about it. Many people find the place to be somewhat eerie, even on a sunny day. Do any blog-watchers have views of, or about, this backwater harbour approached by hairpin bends that has seen busier times?

Does anyone recall hearing about such ships as the MV Loch Carron, photographed below calling at Loch Skipport, or of any comparable remote outposts handling relatively large cargoes?

Scottish Islands Explorer - in the mainstream when possible

Timeless Appeal

This image of a pillar box on the Shetland island of Yell is by the acclaimed photographer, Martin Parr. His work includes the capturing of the affection the British have for their coast and its resorts as well as his recording of simple, everyday objects that have, in his judgement, a timeless appeal. Yell is home to around a thousand inhabitants who reside where their predecessors' generations survived from Neolithic times. Existence has not been easy with memorials to, and wreckage from, accidents at sea and in the air. It has what was allegedly the most haunted house in Scotland. Otters, however, have proliferated in the many voes or inlets. Yell is also a transport hub with its two roads linking the ferry terminals to Shetland Mainland, Unst and Fetlar.

Scottish Islands Explorer - something of a hub 

The Outdoor Life

When Little Bernera, between the sea lochs of West and East Loch Roag on the west side of the Isle of Lewis, was populated, it was the preferred burial ground for people from across the loch at Carloway. The cemetery at St Donan's Chapel, below, is closed. However, there is now life before death for many of its visitors, being well-positioned for sailing or kayacking from Great Bernera (population 300) and having idyllic spots for camping. Look at this slideshow to sense the pleasures of the outdoor life.

Scottish Islands Explorer - endeavours to provide pleasures

From One Thing to Another

Yesterday I happened, while working on behalf of the Gatliff Hostels, to encounter a Scottish Islands Explorer subscriber. We exchanged emails and her incidental mention of Papa, one of the Scalloway Islands in Shetland, led me to try to find out more about this once inhabited place that was home to at least one priest. The internet then led me to discover John Slater, above, who went there in the Summer of 2010 on his first visit to find out more about his ancestral origins. Then came the surreal part - finding a YouTube trip towards that island - that certainly gives the sensation of a voyage.
 
Scottish Islands Explorer - tries to discover

Three Grades of Route

Eriskay, probably from the Old Norse for 'Eric's Isle', is approached from South Uist by a fast route over its ten-year old causeway. A single motor road takes traffic through the 2.5 x 1.5 mile island to the terminus for the Barra vehicular ferry. The rest of the island is accessible by mountain paths and tracks. Choose your grade and be aware of gradients as well as of otters.

Scottish Islands Explorer -  views the ups and downs

A Head Matter

Teachers need stimulation. If it's not there, then their working lives are dull and they become unfulfilled, living restricted lives. Earlier this year the headship of Foula Primary School, pictured above, was on offer and many people would have been deciding whether to apply. The negatives of such an appointment are that it's insular, there's no getting away from pupils or parents in term-time and the number of pupils are usually counted on the fingers of one hand. The positives are a manageable and influential position, facilities that were constructed only 20 years ago, a house supplied and an annual salary approaching £50k with 12 weeks holiday. Would you, were you suitably qualified, have applied?

Scottish Islands Explorer - posing occasional questions

What Have I Been Missing?

This is the view of Seaforth Island to which I am accustomed while travelling on the Stornoway to Tarbert road. Below is the description of its loch made by Hamish Haswell-Smith in his The Scottish Islands  -  'Loch Seaforth is a long narrow loch wedged between high mountains and towering cliffs. The winds whisper through the peaks, build up their strength, meet in the corries, and then without warning sweep savagely down the mountain sides and flatten the waters of the loch with unpredictable ferocity.' What have I missed being a seasonal traveller to these parts? This small image of Loch Seaforth gives an indication of large movements in the skies.

Scottish Islands Explorer - travels well regardless of weather conditions

Homecoming

Papa Stronsay, one of the Shetland group, has the ruins of an 8th Century and an 11th Century monastery. In 1999 the Golgotha Monastery was built by a traditionalist Catholic order, the Transalpine Redemptorists. Here is provision is for 25 monks and, last weekend, two of them returned from New Zealand. Their homecoming appears on another blog.

Scottish Islands Explorer -  appears and re-appears two months later

What a Difference!

What a difference a half-century or so makes. This photograph of young women carrying peat was taken in 1950 at Scaliscro on the road towards Uig in the Isle of Lewis. Connected Communities has recently announced that full internet services are now available at Scaliscro as well as at nearby Gisla, and also at Rhenigidale at the very end of a long road on North Harris and Cleur at a southerly point of South Harris. From broad baskets to broadband in two generations.

Scottish Islands Explorer - carries new technologies