After what seemed forever, the dolphins got bored with our ship and wandered off. Skipper Dougie gets back to plan and heads for the Isle of Canna where we’ll raid a lobster pot of freshly caught lobsters he’s asked one of his buds to stash at the harbor. It’s early shopping for Ian’s dinner bill!
Canna is a small but interesting island and is the most western of the ‘small isles’. It was donated to Scotland’s National Trust by previous owners and is now run as a farm & conservation area. Quite remote to say the least. A police officer visits twice a year to check gun licenses and there are doctor visits from the Isle of Skye for house calls once a month. NTS provided initiatives in a ‘call for families. Not many takers.
We have a couple of hours to check out the island and enjoyed a very cool walk. Basalt pillars stand over a portion of the trail. Along the trail is a Christian cross from 1300 years ago. There’s also what’s known as the ‘Punishment Stone’. A local legend suggests that when people on Canna were badly behaved, they would be punished by having their thumb jammed into a hole in the stone some 6′ above the ground. There are remains of a ‘clearance’ in the 1800’s where landowners evicted crofting families and replaced them with sheep. Their stone lodgings were raided to build walls for livestock. Canna is noted for it’s puffins, but we’re too late in the season for viewing. While we’re walking, Esther (our deck hand) is training for a triathlon this weekend and she spends the time jogging around the island. She’s got some serious energy.
After lunch we sail for a few hours to Eigg and take a walk along the shore. There’s a pub and brewery there, the cleverly named ‘Eigg Brewery’. We doubt they paid a consultant to build their brand. Anyway, the IPA is awesome, best had for a while. Then it’s back to the boat for our lobster feast. Ian works his magic on the poor critters for our dinner. It’s incredibly great as we’re learning anything Ian makes is.
Dougie heard rumors of a ceilidh (pronounced Kay-lay) on the Isle of Eigg this evening just onshore from where we’re mooring for the evening. We’ve heard of ceilidh but never had an opportunity to enjoy. It’s a social event where there’s Gaelic folk music and singing, traditional dancing, and storytelling. Sounds pretty awesome.
As is was getting dark and the event not expected to get interesting until later, some of the folk decide to stay on the boat. Four of we passengers, plus Dougie and Esther, take a nighttime zodiac ride under headlamps back to the island then do a short walk in the dark to the community center where the event is taking place. Felt like one of those James Bond entrances.
Usually, a ceilidh goes long into the night, sometimes until early morning. This one was put on with school students from another island providing the entertainment and they’ve left by the time we got there. Bummer! We still managed to have a drink with the locals and listen to some canned Gaelic music. We drank local beers, met some great folk, Naeem and Esther did a traditional Scottish dance. Not bad!
The zodiac back to the boat in the dark was too cool for school.
