An Eye on the Hebrides: An Illustrated Journey by Mairi Hedderwick - first published in 1989
Mairi Hedderwick is best known for her children's picture books about a little girl called Katie Morag, which are set on the fictional island of Struay. In 1988 she set off on a tour of the Hebrides in her old VW camper van. The journey is best summed up in her own words: "The journey was alone and continuous. It encompassed 40 islands, 750 sea miles, 4,500 land miles, 30 boats, innumerable breakdowns both mechanical and spiritual, 4 big storms, thousands of midges and far too many soul-searing sunsets. An everyday for 195 days the discipline of sketching, sometimes 5 or 6 times a day."
The book is lavishly illustrated with her sketches and paintings. The book is impressionistic, while the illustrations mostly show a great eye for detail. It contains some information about the human and natural history and geology of the islands but is more of a diary and an account of the people she met, snippets about their lives and the conversations she had with them.
I love the way she sums up Benbecula: "Benbecula is pivotal not only to the religions of the Uists but to their administration, education and economy. It has little else to recommend it." Poor flat and boggy Benbecula!
8/10
Islands covered - Arran, Great Cumbrae, Bute, Gigha, Islay, Jura, Seil, Easdale, Luing, Kerrera, Colonsay, Oronsay, Mull, Iona, Erraid, Ulva, Gometra, Lismore, Tiree, Coll, Barra, Vatersay, Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula, Grimsay, Berneray, North Uist, Muck, Eigg, Rum, Canna, Skye, Raasay, Harris, Scalpay, St Kilda, Lewis.
Thursday, 29 August 2013
Thursday, 18 July 2013
Book 30 - Death of a Snob
Death of a Snob by M.C. Beaton - first published in 1988
To avoid a lonely Christmas Police Constable Hamish Macbeth, who is based at the fictional village of Lochdubh on the west coast of Sutherland, accepts an invitation from a friend of his ex-girlfriend to come and stay at her health farm on the fictional island of Eileencraig. She is convinced that someone is trying to kill her and Hamish agrees to investigate. However it is one of the other guests, an outspoken and unpopular lady called Heather Todd, who is found dead at the foot of a cliff and Hamish suspects foul play. This novel won't change your life but it is amiable enough. It is one of those crime novels like those of Agatha Christie where no one is particularly upset about the murder, as the person who was killed wasn't greatly liked anyway. 6/10
To avoid a lonely Christmas Police Constable Hamish Macbeth, who is based at the fictional village of Lochdubh on the west coast of Sutherland, accepts an invitation from a friend of his ex-girlfriend to come and stay at her health farm on the fictional island of Eileencraig. She is convinced that someone is trying to kill her and Hamish agrees to investigate. However it is one of the other guests, an outspoken and unpopular lady called Heather Todd, who is found dead at the foot of a cliff and Hamish suspects foul play. This novel won't change your life but it is amiable enough. It is one of those crime novels like those of Agatha Christie where no one is particularly upset about the murder, as the person who was killed wasn't greatly liked anyway. 6/10
Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Book 29 - Star Gazing
Star Gazing by Linda Gillard - first published in 2008
Marianne Fraser has been blind since birth and she was widowed in her twenties when her husband was killed in the Piper Alpha Disaster. She shares a flat in Edinburgh with her sister, who is an author. One day by chance she meets Keir Hardy on the street outside her home. They share a love of music and he takes her to stay in his remote cottage on the Isle of Skye near Broadford. However Keir is a geophysicist and works on oil rigs and although she finds herself falling in love with him, Marianne is scared of getting too close to him in case she loses him too. Then she discovers she is pregnant but decides not to tell Keir. The story is a bit slow moving and towards the end I found Marianne's attitude to Keir very annoying. However there is a satisfactory outcome and Skye is described quite well. 6/10
Islands covered - Skye
Marianne Fraser has been blind since birth and she was widowed in her twenties when her husband was killed in the Piper Alpha Disaster. She shares a flat in Edinburgh with her sister, who is an author. One day by chance she meets Keir Hardy on the street outside her home. They share a love of music and he takes her to stay in his remote cottage on the Isle of Skye near Broadford. However Keir is a geophysicist and works on oil rigs and although she finds herself falling in love with him, Marianne is scared of getting too close to him in case she loses him too. Then she discovers she is pregnant but decides not to tell Keir. The story is a bit slow moving and towards the end I found Marianne's attitude to Keir very annoying. However there is a satisfactory outcome and Skye is described quite well. 6/10
Islands covered - Skye
Broadford Harbour, Skye
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Book 28 - Over the Sea to Skye
Over the Sea to Skye by Sally Stewart - first published in 2007
Don't expect this novel to change the way you view the world but it is an amiable enough story with a happy, if predictable ending.
Louise Maitland's brother and his wife are killed in a car accident leaving their young children - Jamie and Fiona as orphans. Louise takes them to live with her father and rather austere aunt Janet in an old manse on the Sleat Peninsula of the Isle of Skye but then decides to stay and live there herself, rather than return to her life as a chef in London. A Canadian Iain Macrae, whose ancestors left Skye several generations earlier, meets Louise and the children by chance on several occasions. He falls in love with Louise but she rejects him. Meanwhile a millionaire businessman wants to buy the manse, kirk and adjacent croft, demolish the buildings and redevelop the site into a holiday complex. Iain comes up with a plan to stop him. The Sleat Peninsula, the Cuillins, Skye Bridge and Portree all feature in the story. 6/10
Islands covered - Skye
Don't expect this novel to change the way you view the world but it is an amiable enough story with a happy, if predictable ending.
Louise Maitland's brother and his wife are killed in a car accident leaving their young children - Jamie and Fiona as orphans. Louise takes them to live with her father and rather austere aunt Janet in an old manse on the Sleat Peninsula of the Isle of Skye but then decides to stay and live there herself, rather than return to her life as a chef in London. A Canadian Iain Macrae, whose ancestors left Skye several generations earlier, meets Louise and the children by chance on several occasions. He falls in love with Louise but she rejects him. Meanwhile a millionaire businessman wants to buy the manse, kirk and adjacent croft, demolish the buildings and redevelop the site into a holiday complex. Iain comes up with a plan to stop him. The Sleat Peninsula, the Cuillins, Skye Bridge and Portree all feature in the story. 6/10
Islands covered - Skye
Skye Bridge from Kyleakin
Portree Harbour
The Cuillins from Kilmory on Rum
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Book 27 - Calum's Road
Calum's Road by Roger Hutchinson - first published in 2000
This is the story of a remarkably determined man called Calum MacLeod, who got tired of waiting for the government to build a road 1.75 miles long from Brochel in northern Raasay to his village of Arnish, and decided to built it himself in his spare time. It took him over a decade and he did almost all the work himself with a wheelbarrow, pickaxe, shovel, crowbar, sledgehammer and a secondhand book on road making and maintenance, which was published in 1900. He had some help from the Royal Engineers with the surveying and some rock blasting. Calum ran a croft, worked as postman and a boatman for the lighthousekeepers on Rona. Later he was also an assistant keeper at Rona Lighthouse, so he didn't have that much spare time, which makes his achievement all the more incredible.
The story of Calum's Road has to be seen in the light of the last 2 centuries of history on Raasay. In the mid 19th century the people of Raasay were cleared from the more fertile areas in the south of the island to make way for a sheep farm and sporting estate. Many people emigrated and the remainder were banished to eke out a living in the wilder and less fertile north end of the island and on the tidal islands of Fladda and Eilean Tigh or on the rocky island of Rona, which lies to the north of Raasay. George Rainy, who owned Raasay from 1846-63 had a 6 foot high dry stone wall constructed across the island at its narrowest point to separate his game animals from the remaining islanders, who were not permitted to live on the south side of it or to graze their animals there.
In 1921 desperate crofters from Rona settled illegally on the south east side of Raasay and reclaimed land from which their ancestors had been evicted 70 years earlier. They became known as the Raasay Raiders. After a court case and a short prison sentence, the matter was finally resolved in 1923 when the island was sold to the Scottish Rural Workers Approved Society. They leased the island to the Board of Agriculture who created new crofts.
In 1931 the inhabitants of the settlements in North Raasay petitioned their local council for 3 miles of road to be built from Brochel Castle to Fladda via Arnish. Beyond Brochel Castle the only access was a narrow footpath. Their petition was rejected.
From 1949 to 1952 Calum and his brother Charles built a track from Torran to the tidal island of Fladda. In the 1920s the inhabitants of Fladda had asked the local council to build a footbridge from Raasay to Fladda, so that the children on the island could travel to and from school at all states of the tide. The council refused to build the bridge but they did build and staff a small school on Fladda in 1936. In 1962 Calum asked the council to build a causeway to Fladda but the council said the cost was too high. In 1961 the population of Fladda was 12 but by 1965 the last three families on the island had all given up waiting for a road and footbridge to be built and for running water and electricity to be laid on and they all left the island.
Gradually the population in the north of the island dropped, as families moved away, mainly because of the lack road access and by 1967 Calum and his wife were the only residents left in North Raasay. Calum hoped that this decline would be reversed if a road was built.
Calum's Road was finished by 1974 but it was only accessible to tractors and 4 wheel drive vehicles. After much discussion and procrastination the road was finally tarmacked by the local council in 1982. Calum died suddenly in 1988.
This book is more than just the story of the construction of a road. It is about what one individual can achieve if they are determined enough. It is a shame that there are no photographs in the book.
7/10
Islands covered - Raasay, Fladda, Eilean Tighe, Rona
This is the story of a remarkably determined man called Calum MacLeod, who got tired of waiting for the government to build a road 1.75 miles long from Brochel in northern Raasay to his village of Arnish, and decided to built it himself in his spare time. It took him over a decade and he did almost all the work himself with a wheelbarrow, pickaxe, shovel, crowbar, sledgehammer and a secondhand book on road making and maintenance, which was published in 1900. He had some help from the Royal Engineers with the surveying and some rock blasting. Calum ran a croft, worked as postman and a boatman for the lighthousekeepers on Rona. Later he was also an assistant keeper at Rona Lighthouse, so he didn't have that much spare time, which makes his achievement all the more incredible.
The story of Calum's Road has to be seen in the light of the last 2 centuries of history on Raasay. In the mid 19th century the people of Raasay were cleared from the more fertile areas in the south of the island to make way for a sheep farm and sporting estate. Many people emigrated and the remainder were banished to eke out a living in the wilder and less fertile north end of the island and on the tidal islands of Fladda and Eilean Tigh or on the rocky island of Rona, which lies to the north of Raasay. George Rainy, who owned Raasay from 1846-63 had a 6 foot high dry stone wall constructed across the island at its narrowest point to separate his game animals from the remaining islanders, who were not permitted to live on the south side of it or to graze their animals there.
In 1921 desperate crofters from Rona settled illegally on the south east side of Raasay and reclaimed land from which their ancestors had been evicted 70 years earlier. They became known as the Raasay Raiders. After a court case and a short prison sentence, the matter was finally resolved in 1923 when the island was sold to the Scottish Rural Workers Approved Society. They leased the island to the Board of Agriculture who created new crofts.
In 1931 the inhabitants of the settlements in North Raasay petitioned their local council for 3 miles of road to be built from Brochel Castle to Fladda via Arnish. Beyond Brochel Castle the only access was a narrow footpath. Their petition was rejected.
From 1949 to 1952 Calum and his brother Charles built a track from Torran to the tidal island of Fladda. In the 1920s the inhabitants of Fladda had asked the local council to build a footbridge from Raasay to Fladda, so that the children on the island could travel to and from school at all states of the tide. The council refused to build the bridge but they did build and staff a small school on Fladda in 1936. In 1962 Calum asked the council to build a causeway to Fladda but the council said the cost was too high. In 1961 the population of Fladda was 12 but by 1965 the last three families on the island had all given up waiting for a road and footbridge to be built and for running water and electricity to be laid on and they all left the island.
Gradually the population in the north of the island dropped, as families moved away, mainly because of the lack road access and by 1967 Calum and his wife were the only residents left in North Raasay. Calum hoped that this decline would be reversed if a road was built.
Calum's Road was finished by 1974 but it was only accessible to tractors and 4 wheel drive vehicles. After much discussion and procrastination the road was finally tarmacked by the local council in 1982. Calum died suddenly in 1988.
This book is more than just the story of the construction of a road. It is about what one individual can achieve if they are determined enough. It is a shame that there are no photographs in the book.
7/10
Islands covered - Raasay, Fladda, Eilean Tighe, Rona
Calum's Memorial at Brochel
The start of Calum's Road at Brochel
Calum's Road
Monday, 20 May 2013
Book 26 - Forbidden Island
Forbidden Island by Malcolm Rose - first published in 2009
Mike and his 5 friends are sailing around the islands off the west coast of Scotland on a yacht when they come across an island that isn't marked on any of their maps. Ignoring the signs, which warn them that the island is dangerous and that they should keep away, they land and set off to explore. They discover the remains of several dead animals and a ruined cottage, which contains some strange equipment. Then a helicopter appears and blows up their boat to prevent them from leaving the island and they realise that their mobile phones don't work. Soon some of them start to feel ill. Don't expect a happy ending because there isn't one. The moral of this story is that Danger, Keep Out signs shouldn't be ignored.
The story, which is written for the teenage market, is based on the real Scottish island of Gruinard, which is located in Gruinard Bay halfway between Gairloch and Ullapool. In 1942 the British government carried out chemical weapons experiments there with anthrax on sheep. The island was then quarantined until 1986 when it was chemically treated to kill the spores and the island was declared safe in 1990.
6/10 Islands covered - Gruinard
Mike and his 5 friends are sailing around the islands off the west coast of Scotland on a yacht when they come across an island that isn't marked on any of their maps. Ignoring the signs, which warn them that the island is dangerous and that they should keep away, they land and set off to explore. They discover the remains of several dead animals and a ruined cottage, which contains some strange equipment. Then a helicopter appears and blows up their boat to prevent them from leaving the island and they realise that their mobile phones don't work. Soon some of them start to feel ill. Don't expect a happy ending because there isn't one. The moral of this story is that Danger, Keep Out signs shouldn't be ignored.
The story, which is written for the teenage market, is based on the real Scottish island of Gruinard, which is located in Gruinard Bay halfway between Gairloch and Ullapool. In 1942 the British government carried out chemical weapons experiments there with anthrax on sheep. The island was then quarantined until 1986 when it was chemically treated to kill the spores and the island was declared safe in 1990.
6/10 Islands covered - Gruinard
Gruinard Island from the mainland.
I haven't visited the island myself and don't intend to! At the closest point Gruinard is less than a mile from the mainland.
Book 25 - Sea Room
Sea Room: an island life - Adam Nicolson - first published in 2001
This is a book about the 3 Shiant Islands - Garbh Eilean (Rough Island), Eilean an Tighe (House Island) and Eilean Mhuire (Mary Island), which are located to the east of North Harris and 4 miles to the south west of the Pairc area of Lewis. Adam Nicolson was given the Shiants by his father Nigel when he was 21 years old. Nigel Nicholson had bought the Shiants in 1937 for £1,400. Sea Room is neither a history not a memoir but a well blended combination of both of these. It is a book to read slowly, savour and reflect upon. Each of the chapters are mainly about different aspects of the islands, e.g. Adam's boat Freyja, archaeology, spirituality, seabirds, sheep and geology. There are no chapter headings and although the book is illustrated with plenty of black and white photographs there are no captions for them, which I found a bit frustrating at times. However there are plenty of maps with keys and an index.
The author sums up the attraction of islands to many people over the ages very well:
"Islands are made larger, paradoxically, by the scale of the sea that surrounds them. The element which might reduce them, which might be thought to besiege them, has the opposite effect. The sea elevates these few acres into something they would never be if hidden in the mass of the mainland. The sea makes islands significant."
"Islands, because of their isolation, are revelatory, places where the boundaries are wafer thin."
8/10
Islands covered - The Shiant Islands
This is a book about the 3 Shiant Islands - Garbh Eilean (Rough Island), Eilean an Tighe (House Island) and Eilean Mhuire (Mary Island), which are located to the east of North Harris and 4 miles to the south west of the Pairc area of Lewis. Adam Nicolson was given the Shiants by his father Nigel when he was 21 years old. Nigel Nicholson had bought the Shiants in 1937 for £1,400. Sea Room is neither a history not a memoir but a well blended combination of both of these. It is a book to read slowly, savour and reflect upon. Each of the chapters are mainly about different aspects of the islands, e.g. Adam's boat Freyja, archaeology, spirituality, seabirds, sheep and geology. There are no chapter headings and although the book is illustrated with plenty of black and white photographs there are no captions for them, which I found a bit frustrating at times. However there are plenty of maps with keys and an index.
The author sums up the attraction of islands to many people over the ages very well:
"Islands are made larger, paradoxically, by the scale of the sea that surrounds them. The element which might reduce them, which might be thought to besiege them, has the opposite effect. The sea elevates these few acres into something they would never be if hidden in the mass of the mainland. The sea makes islands significant."
"Islands, because of their isolation, are revelatory, places where the boundaries are wafer thin."
8/10
Islands covered - The Shiant Islands
The only house on Eilean an Tighe
The west coast of Garbh Eilean from Eilean an Tighe
The east coast of Garbh Eilean from Eilean an Tighe
Garbh Eilean
Cottage on Eilean an Tighe
Looking south down the spine of Eilean an Tighe from the highest point on the island
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