Flannan Isles 2002

After spending the whole of last summer waiting the weather window we were looking for seemed to materialise out of nowhere... from a casual "it's supposed to be fairly settled next week" as we saw Mike off on the ferry on Thursday... to Murty appearing at Tuesday lunchtime... "how about tomorrow!".

Just a frantic few hours later, Murty, Donnie, Ginger and Robert were seated in Donnie's van watching the Flannan light whilst Mike, having persuaded us to wait for him, made his way to Inverness to catch the first flight over.

So instead of the 5 a.m. start planned we had a leisurely morning packing the boats before Justin & Mike finally arrived and we were able to set off at about 10:30 in near perfect conditions.

Leaving the beach at Carnish we were soon clear of the headland and into the ocean. We made good progress before taking our first scheduled break about half twelve. To start with all we could see was the biggest of the islands, Eilean Mor, but we soon began to make out the others and the distinctive outline of the "Seven Hunters" became etched in our minds as they floated on the horizon, hidden briefly from time to time by the Atlantic swell.

Feeling a little sleepy after his 4am start in Carluke Mike took the opportunity of our second break to freshen up with a dip in the Atlantic! He was paddling with Justin in his new Eco Niz Double and this provided an excellent swimming platform. By 4 o'clock it has become apparent that we were falling behind schedule, having given the Coastguard an ETA of 6pm. So Murty and Ging (who by now was feeling a little seasick) headed off to make the first landing. After checking out both sites they opted for the east landing where Ginger enjoyed the second swim of the day!

For the rest of us the last 6 miles seemed to take forever as the chain of islands slowly expanded to fill the horizon until suddenly we were amongst them.

With Donnie suffering from cramp over the last mile it was just on 8pm when we turned the final corner. Then it was all hands to haul the kayaks up onto the ledge before setting up camp.

It's impossible to capture the cacophony of sounds and smells that greeted us as we lugged our gear up the steep disused tramlines to our campsite below the lighthouse. Hundreds of seabirds wheeled overhead whilst underfoot we heard the occasional growls of nesting puffins.

Despite these distractions we had soon setup camp and after getting an updated forecast soon turned in.

We woke to another brilliant day and after a lazy start set off to explore the island. Discovering that even since Mike and Murty were here 3 years ago parts more of the steps to the West landing have collapsed. We also located the Flannan Well, now rather silted up.

Not long later we were back at the campsite and convened a Flannan parliament to decide on a plan for the day. Whilst Justin was keen to get back the rest of us wanted to make the most of the weather and stay another night and he was sadly (for him) outvoted. The decision made Murty, Mike, Justin & Robert set out on a first ever club paddle round the other islands.

As we approached Roareim it became apparent that what had looked like white rock was in fact a gannet colony.

Out round the back we got a real taste of the powerful swell crashing in on the cliffs. Back at Eilean Mor we explored some of the caves and archways before landing back on Eilean Mor for tea.

With the weather expected to deteriorate later on Friday we planned a 5am start back the following day and in light of this some of us did try to get an early night. The first alarm went off was at 4am but this was quickly muffled and so it was Justin who rose us an hour later.

The rain weather had closed in overnight and we struck camp quickly in a steady drizzle. Launching was now fairly slick and despite Justin's very short dip we left the bay at 6am.

The rain soon stopped and after an hour or so we stopped so Donnie could swap into the double. Mike was suffering from a combination of seasickness and early starts but despite this we made excellent progress back towards Lewis.

Perhaps because the mood was generally quieter then on the way out we saw much more wildlife but strangely as on the outward leg no shipping.

Knocking 7 hours off the trip out we found ourselves heading for the Carnish beach at one o'clock. The last job was to carry the kayaks back up the vans but as the rain returned Donnie unfortunately injured his arm lifting the last boat.

With the boats secured we were soon off home, a little disappointed perhaps that such a fantastic trip had ended but looking forward to the next adventure!

Murdo Campbell