The Outer Hebrides - Part 1

In September I visited the Outer Hebrides or Western Isles as they are sometimes known.  I had always wanted to visit these remote islands but never got round to it, so early in the year I made my plans and kept my fingers crossed for the weather.

Ullapool harbour

The islands cover quite a large area and it’s about 130 miles from top to bottom. Split into islands, some joined by causeways and others requiring a ferry trip.  The large majority of the islands are small and uninhabited, including St Kilda’s which is the most remote point of the UK and can be reached by boat trip from here.

The sun shone as we left Ullapool

The islands I visited were the Isle of Lewis, Isle of Harris, North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist. My journey started by leaving the Isle of Arran on the Lochranza to Claonaig ferry and travelling north to Ullapool; stopping overnight in a little dog friendly motel in readiness for the morning ferry across to Stornaway. This is a lovely fishing town with pretty harbour and I regretted not stopping here for an extra day to take in the views.

In the morning the sun shone, the sky was blue and the sea calm for crossing the ‘Minch’.  The ferry takes nearly 3 hours, so plenty of time for a walk around the decks taking in the views. I used a Calmac Hopscotchticket as it works out quite a lot cheaper than booking single journeys. 

Sunset promise

On arriving in Stornaway, I was initially surprised at how big it was, but then there is no easy access to the mainland and the bulk of the population live here.  The combined population of Lewis and Harris is about 20k. Not stopping I pushed on to my first destination travelling across the Isle of Lewis on a single track road to the rugged west coast and the little village of Gearrannan. This really is remote Scotland and I was glad to be well prepared and have all my supplies with me.

Gearrannan blackhouse village

Gearrannan village has been modernised and now has traditional black houses converted into holiday homes, beautifully done, with under floor heating and simple kitchens.  There is also a small hostel. The stone houses are constructed of double stone walls and a thatch roof.  All very eco friendly and more importantly cosy.

My self catering blackhouse - home for a few days

Thatch roof - rabbits ran along the grass edges!

The economy of the island is based on crofting, fishing, weaving and tourism. The most famous destination of the Isle of Lewis being the Callanish stones.  These date from about 2900 BC and are quite spectacular.  There are actually 3 circles, 2 smaller ones being about 2km away but still easily accessible.  The dank grey day did little to encourage photography, but as any traveller knows you have to make the best of the conditions when staying for short periods in any place.  An early start avoided other tourists to ensure clean shots.

Callanish stones

 

Callanish stone

Another place to visit is the Butt of Lewis, supposedly the windiest place in the UK; where fish can be blown onto the dunes in high winds – well not on the day I went.  All was calm!

Coastal views 

The weather brightened and the next two days provided coastal walks with views and lots of opportunity for landscape photography.  The evening sunsets showed promise although they never came to full fruition and it was way past my G & T time before it was really going dark!

Blue calm

I was very sorry to leave this little oasis and I’m sure I’ll be back as I really didn’t get to see everything I wanted.

More sunset promise

177th Arran Farmers Society Show

Overhead Winner

I've been to many a farmers show, from small villages up to the the huge events held in Yorkshire and Lancashire.  I much prefer the smaller ones as I can see everything and not feel like I've stumbled into a large car boot sale!

Sheep pose for a photo

Arran's event is held every year on the first Wednesday in August.  Last year was a bit of a wash out but this year after an early morning shower it stayed dry and actually sunny in the afternoon.

One of the fine bulls on show

Marvin Elliott was sculpting with his chainsaw (see previous blog), COAST had a touchy feely tank full of sea creatures, the Forestry Commission and rangers were there along with the food stalls, beer tents, and the Douglas Cocktail bar!

Vintage tractor parade

 Vintage tractors paraded, the Arran pipe band played and there was a fantastic display by Duncan and Ali of the Clan cycle stunt team.

One of the birds from Arran bird of prey centre

Meanwhile the competitors vied for position showing off livestock, horsemanship and dog obedience! For those who wanted a dog agility course was available to try - you could even borrow a dog!  The overall winner was a Holstein cow, from Stewart Reid in Lamlash.

Sheep riding - not a competitive sport!

Butter churning, spinning & weaving and birds of prey were other attractions, not to mention sampling some of the local food and of course whisky!

The Clan cycle stunt team

But for me its the livestock that make the show, all the time that it takes to present the animals in tip top condition, coats groomed, horns and hooves oiled, and cattle trained to harness (although some made the odd bid for freedom).

One of the many horse competitors

More pictures can be seen here for The Clan Cycle Stunt Team and here for the Farmers Show.

Walking stick carving

Delightfully deadly digitalis

Foxgloves are probably one of the most easily recognisable plants and are currently in full bloom around the island.  

These colourful spikes of flowers can grow up to 2.5 meters tall and vary in colour from deep purple through shades of pink and even pure white. They are particularly fond of acidic soil, which is probably why they do well on Arran.

The name foxglove can be traced back to the 1300’s and maybe even further.  The Latin name Digitalis purpurea refers to its shape which can be fitted over a human digit (fingertip). In the south of Scotland it is sometimes called ‘bloody fingers’ and in the north ‘deadman’s bells’.

The tubular flowers, seen between June and September attract a range of insects, but are mostly popular with bees.  

The insects enter into the flower and become covered in pollen.  Once the flower falls away a pod of brown rectangular seeds can be found. A plant can produce over 2 million seeds in its lifetime!

The foxglove has been used for medicinal purposes for over 200 years and is best known for its production of digoxin – a drug used as a stimulant to treat the heart.  As it is rich in digoxin it can also be poisonous if taken unawares and although poisoning is rate it can be confused with harmless plants such as comfrey which can be made into tea.

To and from photographs

A few weeks ago I posted an article on photographing smoke not realising how this would go on to influence a totally new experience that I was going to undertake.  I regularly try to do something new, just for fun so I had booked a weekend with Brodick Castle rangers to have a go at wood carving. Never having picked up a wood chisel before it could be amusing (if not dangerous!).

The beginning 

The two day course was run by Marvin  Elliott who lives and works on Arran and has work in both public and private collections around the world.  His little studio sits opposite the harbour in the lovely village of Corrie.

Marvin's studio

The weekend started with a short talk before heading off into the forest, chainsaw in hand (that’s the professional hand of a ranger!) to pick a piece of wood to carve. And this is where the influence of the previous photography started to take effect.  In the wood I looked at, I could envisage the wonderful swirls of smoke and hidden patterns and had a perfect picture in my head of a finished wood carving!

 

Work in progress

Needless to say my skill lacked sadly behind.  I had never tried to carve wood before and I happened to pick a well seasoned piece of beech – a piece of concrete would have been easier to chip at! But I did persevere with pictures of smoke roses, periwinkles, hands and general swirls in my head.  These were modified as the day went on and I envisaged drafts destroying my smoke images as the chisel when where it wanted and wood split and refused to bend to my will.

The end result was not quite how I had imagined it but undeterred I went on to carve a sea serpent, on a slightly softer green piece of wood, which now sits proudly in my garden.

 

Sea serpent in the making

Now resident in my garden

Whereas my inspiration came directly from taking a photograph, I found it fascinating to listen to Alex Boyd this week, whose inspiration led to a whole series of photographs.  Alex is an internationally recognised photography, most known for his Sonnets series see some on this link which features a character called Henning who features in all the images, wearing a white shirt and braces, in remote / iconic locations around Scotland.  Alex was on Arran and gave us an interesting talk on how he developed the idea to take this series, along with the trials and tribulations along the way!  His love of photographic and art history, and influenced by people such as Caspar David Friedrich and Anselm Kiefer, motivated him to take a fresh look at locations around Scotland.  The resulting enigmatic photographs often have a dark hidden message.   Alex is currently exhibiting at the Douglas Hotel – worth popping in for a look. 

Sign outside Marvin's studio

A Carbon Suspension

Swirlpool

As I've mentioned in previous blogs I like a photographic challenge and this one fired my imagination after I’d seen a couple of interesting pictures in an article and I couldn't work out how they’d been taken.  So despite the article repeatedly mentioning ‘patience’ as being a key element for the task, I had an hour to spare (actually I was distracted away from what I should have been doing) and my carbon suspension was burning merrily in the corner of the room.

Who's watching over you?

Now it is fair to say that my suspension probably contained a lot of other particulate material as it was a fairly obnoxious incense stick, but it burned slowly and with a consistent stream of pale grey smoke.

 

Rose Garden

Smoke is a fairly complex substance and even Leonardo Da Vinci (c1480) made comment and compared black smoke (carbon based), with white smoke (water based).  I can only presume my grey smoke was a combination of the two.

Periwinkle

And so the challenge began with choice of background, lighting methods and the best camera settings to use.  It was a surprise as to just how fast the smoke moved and there were several obstacles to overcome, not least getting the pattern of smoke where I wanted it, to achieve anything like a good result.

Tubular

Ventilating the room (a total must) created drafts and eddies and allowed excess light in through the doorway; focus points moved and I abandoned the tripod quite quickly; and then there was the need to light the smoke trails. 

The proposal

But a quick hour resulted in a couple of nice piccies – but maybe this is one challenge I will only task my more advanced students with!

Chaos

Bluebells in the Bronze Age!

 These little blue gems which appear around April and May, carpeting woodland floors, have an amazing history in the UK, where it is though around 50% of the world’s bluebells grow.

The flowers tend to lie on one side of the stem and droop once they are open.  As the name describes they are bell shaped and range from blue to violet.  Occasional white flowers can be found and may be genetic mutations. Most striking is the fabulous scent that they produce which adds to the delight of wandering though bluebell carpets.

Bluebells are native to the UK, although there are some Spanish ones around and these have mixed with the native variety.  The Spanish ones can be white or pink, but the most obvious difference is that they have very little or no scent.

Arran is steeped in history from the Bronze Age and it is likely that glue made from bluebells was used to attach feather to hunting arrows.  In more recent times Bluebell glue was also used to bind books.

Bluebell roots were also used to make starch to stiffen clothing, particularly collars and ruffs in the Victorian era.

Like many native wild flowers, bluebells are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, and it is illegal to dig up the bulbs for sale or profit.  In all cases removing the plant, even for preservation reasons requires permission from the landowner (as most bluebells are found in woodlands there is always a 

landowner).