The Scottish morning air prepared us for our sea journey. I skipped the Scottish breakfast this morning and settled for toast. I didn’t fancy hours on a ferry with a stomach full of salmon and eggs. Our departure from Oban was in spectacularly beautiful conditions; still and calm. The MV Hebridean Isles can carry 64 cars but this morning there were four cars and a dozen or so people. The lovely ruddy faced old men with their stern ‘hurry up lassie on to the wee boat’ and the laughing and covering his head, making out that I had crashed into the car in front. The upset Golf amongst the cars below whose alarm is blaring; I would be terrified that the battery would be flat. The views from the stern are of misty, long islands with the remote lighthouses on the points. We are still cradled by Islands on all sides but the open sea is in front.
We arrived at the Island of Colonsay. Jane had prepared me with tales of the Wicker Man; the cult classic that has been named in the top ten UK films of all time. The Island is tiny at 13km long and about 4 km wide at its widest point. There are about 120 residents on the island and we saw the five kids that attend the local school. It is quite beautiful; but oh so remote. We had an interview lined up at the house of one of the locals so walked the few miles to her house. The white stone house had a beautiful garden and the inside had that thrown together, but seriously Country Style quality – it was gorgeous. It was like we knew everyone on the Island – over a cup of tea we had an hour of good Island gossip.
I think I expected some seriously weird hotel and had visions of the Bates Motel. Well the visions of pagan rituals and people being burned inside the Wicker Man, or of Norman and that shower were cast well aside as we walked into the most fantastic wee hotel – more thrown together Country Style that looks like it would be well at home in New England.
I have to keep reminding myself that despite the posh surroundings we are in fact captive here until Saturday. The ferry won’t return until then and I did have a slight crisis today – forgot to take money out of the ATM before we left Oban. The locals are rather a suspicious lot and I couldn’t get cash at the local post office because my card is not a UK one, the supermarket won’t let me take out cash because my card isn’t a UK one … hmmm … hopefully the hotel will accept my credit card – in the meantime I will just keep ordering wee drams and soaking up the atmosphere of this seriously cool place.
Sleeping under the stars 