I am in touch with the new Manager on Rona, he is doing a lot of ‘improvements’ one of which is a new pontoon. Fair and fine, I find it interesting that 23 years ago I was doing exactly the same. To-day on Rona a brand new JCB 3CX arrived WOW!! He is doing better early doors than me.
Anyway I digress. January 2003 unfolded with lots on, a new pontoon was to be found or built, a new gangway and a host of other things were underway. planning had taken shape over the past three months with many emails, calls and fact finding missions off Rona.
I see from my diary that I had lots of general duties, feeding cattle, finishing the cottages off, fencing, forestry work respacing birch, firewood, trapping, generator issues (many) and fuel delivery disasters.
I also started to think about local carriage stamps as a way of generating money for the Island. Strange to think that only 20 or so years ago stamps and stamp collecting was a big thing. Soon not to be!!!!
Jeff Harris the owner of the Island of Pabay off Broadford had been in touch suggesting such a stamp scheme but let us leave that one just now, it is a long story. Suffice to say I set the ball rolling and asked artist Marion MacPhee from Skye, who just happened to be my nephew’s partner to put something together or make suggestions for art work. They visited and caught the Island’s atmosphere, were good company and I went over to her studio at Waternish a few times in January.
When George, my relief was on Rona we did a little prep’ work for the new pier and pontoon, or at least he did when I took off to Germany. I had been planning visiting my German hunting friends, a brief visit over a few days was filled with very German hunting trips, a busman’s holiday for sure.
I did not shoot this boar, I just mentioned that I would like to see one, (lost in translation). I was taken to Bruno Schmidt’s house where he had a chill and had shot this small boar the previous evening. Very interesting as was the hunting world of Germany, a real education and my friends looked after me very well.
Returning home via Tain where I picked up the quad, it needed major repairs and they were beyond my capabilities.
Back in the day there were no real suppliers in Portree, MacDonalds the Builders had a small hardware store and Peter there was always helpful, but there was no ATV supplier or mechanic. So Robertsons of Tain was my agent and had been for years. M V Brigadoon was a versatile craft for sure.
Diesel fuel was a regular on the boat, but we continually had issues with dirty fuel and by good fortune I discovered why, but it took a while and many filters by then. Hay for the cattle and cobs were also regular deliveries. Crofters on Skye used to wonder why I fed cattle when there was so much forage.
The previous caretakers fed them at the door of the Lodge and there the cattle stood waiting, shitting and for me to stand in it. So the feed was to take them away from that habit, although they only stopped coming to the back door when I put them on the landing craft a few years later. Once you have stood in a fresh cowpat with your slippers on going to the shed in the pitch dark, you do not want to do that again.
After Germany I took advantage of the quiet time (with visitors) and went to Harris to see my Sister and her partner Ricky before the end of the this spell. They lived in Leverburgh Harris at the time. The weather was breezy but lovely and I enjoyed a lovely break there.
The walks on the beaches were stunning and not a campervan in sight, oh how things change.
Quite stunning rollers were coming in.
Over the fence at my sisters just away from the houses I walked Choppy, my English Pointer, two seconds on the moor, twenty metres from the fence he went on point, Grouse, a covey got up flushed by my spaniel (out of the picture) that was something, so close to habitation and a sign of how undisturbed it was, back in the day.
Back to Rona via the Caley Hotel Portree. Two nights there waiting for the storm to subside, this was one of many stays there in (Peter Urquhart) our ferryman’s hotel. I got back eventually, landing on the old slip. Now with pontoons on Rona, folk forget that we were totally tide dependant and there was no point in going when you could not land, very frustrating to have a good day turn to poor weather then the tide to drop, it did not happen often but very frustrating all the same.
At that time we used to radio fishing boats and if they were going to Portree or coming to Rona we would get folk on board, that was a great help as fishing boats did not care about weather (mostly). But they could be eventful trips.
January merged into February with much the same format. The cottages were coming on, one was finished but pretty rustic, the other well on its way. I found photos from the build, when I first arrived I could not believe the situation that the builders were in, bothy does not describe it. But they seemed happy. One night was enough for me with the mice and filth!!!!!!!
The Mission House before the slates went on, the master bedroom of the old Seascape cottage which was the bedroom and dining, pretty basic. They were tough guys used to it from the many remote jobs they seemed to land.
The Skyescape side above, supposedly finished, we actually rented it out like this. Ah well, all in the past.
There seems to have been a lot of work off the Island according to my records in February/March. Visits to the Enterprise board with Callum MsacPherson and Mary Carmichael, meetings with the late Sandy Coull down at South Kessock, Highland Smiddy, as his obituary said, A Legend!!!! The engineer that built our gangway, Eddie Stancliffe, Eishort Marine in Broadford, more stamp meetings, architects and in March a Heritage Fair where we were asked to have a stall with Rona history and where we were going to take the Island. I cannot remember the young girl’s name, she was a good help. Hazel Rae to the left in the photo came to work with us but off the Island at that time and also helped, a good day, good promotion and an invite to talk about Rona, at the Portree Historical Society later in the year.
The work continued with James MacKinnon the builder returning with his squad, the Mission House was almost completed, by the end of March, I finished it. New cills and glass in the Lodge windows, pretty poor after ten years but a sign of the wear and tear Rona’s weather could throw at it. The bothy by the shore got a makeover, new beds and a room for the builders were constructed (never cosy).
The Mission House formerly two cottages had issues, a real problem was the fires back to back. I spent hours trying to get them to work but all to no avail. The blow back was horrible, with dense smoke filling the newly painted rooms. I tried everything (with advice) but I had no success. Nothing for it but to break it open and see what was what. Because it should have worked no problem.
I cannot remember when I did it but a friend (John Chilton from Dudley of all places) with experience of chimneys visited. He said the only way to get it to work was break into the chimney breast. This we did. Whereupon we found that ‘someone’ had placed a building block in the cavity basically allowing only a little smoke away. We took it out, rebuilt it, never had another problem. Just another crisis dealt with.
That is us at the end of March, the weather was improving, lots more just about to happen. The days were longer and the summer was on the horizon.
Coming soon, April until the end of Summer 2003.