28 July, 2023

Scottish Hebrides...


On our trip of the National Geographic's expedition ship Explorer, we scooted around the west coast of Scotland without ever landing on the mainland, but we did call in on numerous 'ancient islands' in the Hebrides,, Orkney and Shetland over eight days in total. Strange that on our first ever visit to Scotland, we never set foot on the 'mainland' but only on its ancient outer islands! Apart from their fanstastic scenery, these islands are steeped in history, both ancient and modern. Our first stops were in the Hebrides archipeligo which encompass two main groups, Inner and Outer and we had the opportunity to visit islands in both over a couple of days.

Inner Hebrides

The Inner Hebrides group of islands is immediately west of the Scotland mainland, of which 35 are inhabited. No wonder ferries are a major facet of life here! The largest and most populous are Mull, Skye and Islay, but no, NatGeo avoid them and took us to Iona and Staffa.

This Zodiac appraoching Iona had Expedition Leader Andy at the helm. [8936]


Aila, NatGeo Explorer dive instructor, prepares a GoPro to view dolphins from the Zodiac. [8850]


Playful dolphins accompanied our Zodiacs en route to a landing at Iona. [8849]


We landed on Iona (pop: 120) via Zodiac and hiked to an abbey, a monastery first established by Irish abbot and missionary, now St Columba (521-597AD), to bring Christianity to these pagan isles. Rain was forecast but it was merely overcast and breezy. The famous Book of Kells, also known as the Book of Columba, into which were copied the four gospels of the New Testament Bible, in masterful calligraphy and lavishly illuminated, was at least partly completed here. Next door, dating from about 1200AD is a convent, the Iona Nunnery, which cared for unmarried pregnant women. A very worn sculpture above a window in the convent ruins features a naked woman with legs wide apart, sheela na gig. This decoration, unexpected on a nunnery, was intended to ward off evil spirits.

St Columba's abbey on Iona. The original monastery is long gone, and this abbey is a much more recent model. [8912]


Part of the ruins of the Iona Nunnery. [8881]


So worn and faint is this 'sheela na gig' we doubt if it is still capable of keeping bad spirits away. Jim, the guide, showed us more explicit implementations on his phone. [8870]


Fishing traps stacked up near the pier at Iona. [8862]


The kind lady at the Iona Post Office replenished our dwindling supply of rubber bands, used to keep technology cables in order. [8864]


Unlike Iona, Staffa (pop: 0) was very busy with visitors other than ourselves, all arriving by Zodiac or small tourist boat in brilliant sunshine. Staffa has two major attractions. Firstly, it is a puffin watchers paradise. Puffins are a species of auk which feed by diving into the water and breed on coastal or island cliffs. You have to go to the ends of the earth to see them, but once you get there, they gather in giant colonies and are very cooperative as photographic models. They swoop or hover in updrafts, and stand around in tufts of grass seemingly oblivious to humans relatively nearby. We walked about a kilometer along a cliff top to get very good views of these cute, colourful birds.

At Staffa, we competed with local tour boat arrivals, but the Zodiacs found a little nook only they could use. [9147]


Puffins are not great flyers. Here they rather clumsily come in for a landing at their cliff-top nesting place. [9066]


An impossibly cute puffin dring his wings on Staffa. [9072]


Staffa's second great attraction is Fingal's Cave, named after an epic poem by 18C Scottish poet James Macpherson. Its fame arises from an 1829 visit by romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn who was inspired by the hexagonal basalt columned cave's weird accoustics and set about composing the Fingal's Cave Overture immediately. Jules Verne mentions the cave in two of his novels, around 1860. This touch with fame accords Fingal's Cave great popularity, and there is a tricky, narrow path around the base of the cliff to visit it.

The incredible hexagonal basalt column structure of much of Iona. [9148]


Composer Felix Mendelssohn visited Fingal's Cave in 1829. Unfortunately, there was no orchestra here for our visit. [9163]


Before disembarking the NatGeo Explorer for Staffa (and later, on re-embarking), all were required to brush clean/wash boots, and to also disinfect them (and walking poles) with a dip in a bactericide and virucide, a pinkish liquid about 2cm deep in a tray. Depending on the location, we later followed this procedure for all visits to wilderness places, farms etc in order to prevent the spread of animal and bird diseases. The problem of most recent concern is avian 'flu which can have devastating consequences to bird colonies.

Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides are off the north west of Scotland and require an overnight sail from the Inner Hebrides in eternal twilight after an 11pm sunset. We planned to visit the island of St Kilda(seabirds and unique prehistroric structures) but conditions were too rough, so instead we headed for Callanish on Lewis, the largest island. There were rain squalls early, but they passed, and by the time we dismebarked, it was fine, almost sunny, but quite windy. The Explorer anchored well short of our landing deep into Loch Roag, a sea loch open to the sea (such are the perils of language, where we thought 'loch' meant 'lake'), requiring a long Zodiac ride in.

The NG Explorer was anchored in Loch Raog on Lewis opposite this large Omega 3 fish oil processing plant. [9222]


These passengers were honoured to have their Zodiac skippered by the Explorer's captain, Peik Aalto, a Fin. [9184]


An abandoned and derelict fishing boat on the shores of Loch Roag. [9187]


It was about a 1km walk uphill to the late Neolithic or Bronze Age Callanish Stones, 5000 years old, and the visitors' centre we passed was surprisingly closed. A few houses were located just outside the stones area. As described by Wikipedia, the pattern is 'of a circle of thirteen stones with a monolith near the middle. Five rows of standing stones connect to this circle. Two long rows of stones running almost parallel to each other from the stone circle to the north-northeast form a kind of avenue. In addition, there are shorter rows of stones to the west-southwest, south and east-northeast. Within the stone circle is a chambered tomb to the east of the central stone.' It is considered (with debate) that the irrgular arrangement comprises a lunar observatory.

The circle of 5000year old standing stones of Callanish are visible on a hill during our approach on the loch. [9180]


The circle of standing stones at Callanish on Lewis. [9209]


No-one knows the real purpose of stone circles, but you could also ask 'why in this particular spot?' [9217]


Maybe no-one told them, but why was the visitors' centre (and gift shop) closed on the day of visit by small cruise ship replete with cashed up shoppers? [9218]


This old sea dog jumped on the Zodiac at the Callinish dock and was determined to get a ride. [9221]


It was revealed at the evening recap that COVID had been detected on board. Two positive RAT's had been reported, one passenger and one of the expedition team. The individuals concerned were confined to their cabins, and protocol determined that all expedition team members now wear masks, that precaution optional amongst the passengers and ship's crew. A few did so, but none of the ship's hotel staff that we noticed. The precautions appeared to have worked. By the end of the NG Explorer expedition, only one more positive case was recorded.

No comments: