Can Canna?

The "Small Isles" consist of 4 closely grouped islands: Canna, Rum, Eigg and Muck.
Canna is a lovely island for yachts to visit.  The harbour is well sheltered and beautiful.

The Main Anchorage on Canna
There is the wonderful "Café Canna" close to the anchorage, serving food and drink throughout the day.  This is also a great hub where locals can meet up.

We enjoyed a walk alongside the basalt cliffs, where we think we spotted an eagle and then climbed up the rough hillside to visit a pair of Neolithic "cellars".  No one seems to know exactly what these were used for but they date back to 10,000 BC.  Doug climbed a short way into one of them and took a photo inside.
Doug Looking Inside a Neolithic Cellar - also called a Souterrain

View Inside The Neolithic Cellar
Cliffside Walk on Canna
The island is owned by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and currently has a population of 26.  The last 2 children left the island last year, which meant that the school had to shut and the only teacher had to find a new job elsewhere.  Attracting enough residents is a real problem across many Scottish islands and this is particularly so in the Small Isles.  The NTS has given up the fight to attract new residents and has passed this job to the island community.  Without sufficient residents, life on the island is harder and future sustainability is at risk.
A new project is underway to install solar and wind energy generators on the island to partly take the load off the existing diesel generators.  The land is too flat for hydro-electric turbines, so the island cannot become 100% powered by renewable energy.
Ways to earn a living on Canna include: fishing, rearing sheep, harbour master, running café and campsite, boat mooring fees, small shop for provisions and crafts, jobs with the NTS and mechanic to keep any equipment running.
Canna's future viability is perhaps in the balance but the locals we spoke to were optimistic and seemed to be well organised and full of hope.

Doug decided that the spreaders on the mast needed cleaning, so I winched him up.  This comes of spending too much time in light winds looking up at the mast and sails!

Doug Up the Mast - Cleaning Spreaders and Checking the Wind Instrument


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Last Leg

Image
We had arrived in Weymouth in soaking rain, strong winds and rising seas, very glad of the refuge. After this experience, we were not keen to set off the following day with continuing rain and strong winds forecast.  So we took the opportunity of a final day of "holiday" away from home and explored the Weymouth sea front after the rain had passed through.  Our holiday theme extended to cream cakes for tea and a final meal out in the evening - lovely :) The next day, it was finally time to set off on our last leg back to Plymouth Sound. It had been so frustrating to be stuck in port many times over the past week due to the gale force westerly winds. The sun shone brightly as we set off in favourable but light easterly winds to pass close inshore round Portland Bill.  What a difference this was compared to our last time at sea!  The Bill can be a menacing place for small boats in bad weather. Rounding a Very Peaceful Portland Bill in the Sunshine :) It was...
Read more

Conclusions - Rosie

Image
Back on the mooring at Weir Quay, we were welcomed ashore by Mike Parkin and Pat Moss plus Rob Smith and Mike Grimshaw from the Tavy Tars, who serenaded us as we enjoyed a celebratory glass on Mike's patio.  What a lovely homecoming! Some thoughts about our voyage : A great way to see our beautiful country and to meet those living along its coastlines. Quite challenging at times when the sea conditions rose to test us. Rapport is a lovely boat that took care of us when we most needed it. We were SO lucky with the weather and this made a tremendous difference. The abundance of sea life, especially birds, in our remote waters has been staggering to observe. The resourcefulness of islanders is impressive and how they pull together to sustain their communities. We are very grateful for the warm welcome we received from everyone. The west coast of Scotland is so beautiful but is sparsely populated and has remarkably few visiting yachts. The midges in Scotland are a force t...
Read more

London Calling!

Image
Our plan was now to take Rapport up to London and meet up with our sons, Dan and Mike 40 miles into the Thames from Queenborough to Rotherhithe. This meant an early start to catch the tide out of the River Medway and then into the River Thames - 04:30 am this time (not much sleep for us then). We had reserved a night on a PLA (Port of London Authority) visitors' buoy 20 miles upriver at Gravesend.  We needed to reach this by 11:30 am before the strong tide turned against us.  And we had downloaded the extremely informative PLA recreational craft visitors' maps showing the features and hazards of the Lower and Upper reaches of the Thames.  This gave instructions on the best route for yachts to take to avoid the many shipping movements along the river. The wind was a strong WNW, so we were again beating and this time motor-sailing into it to aid our progress.  The tide picked up and we made fair speed short-tacking back and forth just outside the main shipping ch...
Read more