Friday, September 14, 2007

David Balfour's Bay Erraid


We set off from Fidden on the Ross of Mull to circumnavigate the island of Erraid. It was late evening in July and the thunder clouds of earlier in the day had moved SW over the distant Scottish mainland. After the rain, the sky was clear and bright as we wended our way through the skerries.


We stopped at Traigh Gheal on the island's SW coast. The white shell sand and red granite contrasted with the turquoise of the shallow waters. Robert Louis Stevenson, the author, spent time here while his father was constructing the remote lighthouses at Skerryvore and Dubh Artach (which lie far to the west and south west). In his novel "Kidnapped" the hero, David Balfour, was shipwrecked on this beach.

3 comments:

  1. Some day you must post me a picture of one of Stevenson's lighthouses. It would to go with the lightouse he designed that I visited one the south coast of Newfoundland last July.
    I find the connection of this island and Stevenson's writing interesting. I suppose he used the place having visited it during his father's travels.

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  2. Grrrr. if i see one more white sandy beach. okay, just being mean spirited. After all, it's almost time to set the clocks back here. I'm heading off to the cove to moan! Alison

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  3. Michael, there were about 7 lighthouse Stevensons. Do you know which one designed the Newfoundland light? If so I will post a photo of a Scottish light by the same Stevenson.

    Alison, I will keep posting white shell sandy beach shots throughout the winter.

    :o)

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