This Oban Times article says it all! Christmas, New Year, my radio day job and high winds every weekend kept me off Rum till Saturday March 15th when the Cal Mac ferry sailed from Mallaig on a beautiful sunny day.
Susan Davies from SNH is wowed by Damian Helliwell from Eigg -- not only is he building a straw-bale house (!) he's suggesting we back a Youth Summit for the Small Isles. Two great ideas.
John (Bird) Chester, the Birdman of Eigg as most of his volunteers will remember him. Dashing round the corner to watch gulls!
There's nothing like CalMac for meeting other islanders! Susan Davies hearing ideas for publicising the amazing Gaelic Collection in Canna House from its curator Magda S.
Ewan fae Eigg chilling before work on Rum and dreaming about fixing Grand Prix racing cars instead.
Sue Kirk -- shop owner, B&B maestro, mum and tall woman of Eigg.
And you'll always find them in the kitchen at parties -- John Bird, Damian Helliwell, and crofters commission man Robin Callander -- smokers unite on the ferry deck.
Finally Rum arrives with Askival (highest peak in the Rum Cuillin) beckoning.
Arrival!
David Frew (castle manager) and Fliss Hough (Community dynamo) can hardly believe we've made it this time.
The Rum School house where three kids are being taught (I think) with another two on the way (that we know about!)
Three wummin - one tree trunk. Moi, Susan and Fliss. The ONLY woman Ive ever met who's taller than me.
Did I say there was a lot of work going on to fix drains....
There was a lot of work going on to fix drains!
and roofs....
Fliss checking out the backdrop for her wedding pix -- geese or no geese? (the big day's early April)
Kinloch Castle -- the public entrance of course is at the back!
The interior is amazing. This was my gaffe for the two nights. To see David's guided tour go to www.lesleyriddoch.co.uk
Susan Davies with some of SNH's more unusual conservation projects!
Robin Callander chills with Chainsaw Dave (Dave Beaton) Don't panic -- he uses the saw to make sculptures!
The meeting group gather to look at the development model for Kinloch Village. Ross, Robin, Jinty and Daniel. (Let me know if any names are mis-spelled folks)
More meeting members. David, Sean and Ally
Did I say there were contractors on the island? They are in fact stand-up comedians resting between gigs -- John and Brendan from MacKenzies.
You have to move fast to catch this chef a. smiling b. on camera. Q. How may Davids can one island sustain?
Jinty trying to be beamed up in the Kinloch Castle kitchen -- the Starship Enterprise must've been busy.
I'm assured the trenches were not being selected to stop visitors getting to the pier!
What a water taxi! What an ad!
NB. Undergrowth on Rum is not the usual tangle of rhododendrons -- its holly. Sweet.
Ed and Sharon's house -- big clue. Someone likes basket weaving.
Reeds aplenty.
Ed and Sharon in the willow room!
Richard Kilpatrick and Carolyn before their wee terriers struck!
Richard nobly volunteers to take a landrover across the island to Harris so I can overcome mixed memories of my last time there, aged 15. No school students now - just cows!
There's always one wee loner....
30 years ago I slept on the Bulloughs Mauseloum when I was chucked out of the school tent for wakening everyone else sleep-walking. You do grow out of it !
And on this nippy but bright March morning there are no tics, clegs or midges either! The school trip nightmare is well and truly forgotten.
Next visit I'm walking the Rum Cuillin ridge -- anyone going to chum me?
Richard and Susan survey the latest bridge improvement on the roughest landrover track any of us have ever tried. But would better access encourage the patter of too many careless feet -- it's an endless debate within SNH.
Fuzzy pic (sorry) of David, Stroma and Jamie
With high chairs like these how will Jamie ever cope with school?!
Wobbly stonework spotted in time. But the whole building needs attention - and cash.
David plays chopsticks on this marvellous Steinway with his young assistant waiting to join in.
One of very many dogs. Name?
Susan and I prepare for a mini hike
Marcel the Deerman looking vaguely surprised.
Daniel looking like he's poses for pix like these every day!
Sandy in his workshop unveiling the new display unit for neighbouring Eigg.
Chainsaw Dave and the unfinished Eagle.
Guys smile! Yer getting hitched in a month!!!!!!
And dont think you can call for help if you havent booked the honeymoon yet Sandy!
Ian Wilson the Knoydart Ribman looking mysterious.
Someone's dog looking slightly creosote tinged round the ears....
...obviously helping out with the village hall painting yesterday!
We decided to take a look at the Tattie House -- a semi-detached building that's been earmarked for renovation for more than a decade.
But getting in was easier said than done. Chainsaw Dave gets a chisel from his mobile mansion!
But still that lock wont give!
And the neighbouring door is just as stubborn. Looks like no-one's been in for a shifty in some time.....
Finally, success. Sandy's in....
But what a mess.
Lathan plaster, crumbling walls -- but the beams and the brickwork look good!
And somehow this plastic sheeting on the windows seems to have kept them mostly watertight.
A bit ironic. These "Excellent" ovens are too rusted to use. But there must be a place for that name plaque!
Renovation could be a lot of work. Here's hoping Bob the designer who came over years ago can get over fast and let us know if demolition or renovation is the better bet.
Brave man. I wouldnt go too near the edges upstairs!
Hmm. There's work....and there's work!
Back on dry land -- Eigg and Rum glimmering away, till next time.
This man is not for turning.....Ronnie the Sheerwater skipper waiting for a basking shark to reappear. And waiting. And waiting. He's a patient man.
Norman "the shop" turning on the style with a Jaguar taxi service.
June 2008; Ok you can hardly see it but that's a basking shark having fun beneath the cliffs of Eigg.
Leaving Eigg
Martin Clunes dolphin spotting
Man Behaving Sleepily -- Martin Clunes asleep behind the perky Crofters Commission man Uillean Smith
Martin Clunes finally awoken from his Eigg induced slumber by fab wee holidaymaker Rhiannon to get an autograph. She has a python in Skye named after her, you know.
A perk of Chairing the Rum Task Force -- can you imagine a finer journey to work (in summer!)
