Mon 30Set the alarm last night for 0415 this morning, 'cos I wanted to catch the early light on Rum. Just nip out of the tent at dawn, take a quick snap and back into the snug and warm again; how hard could it be? Well, the principle was fine, but my timing was a bit off :-/ I had to hang around for nearly an hour, waiting for the light to arrive and gradually getting colder and colder in the pre-dawn... Got there in the end though,
Dawn light on Rum Then I went back to bed and slept through until almost 9. While I had my ridiculously late breakfast, the other 4 campers packed up their 2 tents and left for the ferry in the owner Neil's pickup. It seemed to be part of his working day, meeting the ferry to collect or deliver campers, bothy inhabitants, yurt-dwellers or other guests. Visitors aren't allowed to bring cars onto any of the islands (one of their great attractions), so residents pickups are in big demand. There's also a taxi - which is, incongruously, an actual black cab, driven by a friendly bloke, in a stetson, called Charlie.
So I waited until the ferry traffic (the pickup, two taxi trips, and I'm sure I saw another car go past) died down, then headed off towards the other end of the island. By bike! There's a track around the south end, to Grulin, an old long-abandoned township, which I thought would be rideable, plus I wanted to get some fresh milk and the like in the shop at the pier. Up the steep ramp out of Cleadale then, and across the plateau, past the primary school and the former post office in the centre of the island. I picked up the track as it forked off to the right, fortunately without losing too much height by that point, and headed off below An Sgurr and round to its less fashionable south side
An Sgurr, Eigg, from the Grulin track The track was perfectly rideable on Walter: he's a sturdy chap with 26" wheels, discs and 1.5" tyres, but I'm sure Uncle Peter would have managed happily on 25mm. The old Grulin bothy was, I believe, tarted up by Keith Schellenberg, the somewhat controversial one-time owner of the island (now famously - big cheer - community-owned),
Grulin bothy and Muck beyond
It being well past lunchtime, I turned here and headed back to Galmisdale bay, taking the steep shortcut directly down to the pier rather than going all the way back to the road. Which was a good move, scenically speaking, since it took me past Galmisdale House directly below the Sgurr
Galmisdale House below An Sgurr Lunch was a baked spud and a pint in the cafe bar, taken sat outside by the sea in the hot sun, and was delicious. Highly recommended. I sat there for a while, watching boats. The lifeboat arrived at one point, at speed. Apparently someone had collapsed with heatstroke, and been found semi-conscious: a first responder attended and called in the lifeboat to get her to - I dunno, Mallaig? Fort William?
I carried on boat-watching, and the afternoon ferry arrived
At the pier, Eigg In fact two of 'em arrived. The timetable had two visits to Eigg today, 5 hours apart, so a lot of folk took the opportunity of a day-visit. So many folk that CalMac called the 'spare' ferry, Loch Bhrusda, into service, and the two were shuffling about taking it in turns to get to the pier
L Nevis and L Bhrusda, dancing While the first ferry loaded, I had a ride round the bay to the unofficial campsite where 5 tents were pitched right next to the sea. No facilities, use the toilets (and shower) at the pier 5 mins walk away. It looked rather pleasant - certainly didn't have the views that I did, but there was otoh more boat action.
The pleasingly-symmetrical
L BhrusdaBack to the pier, did my shopping, and bumped into Neil in the shop who kindly told me to just bung it in the back of the pickup rather than carry it myself. Which I did. A leisurely ride back, tea (ratatouille & couscous, peach slices and rice pudding - well, I've ridden a long way today), and a lazy evening sat in the tent in the full sun and out of the buffetting wind,
View from the tent Mileage: 8 on-road, 4 off-road. Off-road miles, like winter ones, count double, so 16 miles for the day.