The author visited 19 islands off the west coast of Scotland in one journey starting with Arran and ending with St Kilda. On the way he took part in mountain running races on Arran, Jura, Harris and from Kintail to Beauly. He camped most nights, the weather was often cold, wet and windy and the midges were all too often present in large numbers. There is a separate chapter for each island and in places it comes across as an endurance test, rather than a pleasure but the account is generally an enjoyable mixture of his experiences and the people he met mixed with a little history.
I have visited all the islands except St Kilda, a place which the author found profoundly moving. On leaving St Kilda he says "I felt a connection - a brief yet deep physical link - sever but I knew the emotional bond, the stronger connection, would be lifelong." and "I feared life anywhere might be mundane after St Kilda."
Talking about his visit to Harris on Rum Jonny Muir describes extremely well those rare and all too brief moments of timeless perfection that we occasionally and always unexpectedly stumble upon:
"Moments of sublime flawlessness are rare; such instances depend on the harmonious collision of mood, place and time. Today, now, somehow, the pieces fitted together: the command of the mountains, the roll of the sea, the shimmering brilliance of the sky, the adrenaline of exertion, the haunting emptiness of the land, the spectacle of Sir George's mausoleum, the calmness and liberation of thought. Nothing was out of place. "
The book was worth reading just for this paragraph. 8/10
Islands covered - Arran, Holy Island, Bute, Colonsay, Oronsay, Islay, Jura, Mull, Coll, Tiree, Eigg, Rum, Canna, Skye, Barra, Berneray, Lewis, Harris, St Kilda
Bullough Mausoleum at Harris on the west coast of Rum
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