isleofronalog

The weather, unlike in this lovely photo, is horrible, in fact it has been a very poor summer at Camastianavaig.
So to-day whilst the rain poured down, I resurrected my interest in my blog on ‘WordPress’ and tried (very hard) to sort it out.
I removed a lot of the pages of information that I had gathered over the years and was going to put them back on under Archive. To-day I did just that with much head scratching.
So if you are interested there is a new page with old stuff. None of it edited and maybe some doubling up, but at the moment it is live.
I have a button to shift but ‘WordPress’ wont let me, in the meantime if you click on this link here:
Archives you will find your way to the new/old pages. Or on the menu bar.
Lots of interesting things to look back on and hopefully I will find the time to go through them and update some of my musings.

The picture below is of my old friends from Northern Ireland, Jim and Eddie, back in the good old days, many, many happy memories of their visits.

I have just spent the day sorting out photos and my diary from 2003, not the easiest job due to my filing system, which is non existent. But I got there. Pouring rain for most of the day, it has been a very wet summer despite tales of drought down South. But I would rather have the rain.

For a link to my latest new page click here: From May 2003

Here we are in August already, Autumn is nearly upon us and despite daily warning of the end of the world due to the extremely hot and now drought summer in the South, we have had rain all summer.
In fact it feels like as bad as any bad summer on Rona. The only difference is that we do not get the wind as we did whilst living on the Island.
It has been a busy summer here at Camastianavaig and good that we do not have the responsibility of an Island hanging over us. We like the freedom.
However, Steve, the new Rona man has no butcher yet and as Rona Venison is very popular he requested that we visit and process stags that had been shot the previous week by the new Stalkers.

We said it would be our last time as we have found that retirement brings new commitments and we do not like to be away too long from home. But we were happy to help out and so it was that we headed over to Rona on the Monday 13th of July for the last time.

The weather was splitting the sky and we arrived in the middle of the installation of the new pontoon. We had to land at the old pier which was interesting but the tide was perfect, Tommy C berthing expertly.
Strange it seemed to me that in the same sunny weather this is what I was doing 23 years previously. My next blog May ’03 Onwards was the start of the real push for me to get the pontoon shore base and anchoring points finished in May with a planned installation date in July 2003.
Of course the new owners do not need to re-do the concrete work as the shore connections were there but I was told that it was a major refurbishment including shore based infrastructure.

Another surprise was seeing a brand new JCB outside the larder, the old one I bought through the late Hugh MacKay, sitting beside it, looking tired and rusty, had done sterling work and at £10,000 a decade ago, it was a bargain carrying out many tasks.

We had ‘Escape’ cottage as the workies for the pontoon had the other. We were told they are not being let this year but hope to next year. They are missed by our regulars for sure. With weather that we had no wonder, blue skies and 25° was always the dream for our visitors. But butchering deer in that heat certainly had its challenges. Apart from that the sun/heat was causing trouble with the generator/solar set up for Steve. The chill had been off due to the inverter tripping out, but with very similar previous scenarios I could point Steve in the direction of finding a solution.

Without going into too much detail, basically there was too much power and the system was struggling to cope with the configuration, I suggested running the genny up at the garage as we did back in the day to free up the main power and this worked with a wee bit of TLC. (I have since heard that the system has given further headaches and is due to be replaced).

Now that is what I call a fat stag. Perfect summer venison and hopefully those that bought it enjoyed it.
I read in the paper that there is to be a larder for venison built on Raasay, not before time, we have supplied Raasay House with venison for years. I did read that it was the first of its kind in the area, SORRY, The Rona larder was built many years ago!!!!!! and has hundreds of carcasses through it. But good luck to them and we wish them well with their endeavour.

Thank goodness Lorraine came. She had thought to stay at home initially. Despite needing a hip operation and has been waiting patiently now for weeks she decided to come along and we worked long hours to butcher 4 stags in our allocated time. Labelling, burger making and most importantly cleaning all adds to the day. But once it was over it was really lovely to sit outside the holiday cottage we renovated, looked after for all of these years and enjoy a drink, in the sun, no midgies!!!!!

And so it was that it came to an end. Our last trip. It was fun but hard work, interesting to see all the new changes and to not be responsible.
We left on the Wednesday evening in glorious sunshine, I wondered when it was that we actually connected our pontoon, I checked when I got home, it arrived on the 16th of June whilst Dorte (the owner) was on Rona.

Just over a month later DJ and Donnie from the local fish farm arrived to connect it. They had previously laid the moorings and a few hours later the job was done. More on this in my “Early Life on Rona” Coming soon.

A few young guys in these photos, all I remember is that the boys lifted it on and were gone in no time, I remember how much it cost too for the lift, not a lot. Good guys.

On our way off Rona last July the Gael Force engineers were just completing their weeks work. I hope it survives a couple of hurricanes like our home made effort did and lasts 23 years, it will do well.

The next blog post will be May until August I hope, finding the time in this retirement (like it was on Rona) is the challenge!!!!

I have just spent a few hours too many setting up a system to go through the diaries and photos together, only for the printer/scanner to spit the dummy. Ah well, here we go with April 2003 Onwards. On this link I have managed to get to May.

Lots going on.

To get there: April 2003 Onwards

Here is the latest offering from my diary. January to March 2003 I am pleased that I took advice from my friend George Sutherland when I started working on Rona that I should write a diary every day. I had a diary prior to Rona and noted things but never detailed it like my Rona days. This has proved invaluable so far. A reminder and memories of what happened, day to day.

An early picture of a few cows from the Rona Fold at Dry Harbour. The Black one had disappeared by the time I arrived. Interesting that this must have been taken pre 2000, the corner of the Mission House shows no sign of renovation.

All for now:

January to March 2003

Whilst searching for a book out in garage where the remaining removal boxes are, (still to be unpacked). I came across two small albums of early days on Rona, mostly 2002.

So I have posted them on the : Early 2002 page. click on the link.

I wish I had found them when I started this early history of my life on Rona but I can always edit it. In the meantime enjoy a part of 2002 through these ‘found photos’!

I received an email last week whilst I was caretaking at Braemore Estate, which lies half way between Garve and Ullapool. A stunning location.
The email was from one of my old friends asking, What are you up to, I miss hearing about the day to day goings on of Rona?
That is now history for us I am afraid.
It was difficult to find the time to put together a blog post when I was working, now retired, like everyone says, where did I find the time to work!!!!
Again because every day seems to pass too quickly, it is proving difficult to get going with my latest blog project, which starts at the beginning of Rona Life, with the Summer of 2002 .
But here is a wee update of what we are up to, starting with last week.

Braemore

We are retired we think, but we like to find a bit of time to ‘keep our hand in the game’. Wayne the Stalker and day to day manager needed cover last week so that he could get away . We were happy to oblige and hope to have a few weeks on other Sporting Estates doing the same until every year until we are not fit for this type of work anymore.

Of course we loved the views on or from Rona, the view from our old house was stunning, but you know, Scotland is so beautiful. There are many other places that just take your breath away. This week provided these views with the lovely Spring weather a bonus. It was a cold week though.

Nothing changes, deer arrive at night around the house and all sorts of wildlife are knocking about, with many Red Listed species resident. Around the policies it is buzzing with birdlife, along the road I saw two Black Grouse one early morning outing, that was special. Red and Sika are on the forest edges in the early/late hours.

I have taken up cycling, not much call for pushbikes on Rona, although we did try. There are so many things we sacrificed to live there, surprisingly cycling was one of them.
Every morning whilst there I cycled along the Dundonnel road, it was thankfully quiet and I hoped to get 10k every day, only one day below, even in the rain.

On most days there were campervans in every layby. It is a busy road by 10am for, but pretty peaceful on the Estate not far from the main Garve/Ullapool road.

One of the special things on Braemore are the ‘Vicars’. Most of the rabbits that frequent there have white bands around their necks, hence ‘Vicars’! They arrived many years ago. I have heard that rabbits like these were bred with coloured rabbits for one sole purpose. When rabbits were a major problem for farm and forestry, everything was tried to make it easier to control them. Breeding with coloured rabbits them easier to spot and obviously kill.
I think a lot of Ecologists that knock around the Highlands nowadays, cannot imagine what it used to be like back in the day, those oldies, like myself, that remember the fields of rabbits, do so with affection. For me much of the wildlife that is struggling just now, from Wildcats to Capercaillie are all down to the lack of Rabbits.
When the Rabbit began to disappear due to Myxomatosis then the horrible Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease (RHD / RHD2), the Wildcat suffered for sure. Other predators that fed on rabbits turned their attention to what was left. There is certainly not the same predator control to-day that there used to be and the results of that are plain to see. We are where we are but for me the coutryside would be the better having some rabbits, like the ‘Vicars’ of Braemore.
Ah well.

Of course we had to earn our keep and the main event was splitting logs into stove size blocks. The thing I enjoyed most was doing this for hours, without a break or thinking of the other hundred jobs that need doing. I will leave that to Wayne but I know how he feels, like I used to on Rona (most of the time), he is single handed and it is constant. So we were pleased to give him a break, without all the responsibility.
With nothing else to bother me and only one walker with his dog passing by, off the lead of course, we had perfect peace.
I would have loved to have done more but was pleased to complete the firewood and a few more things on the ‘long’ list.

There were plenty jobs aside from firewood as there always is on Sporting Estates. But all too soon our week came to an end and it was back to Skye to attend the garden at Camastianavaig.

On Wednesday I am off to Rona for three days, I expect this will be my final visit. Some Deer work with Steve, I look forward to it. It is not the same going there now, the passion is gone. Folk ask us how we feel now we have left, do we miss it. Well we missed something, but could not put our finger on it.until last Friday night.
We miss the folk we knew through Rona (Well most of them!!!!). Definitely the deer.

On Braemore Friday night around 6 pm the sun splitting the sky, I sat outside the larder taking in the view it came tro me what it was that I missed.

Every Deer Larder should have a bottle of Whisky, tradition is to toast the deer culled, so a quick rummage, I found a bottle of Cairn Dhu, a lovely dram.
I poured a generous measure and sat there taking in the view, it hit me then that this is what I miss!! Not the whisky, there is plenty of that, it was the solitude, no people, no hassle. Peace and quiet.

Although Camastianavaig is far from busy, the silence that we used to have on Rona was there at Braemore, these are special places, a gift to live and work in.

A Life On A Remote Island

For the latest part of my story on my life on Rona click on the link: Winter 2002 Latest

Summer 2002
Winter 2002
Winter 2002 latest

Chapter 2: 2003

On the 4th of April 2002 I was sent to Rona to put up a fence around the renovated, ‘Mission House”, at Dry Harbour on the Island of Rona.

My sister was working on the Island at that time for Qinetic at the Base (100 Acres) at the North end of the Island. So I was aware of what was going on although through the lens of visiting MOD staff,
I was intrigued. The pictures below show the MV Brigadoon loaded with furniture, mainly beds, and building material in, what I later learned was the ‘Tin Can Boat’. Robin Dixon the then Factor and his trusted worker, Johnny Buchanan met me at Portree Pier, we loaded up the boat, John had picked up from the South, the holiday cottage furnishings but did not sail with us.

It was a beautiful sunny, calm day and on the way over I found out that the current Caretakers were on the point of leaving but I was not there to replace them, soley to put up the new fence. My sleeping bag and some basic stores, plus tools for the job was all I had. An interesting job.

I see from my 2002 diary that this was a recce and I left the next evening, just a flying visit to assess the job, quantify materials and make a plan for staying longer next visit.
At this time I had Lymes desease, I was struggling with it and had reduced my squad to myself, ocassionaly my son Iain would help me. I had a fairly large squad doing all aspects of forestry work, contracting to Scottish Woodlands (Dingwall) but my health meant I could no longer run a big squad so I was reduced to doing small easily managed contracts, it suited me but there were some days where Lymes won and nothing happened.

I had arrived at Dry Harbour on that day in 2002, my first sight of Rona was the pretty bare rocky place at the top of Raasay. As all the cargo was for Dry Harbour, given the tide, it was easier to unload there. I saw Big Harbour that evening, when I visited the caretakers, Ray and Mary. Coming over the hill on a beautiful calm sunny evening to find this lovely harbour.

It was an old camera so excuse the pictures, in fact they may not be mine!! But here we have Big Harbour, the Brigadoon leaving, James MacKinnon and his son, the building contractor from Ardrishaig in front of the very muddy Mission House, Ray and Mary in front of Rona Lodge then Dry Harbour on the Thursday evening 4th April ’02. I took that one.

So the adventure began, I left the next evening, excited to be coming back and little did I know what the future would bring.

So It Begins: The First few Months

This next bit is a bit of a blur, it was a long time ago. Ray and Mary had decided to leave and by the time I had returned to my home outside Dingwall, I had been asked if I would stand in until they found someone for Rona whilst putting up the new Mission House fence and all the other tasks.

One of the main attractions apart from getting off the merry go round of my life was that I saw a way of slowing down and coping with the fatigue and illness that was later to turn out to be ‘Lymes”. Sounds strange to go to a remote Island to do so but my gut feeling was that in the short term a change of scene would be good.

Instead of packing for a week or so I then packed for an unknown time. Fencing tools, food and clothes in the bag, I was off to Rona for the forseeable future. The main job after that was ongoing maintenance and helping James MacKinnon the builder with the completion of the Mission House.

This was a new experience for sure, everything depended on weather and boats, the ferry at the time was MV Brigadoon, ran by local hotelier Peter Urquhart, he had been involved with Rona for several years. There were novel ways of bringing out equipment and as I was to find out (very quickly) we were never stuck, unless the wind decided otherwise.

When I went over for my second visit I had a feeling Rona was for me, I got in touch with the factor and put a proposal to him, he quickly came back and we agreed that I would stay for three months then take it from there. The Lodge needed knocked into shape and I could not do it alone, I called my Stalking partner George and asked if he fancied a wee holiday, little did he know that his holiday would be a week of hard graft to which I was very grateful. Back in the day Ali Noble a local guy was running boat trips on a RIB and he offered to drop George and his wife Muriel off. The MV Brigadoon must have been ‘tied’ up.

As I said dealing with tides, weather and the sea was completely new to me but you find out very quickly, hopefully not by too many mistakes. The middle picture was my first boat (no engine) the first ‘Tin Can’. It was used for towing material out and in and I left it floating full of rubbish bags by the slip, in the morning it was not floating!!! It was sitting pretty precarious, luckily it did not tip over.

Around this time, early May, I had my first yacht arrive ‘SV Providence’, the one in the picture belonged to Pam and Kevin Simmister who later became our ferry folk. At the time they were offering sailing tours. They were regular visitors.

I had quite a few visitors of my own during the intial period, but only for short spells, my companions were Choppy and Lady, my spaniel and pointer, they are no longer with us although I could write a blog on their adventures. Suffice to say it was a great place for dogs to be, my other pals were the small herd of Highland Cows that I inherited. I had worked with cattle so they were of no real concern but wondered initially, Why are they here? More on them later.

One of my first visitors to the newly (mostly) complete ‘Mission House’ was Konia Tack, my German night school teacher from Inverness, her husband Abdullah and a friend. They came over to try out the cottages and pass opinion. The weather was really lovely, a feature the whole of this year. It drew me into a false sense of West Coast weather, it was a good start weather wise.

At that time the power was from a generator which ran 8am until 10pm, I thought that was a waste so I campaigned for batteries and an inverter, which was duly okayed but there was no storage, the only way to get some was to build it and so my first building project started. The genny shed.

I had a memorable day bricklaying, during blistering hot weather, shorts no T shirt, I stepped off the scaffold into mid air, my back was not in good shape after falling against the wall. One of many lives I managed to use up in my years there.

Getting near the end of my three months there it became very obvious that the owners needed someone permanently on Rona, there were many visitors, yachts, kayakers, day trippers and motor boats. I felt that nothing would stop people being inquisitive and so I was proven to be correct in the future. It was about this time that I think nature tourism really took off. I guess ‘Rewilding’ was just around the corner and although there was and has been many West Coast marine tours, there has been a huge increase in my time. The ‘Right to Roam’ is a good thing if people abide by the rules, respect peoples place and leave no trace, my experience is far from that and the one thing I cannot to this day get my head round is how Commercial Boat operators think they can dump their paying guests on someones property, contribute no financial benefit and do what they like. They were not all bad, but some just never got it, right up until ther end, (Picture of Boat for information!!!)

I reached the end of my three months ‘Trial’ period and the owners, Dorte Jensen, Arne Fremmich and their youngest two came over for a few days holiday in July. It was an interesting visit and my first experience of Danish hospitality. We got on very well, whisky was involved and I could tell that I was working for good folk. They had a good sense of humour and were pretty laid back. Plans were made and I started to look forward positively to the future.

Summer Part 2

After many months of trying to start something new on the blog, I have had a few hours to-day so I decided to take a look at the Blog and I have forgotten how to use it, suffice to say I got there, I think.

My first post of the new page ” A life on a Remote Island” is above, I will continue my writings and memories on the page, link below, comments very welcome.

So here is a new page: https://isleofronalog.com/a-life-on-a-remote-island/

Hopefully I will find the time to continue to scan old photos and delve into my 23 years on the Island.
The old posts are all still there in the archive, sorry my tagging (whatever that may be, should have been better). But it is a good place to go for old news.

However this new page/posts will cover the time from 2002 until the time I started the blog and who knows maybe after, I might post the things I could not say when I worked there!!!!

Oh! and By the way, we were back in February 2026 finishing up the Deer Management culling hinds, great ten days, nice to be back as a worker, no responsibility but the usual issues, Water woes!!!!

Excuse me for my absence, but we have been extraordinary busy for some reason!!

So excuse me again for re-posting a facebook post I put up when we left Rona but it is a start. Our move to Camastianavaig has been good and we love it here. It is very strange being retired but we are getting the hang of it. More later as we try to catch up. What is the future for the Isleofronalog? I don’t know to be honest but I think I will look back from the start of our tenure on Rona and post some historical stuff. Watch this space.

Yesterday was the day. After 23 years on Rona it was time to say goodbye. It was a bit of a rush at the end so we had no time to contemplate. We have had numerous boatloads of our belongings and to-day we are struggling to find a space for a lot of it. But we will get there.

It was a stunning day and very nice to leave Rona feeling emotional for sure but lucky to have had the opportunity to live there for so long.

Dan and Tommy picked us up on MV Stardust for the last load of belongings, then off for a very calm sail back to Portree. Sea Eagles, Dolphins and lots of Seabirds were with us right up to Portree Harbour. Not to mention the G n T Tommy had stashed in the bottom drawer.

It has been a blast, some trying moments but overall a great experience. What now? Who knows. We will see what the weeks ahead bring.

We would just like to take the opportunity to thank those that helped us. Too many to list but you know who you are. It would not have been possible without you, sadly some no longer here but never forgotten.

Thank you all and thank you Rona.