I took an awful lot of photographs in my life on Rona. Shoving them into albums was easy but in my usual chaotic style, there was little thought to the future and timelines. So what we have here are multiple books with several sets of pictures of the pontoon installation or the Red Deer introduction spread over these books.
This is proving difficult, will I take one from this book or one from that book. NO! Sit down on a day like to-day (pouring rain) and sort the photos out. My diary as much as my scribbles are ineligible are helpful, I missed stuff but sometimes it rings a bell and I have an AHHA! moment.
I will start with my duties and it is a long list, during the first full summer on Rona.
Portree School had a couple of visits, I think this may have been the second one with Catriona Matheson and Rebecca MacKay looking after the schoolchildren. Disembarking before the pontoon was finished as the new pier was under construction.
Here is the list of duties with various galleries to follow, if you get through this. But it does highlight the different aspects to working on an Estate (even more with off grid on an Island).
In no particular order: Pontoon construction, Concrete work, Shuttering, Moorings install, Making Picnic Tables, Dealing with Schools, Kayakers, Yachties, Landingcrafts, Creating a camping area, Fencing, Builder Work, Stock (Cattle, Deer), Paperwork, Cleaning Cottages, Transfer of Guests, BnB, Pathwork, Meetings On and Off Rona, Workparties, Contractors, Deer Re-Introduction, Vehicle Maintenance, Visit to and from the MOD Base, Stamps and Postcards, Forestry Work, Water Supply, Painting, Firewood, Power System Maintenance, Dealing with Newspaper Reporters, Creating a Website and the odd day off.
Of course there are things I have missed, on looking through my diary for this time all of the above were mentioned. I could fill pages on the minutiae of working on Rona, but you would get bored, needless to say I was never bored.
I lived alone at this time but Summer 2003 was particularly busy, I started taking a note of boat numbers and yacht nights. In the early years they were often around the 400+ day/night visits, mostly between April/September. Latterly and I suspect since the ipad became the navigating tool these totals dropped despite 5 moorings installed later during my tenure.
I would like to say this is Yacht Jandara, Hamish Haswell Smith’s yacht with partners, but it is not. However he did visit on the 13th of June and I invited him and crew for tea. An interesting man who drew a wonderful view in no time looking out my window, but sadly he shut his book and put the picture away. I thought it was for me, disappointment. His books are legend, his research amazing and always updating. He came back years later, I have a photo of this visit and I may just find it. Interesting that in June we were well ahead with the pontoon shore base.
In this picture of the 22nd of June we have Freddie King, late landlord of the Badachro Inn on the rocks after drifting into the harbour and causing all sorts of concerns. I had no boat but spoke to the charter boat owned by David Leaver who went along side and discovered that Mr King was incapacitated.
The order of the pictures are not so good but you will see the story. The lifeboat was called because no one could make any sense of Mr King, but he ‘came too’ outside Portree and wanted to continue sailing but as an ambulance was called so he had to buckle down. My first RNLI rescue.
Shortly after on June 25th an elderly yachtsman cut his leg on a stanchion and bled profusely, he was I remember 74 yo. His wife was not the sailor so a neighbouring yacht the famous “Morag Mhor” owned by Pat Barron from Perthshire took charge of the situation and took the yacht out of the harbour after lifting the anchor for the gentleman’s wife, towed his dinghy behind and pointed it in the direction of Portree. He rowed back into Big Harbour. The RNLI was called again and met the yacht half way, another exciting day.
Work on the pier continued, guests arriving by the old pier and plenty of them. I remember the cost of a cottage for one week was around £385.00. Sometimes the guests wanted to muck in and JB & Tina were some of the first. Both RAF, JB had just come back from Afghanistan, I remember he was in logistics but had seen some pretty tough stuff, Tina worked in England and was pretty high ranking, I think she was a Squadron Leader but cannot be sure although she said she had never flown a plane!!! I wish I could remember their last name, it will be in the old computer, somewhere. They came twice and I also met up with Tina in London a couple of years later when she worked in Whitehall, it was an interesting night with her MOD pals. We declined the invite to Ronnie Scott’s.
Work parties were another idea that we were encouraged to take on. The St Kilda Club was made up of supporters and those with a keen interest in St Kilda Of course there is a huge interest in this Island out there in the Atlantic. Rona’s story may not be so dramatic but it was along the same lines and was basically abandoned around 4 years before St Kilda. Work Parties had been going to St Kilda with the National Trust for decades and I put a post up somewhere looking for volunteers. Surprisingly I had a huge response but the first party was low key so that I could gauge if I could handle it.
Jess from Kent, Julie from Norfolk and Hugh from Glasgow (all St Kilda Club folk) duly arrived, stayed in the Lodge with me and had a really fun week working away at various projects. They kept me right on the ins and outs of workparties, food and logistics, they all came back the following year with a bigger party but work for me got too busy and I could not cope with managing the work party part of it. It was a good thing to do, health and safety/public liability raised it’s head and that put paid to the volunteers.
I have already talked about the re-introduction of Red deer onto Rona. Although I have another page with the story, having found new pictures and now with the attitude of some so called conservationists to deer, this re-introduction takes on a new meaning. Therefore a new interpretation. A link will be posted here soon.
Suffice to say the deer were in the field in front of the Lodge, I think for three months and the rain had been steady for a lot of it, they were getting tormented by flies too so I decided to let them out. The gate was left open after feeding and they slowly saw they had freedom but hesitated going out into the unknown.
A bit nervy for me as I had paid £2500 for these deer and here I was letting them go. But that was the whole idea. A food source, mowers to keep the vegetation down, our visitors loved them, their story and finally when their population became higher, culling would need to take place, that would provide an income. A win win situation for us on Rona.
Needless to say when Forest Enterprise employee Donald MacLeod walked up the road off the boat to inspect the regeneration he nearly had a fit when he saw a field of Red Deer, that is another story.
Dorte, with her friend Tove, her youngest son and daughter came around the end of July to visit, the weather was stunning. We had lots of fun, we had arranged for the pontoon and gangway which was built ahead of schedule to be delivered, that done, we all left the next day.
I took the party to Glasgow Airport and we stayed in Tomdoun Hotel, it was the warmest night of the year and poor Mathias had to share a room with me, I snored!!! Next morning after a superb breakfast we headed off and on the way Dorte told me how he ended up owning a Scottish Island.
That I see is the end of July which takes me into the next post.
I have just realised after sharpening and editing all the photos here to make them better that I actually uploaded the originals, apart from the last adjusted two!!!! But I am not going back.
Coming up soon, August onwards.