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Got an email on Wednesday night indicating that my rescheduled St Kilda trip was on for Friday. Failing to find excuses not to go I quickly booked my flight and accommodation.
My initial plan would also have included a train journey but I had a last minute errand to run that prevented this.
Managed to get to Inverness airport in reasonable time for the short flight to Stornoway where my plan for car hire involved crossed fingers. Couldn't seem to find anyone doing online booking albeit my search had been quite brief.
Fortunately the on site place had a car for hire so my onwards progress to Leverburgh via Ceapabhal went smoothly.
I had an enjoyable walk up the latter before heading for my accommodation and food at the Anchorage, the pier side restaurant, who were kind enough to do me an after hours sit in cheese sandwich.
The morning didn't dawn too auspiciously -leaden skies and puddles. Nevertheless, the skipper sounded reasonably confident of an improvement and there was indeed a bright streak across the sky to the west.
I'd imagined that we'd be able to stand or sit outside during the crossing but it soon became clear that a seat indoors was the only option for the main part of the journey. Not that the swell was big so much as the speed of the boat (19 knots) in combination with the swell (2 metres) made for foot/floor coordination difficulties.
Of course, when we got near to St Kilda the boat slowed to allow everyone to go outside and get a better view of the surroundings as we passed Boraraigh and then drew into Village Bay.
- Boraraigh appears
- zoom of Boraraigh
- Hiorta and Conachair getting nearer
Actual embarkation was by way of dingy and soon we were all assembled at the end of the pier for a meet and greet by the warden, including warnings to keep away from cliff edges and to be aware that bonxies might be getting ready for action.
I'd discussed my walk with the skipper's mate and he'd persuaded me to ascend Conachair via The Gap rather than the access road. I'm glad I took the advice. Although there was a bit of damp in the grass there was by now wall to wall sunshine and a growing heat.
I still picked my way extra carefully between the cleits although there are well worn and obvious paths up to The Gap. These paths are accessed via another gap -one in the wall that backs the the main street of the village, this being nearby behind the single whitewashed cottage there.
That first kilometre of the walk is only a 170m ascent of 40 minutes' duration but in warm weather that felt like hard work which you may detect if you can be bothered watching my video! The Gap itself is something of a special place with a jagged horizontal cliff edge that periodically opens up views directly down to the ocean. I explored this a little way to the east before starting the longer haul up to Conachair's summit.
- the cleits and ruins of Village Bay
- cleit near The Gap with Dun in the background
- the impressive cliffs running south east from The Gap
All along the way new and exciting views opened up; south to the shimmering aqua marine Village Bay and Dun, north to Boraraigh, west to Conachair's mighty northern cliffs. The going was very pleasant on short grass and the ground fully dried out at this height. A little on the steep side for me higher up as my single walking pole (the other having broken the previous evening on Ceapahal) had been demarcated as bonxie counter measure (needless as it turned out) and I am still wary of hurting my back as anyone who has read any of my droning on about this over the last eight months will know.
Arriving at the summit yields both one of the most fantastic summit panoramas to be had in Scotland and a view of the Mullach Mor radar station. Somehow, the latter does manage to fit in rather as the St Kilda sheep nibbling the grass between the MoD buildings at Village Bay look unexpectedly at home.
It had taken me only one hour and twenty minutes to get to the top, including no doubt twenty minutes of dawdling, catching breath, diverting east and taking photos and video. Not at all claiming that was quick but, rather, observing that the reward for the ascent is enormous in relation to the effort expended in getting there. Case in point, Ceapabhal the previous evening had taken an hour and a half for actual ascent despite being quite a bit lower at 368m.
- Boraraigh from the upper slopes of Conachair
- view west from just below Conachair summit looking towards Soaigh
- me on the summit, bonxie counter measure at the ready
- me expressing my happiness with my arms
- the trig point type thing just south of the summit
- me pretending to enjoy the view whilst wondering if I set the self timer properly
- I did!
- one more from the same spot; such a great view point
Anyway, I was just happy to have made it up there in fine weather with lots of time to spare for the return to the boat. I considered running the gauntlet of bonxies parked on the moor between Conachair and Mulllach Mor but elected instead to retrace my steps via the Conachair trig point thingy (and the view over Village Bay) and use the spare time to take in more of The Gap, visit the museum, shop and ruins. That plan worked out superbly well for me -definitely a day to take it easy and enjoy. I later learned from a braver soul that the bonxie run was like the Battle of Britain so I made the right choice for me. This also meant I was able to revert my walking pole to its intended function so making the potentially hazardous descent of the steeper parts a breeze.
- back down at the Gap for more exploration
- a change in the weather to the south east
I had a cursory look around the ruins and spent an interesting few minutes in the museum before writing the obligatory St Kilda postcards.
The return boat journey included a trip past Conachair and a tour of the Boraraigh stacks. I hadn't registered that was going to take place until the skipper's mate mentioned it in passing. Turned out to be an awe inspiring experience.
Along the way we saw guillemots, puffins, wild sheep on Boraraigh's south east flank and had the sites of St Kildans' stac bothies pointed out to us.
- some St Kilda sheep, some cleits and Conachair
- village ruins and Conachair
- Conachair, Oisebhal and cruise ship
- gannets on one of the Boraraigh stacks (Stac an Armin or Stac Lee?)
- Boraraigh
- a gallery of guillemots
- Stac Lee?
- obligatory sunset pic back on Harris the same day
Won't spoil this for anyone planning a visit but there is a lot more to St Kilda history than the well known evacuation story. I certainly learned a lot more about the place on this trip than I ever thought I would, thanks to the boat crew, the museum and the shop.
My thanks to Seaharris and their informative, good humoured and safety conscious crew (other purveyors of boat trips being available) and to Grimisdale Guest House for the last minute accommodation (other purveyors of accommodation also being available).
http://www.kilda.org.uk/