Canna island have a future as well as a past?

Morning dawned grey and blustery on Canna. The wind had got up during the night and I had to get up to tighten the tent guy lines.

It was also cold. Our neighbours, these highland ponies, were standing back to the wind on the heavily frosted grass.

Looking over Sanday and St Edward's, the low clouds were scudding over the Rum Cuillin. Though the waters in Canna harbour were deceptively calm we were glad we did not have to consider launching of the storm beach at Guirdil on Rum. From high on Sanday, the sea to the south was rough though the F5 wind of the previous night had dropped to F4 and the forecast was for it to drop further in the afternoon. Whatever, the spring ebb tide was running straight against the southerly wind. Thoughts of paddling round Canna evaporated and we decided to go for a walk and look at the conditions again towards the end of the ebb. We set off on our walk knowing that Canna had been populated for 9,000 years. We wondered what we would find.

 Near the causeway between Canna and Sanday we found these whale vertebrae...

 ...and this old abandoned bike. I wonder if its owner has left the island?

Canna is a volcanic island and the basalt ledges of its hills rise steeply from the shore. Sitting on its elevated ledge, Kate's cottage has one of the best views on the island. We got to chatting with two builders from the mainland. They were re-roofing a cottage which had recently burned down. The previous evening they had worked late to take advantage of the settled weather. From high on the roof they had spotted us paddling into Canna Harbour and news of our arrival had spread round the island.

Near the farm buildings we discovered the reason for the midnight disturbance. It had been a rabbit cull. Since a successful operation to eradicate rats (to preserve breeding bird stocks) the rabbit population of Canna has mushroomed. They breed like...well rabbits actually.

Last year the restaurant on Canna did a nice line in rabbit pie and I am sure that was nothing to do with its recent closure.

This lovely old farm dog padded out to say hello. His hang dog appearance suggested that it would be rabbit for dinner ....again.

Next to the farm buildings is this convenient loo and shower. The shower requires a £2 coin. The National Trust for Scotland office is just across the road. We called by to present our NTS membership cards but no one was in.

 The old farm dairy has been converted into a museum displaying...

 ...dairy and...

 ...fishing implements,...

...old photos (this is Kate sitting outside her cottage) and...

...curiosities brought to Canna by the Gulf Stream.

NTS via BBC

In 2012 the farm manager found an ancient cursing stone in the ancient graveyard  above the farm. 

NTS via BBC

Amazingly it was a perfect fit for the hollow which had been worn in the base of the Celtic Cross which stands nearby.

Just to the east of the farm is the ruin of the old corn mill. It was built in the 1780's and was originally water powered but was converted to steam at a later date.

We now continued our perambulation along the front at Canna Harbour. There was no mobile phone signal on Canna so we were pleased to find...

 ...a public phone box with one of the most marvellous views in the country. Inside, it didn't smell like a city call box either.

 It was fully functioning and accepted a variety of coins. Its signal was beamed by communications dish to feed into the rest of the World's telecoms network! We phoned home for a weather forecast and to book a room in the Rum hostel for later that night.

Next we passed Canna House. It contains a large library of Gaelic books and butterflies collected by the last private owners of Canna, Dr John Lorne Campbell and his wife Margaret Fay Shaw. In 1981 the National Trust of Scotland was gifted Canna by the Campbell family.

 We continued along the shore road towards the Protestant church but our attention was...

 ...captured by a sea eagle circling over Canna harbour. When you see a sea eagle like this, there is no mistaking it for a buzzard. No doubt the sea eagle also has rabbit for first second and third luncheons.

The Protestant church has a round pencil tower which is not common in Scotland but is frequent in Ireland. It was built in 1914 in memory of Robert Thom, a Clyde shipowner who bought Canna in 1881 and who did much to improve the island until he died in 1911. It was designed by Peter Chalmers who had built a similar church in the parish of Kilmore at Dervaig on Mull.

As we approached the pier we passed this fine bull. We saw a surprising number of breeds and crosses on Canna and Sanday: Aberdeen Angus, Luing, Belted Galloway, Highland and Shorthorn.

The Canna terminal building at the pier  has a toilet and water supply.

Nearby the old terminal building has now been converted to the community shop.

Between the shop and the pier warehouse we found a number of dishes and radio links that are part of the HebNet system that brings broadband to Canna and the other Small Isles.

It was now time to think about heading back to the kayaks. This old hedge tells its own story of how windy Canna can be. However, we were grateful that the wind had delayed our departure and allowed us to explore this delightful island. Sadly the population has recently fallen to 10 after all the families with children left. I do hope others will arrive to take their place and hopefully they be able to stay. Canna has had a wonderful past, I hope it has a future.

Further reading:
The past: Canna Local History Group.
The future: Isle of Canna Community Development Trust Ltd

Our torches were not the only lights on Canna.

 We erected our tents by torchlight on the machair above the beach.

 For a long time, a reddish afterglow from the sunset lingered in the west.

Then we got busy preparing an evening meal of Aberdeen Angus steak mince (made from one bit of steak, from one cow (and absolutely no added horse, or worse), carrots, onions and new potatoes done in the pressure cooker. Guinness proved a most excellent accompanying beverage.

With a startling suddenness we became aware that our head torches were no longer...

 ...the only source of light on Canna and Sanday.

By the time we went to bed, the Moon had risen high in the cold, clear sky and it was almost as bright as day.

I awoke with a start at the stroke of midnight. I looked out of the tent and noticed that the south wind had picked up and clouds were spilling through the gaps between the summits of the Cuillin of Rum.

But my attention was drawn by a commotion high on the hillside of Canna.

A 4x4 pick up truck was driving over a track and shining a search light round the field. What was going on....?

Canny mariners ken ye cannae whack Canna harbour at sunset!

We set off from Rum to Canna at 16:37, exactly 1 hour before sunset and 3 hours and 39 minutes into the north going tide (which was 2 days before springs). I have used Canna harbour quite a few times on yachting and sea kayaking trips, so I was confident it would provide a safe haven (and camp site) for the night. We set off knowing that the maximum spring rate in the middle of the Sound of Canna is 1.5 knots but near the east coast of Sanday it is 4 to 5 knots.

I had set a GPS way point on the east end of Sanday and using a combination of maintaining the bearing from our current position to the way point, transits and seat of the pants, I think we did a damn fine job of the crossing.

 Slowly the sunlit mountains of Rum...

 ... receded behind us and we found ourselves...

 ...in the shade below Sanday lightouse. Although situated on Sanday, this is officially known as Canna lighthouse to differentiate it from the light on the isle of |Sanday in the Orkeney Islands. It was built in 1907 and flashes white every 10 seconds.

We took a breather once we were out of the main tidal flow but even here a buoy was being tugged under the surface!

There is absolutely nothing to beat the feeling of paddling into the sheltered waters of Canna at sunset. There is no better harbour in hundreds of square miles of the exposed waters of the Sea of the Hebrides. Mariners have sought safe haven here for thousands of years and we were delighted to do the same.

 The sun was setting behind the dramatic outline of...

 ..the former Roman Catholic St Edward's Chapel on Sanday. It was renovated in 2001 to be used as a Gaelic study centre but for various reasons has yet to open its doors.

 On the north side of the harbour the sun was shining on the Church of Scotland church.

As it was approaching high water we paddled deep into that part of Canna which...

 ...dries out at low tide. The sun was setting as we paddled...

 ...under the bridge that connects Sanday to Canna and made our way out into...

 ...the open sea of the Hebrides beyond.

The sun had set by the time we had hauled our kayaks out onto one of the white sand coves that can be found on this coast.

A whiff of diesel with Rum on the rocks near Bloodstone..

As we left Kilmory Bay several fast fighter aircraft arced round the sky, disappearing round either side of the distant Skye Cuillin. Then this air support aircraft, G-FRAS, a Dassault Falcon-20C, leased from Cobham flew low overhead.

We continued round the coast of Rum but although there was almost no wind the swell was heaving at the base of the cliffs with a near constant roar. We were now paddling SW into the glare of the low sun. Something in the distance caught our eye but we could not quite make out what it was...

 ...until we approached the sad wreck of...

...the Jack Abry II, a French trawler that ran on to the rocks here just before midnight on the 31st January 2011. Fortunately, despite a gale and the surrounding cliffs and mountains, all 14 men on board were airlifted to safety by the Stornoway coastguard helicopter.

Initial attempts to salvage her failed when her engine room and fish holds were holed and flooded. Her fuel oil was removed but there was still a whiff of diesel in the air over two years later. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch report makes interesting reading and like many accidents it was caused by a chain of small events that led to the final grounding.

 This coastline became more and more dramatic until we turned a corner and...

 ...Bloodstone Hill reared up above our intended destination of...

 ...Glen Guirdil. Green agates are found in this rock. They contain little tiny red flecks of iron, and it is these that give the stone and the mountain its name.

The geology here is very complex, Bloodstone Hill lies at the boundary of granite and Torridonian sandstone. It is also covered with sedimentary conglomerate rocks containing igneous rocks from the eruption which formed the Cuillin of Rum. These sedimentary rocks are then covered with lava flows that are younger than the Rum eruption and which probably came from the later Mull eruption to the south. If you look carefully at the top slopes of Bloodstone Hill, you can see where these lavas have flowed over the top of the hill and started to run down ancient river valleys. The lava solidified before it got to the sea and has left steep escarpments.

Bloodstone is one of the finest rocks for making stone tools. Our ancestors have been visiting Rum to quarry bloodstone for at least 7,500 years; a camp with a heap of hazel nut shells has been carbon dated to that time. Bloodstone arrow heads and axe heads have been found at great distances from the lonely isle of Rum. These people worked and traded bloodstone 3,000 years before the first stone was laid in an Egyptian pyramid.

June 2006

I have twice before landed by sea kayak at Guirdil. Both occasions were in summer but one was very windy. We landed near high tide on banks of uprooted kelp.

June 2006

This is Guirdil bothy where Ian and I planned to stay for two nights. 

June 2006

The following day we hoped to circumnavigate Canna from here and return for the second night.

As we approached Guirdil we could see an inviting plume of smoke coming from the bothy chimney. This time it was about half tide and the swell was washing up over a boulder beach interspersed by studs of bed rock. We explored both sides of the beach but it did not look very inviting. We were concerned as the forecast was for the wind and surf height to increase the following day. Then two tall men emerged from the bothy. Both were dressed head to toe in camouflage gear... time for Plan B.

In life you need to create opportunities in which good luck might happen. Both Ian and I have a very flexible view to planning. We had allowed sufficient time to arrive at Guirdil and paddle somewhere else, we had brought tents and I knew of a good camp site on Canna, which we could reach by night fall...