Ever since I read a book, ‘500 places you must see on the British Coast before your die, (as if theres an option afterwards!) Ive been wanting to visit Muck and Eigg, small Scottish islands off the west coast of Scotland. It wasnt guaranteed during winter, so we were lucky to get a ferry to Eigg today.
Once we were out of the port, Glyn received a text saying that the ferry maybe cancelled due to the weather. This was a concern in case the return ferry got cancelled and we wouldve been marooned.
Eigg is about 5.5 miles long and 3 miles wide. With a population of 110, theres no central hub, just houses scattered randomly over the hills and by the shore. A single lane road traverses from top to bottom with a few side tracks to the three farms and houses. Theres a shop by the pier, a kindergarten and primary school on the one road and a brewery that is being upscaled into a pub. A in from Skye every Wednesday and the medical centre is opened. Tourists can camp anywhere so long as theyre not in anyones garden, plus theres a few
wooden pods and a B&B. Older school kids go to Mallaig and have to stay for a week in a hostel especially built for island children. And the primary school headmistress has a cat that goes wandering for days, so cats do live happily here too, apparently she sent an email out rather worried when it went on its first walkabout.
As time was very short, I had previously found Charlies Taxi online and called to book him to take us to the Singing Sands. Charlie is a beardy Scot, smokes a pipe and likes a dram, the full Scottish package and it was worth visiting just for him!
We had less than 2 hours on Eigg sadly and Charlie told us that the Singing Sands dont sing in the Winter, they need to be dry and at this time of year, they are a bog. So he took us to another nearby beach at the Bay of Laig from where we could see the Island of Rm through the mist. Further along the beach were naturally hexagonal rocks similar to those at the Giants Causeway in Northern Island, but we didnt have time to get that far.
I generally like beaches but something about this one I loved, the air was clean, we were alone (apart from some sheep) and it was just very beautiful. We were almost late for Charlie, I had threatened that if we missed the ferry that wed be sleeping on his sofa but he didnt seem bothered and kept telling us about how he normally keeps a bottle in the car and has a wee dram that he shares with his passengers every stop. But its ok, theres no police here.
For the short time we were with Charlie, we learnt a lot about Eigg, he is more of a tour guide than taxi driver. He pointed out the house where Tolkien would stay when he wrote and apparently the mountains of Rm were the inspiration for Mordor. Another nearby house was where the first series of Outlander was filmed. Some photographer had a BBC documentary shot there and Charlie being the only taxi (actually its a big blue minibus) transported people, with wee dram for all! The photographer was filmed photographing Charlie so he ended up on TV and other islanders made fun of him for being up his own
arse. When a tube shaped parcel arrived that wasnt heavy enough to be a bottle, the postie noticed that the senders address was the photographer and apparently he opened it, so everyone saw the huge portrait of Charlie and further took the piss. I told him, I hope he had it framed and put above his fireplace. Im a bit dubious about the postie opening mail, but Charlie says hes his mate, so its ok.
Another famous person to visit Eigg was Adrian Edmondson, he wanted everyone to play music with him and apparently plays the ukulele pretty well.
Theres is also some hippy type retreat in the island and that came with a story about a young lady walking to the shower block naked to save carrying anything, not realising there were bird watchers nearby. The island has their own internal email and a message was put out requesting that people stay clothed.
