One word? When seven would do…

We’re not WWOOFing anymore!

I’m not really ready to reflect on the end of the WWOOFing adventure yet although to all intents and purposes we have actually WWOOFed our last days work today. I think if I’ve learnt anything this year it is never say never and you just don’t know what the future may hold. So there is every chance that despite best laid plans we may end up WWOOFing again sooner or later. I think a sentimental post is in order but I’m not in the mood for that right now and I think a bit of distance is essential to even start trying to sum up this year so far.

So I’ll write an account of today for todays sake and come back to the rest of it at some point, probably in the not too distant future.

This morning we were clearing more bramble in preparation for fencing, this time next to the pigs. Ady and I have not actually spent that much time working together at this host so it was quite nice to have a second day of that; talking, planning for the future and generally being silly. I’ve long considered Ady and I one of the happiest couples I know anyway but this year has certainly been lovely spending so much time together.

We finished that just before lunchtime so went down to catch up with the kids who were in the byre making birthday cards for the boy who’s party they will miss tomorrow. The party has a pirate theme so they had made treasure map style cards using tea bags to age the paper and screwing it up to make it look tatty. I was really impressed J

Neil was back for lunch which was all very sociable and then we were tasked with putting in the corner posts for the fencing in the holes we’d dug yesterday. This involved baling out water with a bucket, lifting the posts into place and then mixing up a dry mix of sand and cement to pack in around the posts – the water will rise up again to set the mix. It also involved driving around the very boggy, bumpy field in the 4wd pick up which I got to do and was lots of fun J And very muddy J

After work we hung out with Neil in the kitchen chatting. He’d looked out loads of crofting literature for us to look over and spent ages talking to us about business plans, crofting ideas, grants and subsidies and more. The kids were off playing with Struan. We started planning a route back to Sussex and have hopefully got a campsite earmarked for Thursday night and a stay at Lynda’s on Friday night before arriving on Saturday at my parents. I’ve emailed Jill an update on our plans and to check we’re still on for heading there January & February.

This evening has been really nice – a really long chat with both Neil and Sue about our plans, whether our Home Ed status and insistence we stay that way will harm our chances of getting the croft on Rum. The fact that various islanders have expressed an interest in us staying on Eigg and we have been encouraged to add our names to the list of interested potential crofters here too if we decide Rum is not for us or we don’t get in, which is always nice to be told.

It’s been a really good WWOOF experience here – quite aside from falling in love with Eigg and the island life, Neil & Sue have been kind and caring hosts, the accommodation is fab, the food has been nice, the kids have loved playing with Struan and meeting the other island kids, the firework night and games room evenings were ace and the work has been varied and we have learnt new stuff. If it ends up being the stepping stone to our eventual next big move and we become crofters on an island ourselves it will become our most influential host too but even taken on the time we’ve spent here alone it’s still been a real favourite host for us all.

Tomorrow morning will be tidying up the byre and packing, then heading down to the pier to get the boat back to Mallaig. It all feels a bit unreal really.

Dinner last night was interesting – Sue had left us a recipe and ingredients for dinner which I cooked – vegetable lasagne. Oh the irony of being the one cooking something containing beans AND lentils. Oh and cottage cheese too which I have previously never eaten solely based on the fact it looks far too much like a certain male bodily fluid being enough to put me off. It was actually very nice and the flavours merged sufficiently to mask the lentils or beans. I did spill a load of lentils though so retain my dislike for them!

After dinner we headed back to the byre early and were all in bed trying to catch up on sleep by about 10pm. I had a succession of very random dreams which were clearly all sorts of things floating round my head though so although I slept for a decent amount of hours I didn’t really wake feeling rested.

First thing this morning we fed the chickens and ducks and then headed down to the pigs with Neil as we were moving the electric fence to include the old hen house which Ady had pig-proofed last week for them to get shelter from the colder weather and also to be closed into in their last week or so to fatten up. This proved to be an easier job than I think anyone was expecting and we were done fairly speedily. The next job was fencing at which point the kids faded away as they often do once the interesting stuff has been done. They have really enjoyed it here and spent lots of time drawing in the byre when we are not doing something they want to join in with. Having their own space to retreat to has been great.

The fencing basically entailed digging holes – a metre deep and a shovel and a half in width. First we had to clear a load of brambles and then we dug a hole each. Ady is stronger but I probably have more in the way of technique although that was hotly debated ;). We stopped for a cup of tea and then went back to clear more brambles. Neil had gone to the pier as there were boats due in this morning so he was off collecting food, post and shopping. After we’d enthused at the meat based soup for lunch (our only meat so far here) yesterday he’d very kindly bought us all a peppered steak slice for lunch although it was very peppery and the kids just ate the pastry in the end. It was very funny when Tarly took her first slurp of the soup yesterday and exclaimed ‘Mummy! Meat!’ 😆

After lunch we dug two more holes and then carried a gate across to the lower field and that was us done for the day. We decided the kids could do with some outside time after sitting in the byre for most of the day so we took them, Struan and the dog across to the beach for an hour and were joined by one of the girls Scarlett had been playing with on Saturday night and her puppy. The kids and dogs played in the waves, made dams and generally messed about while Ady took literally hundreds of photos of Rum and the setting sun and walked up and down the beach. Walking on beaches is excellent for clearing your mind, I’ve always done it to aid decision making. Fortunately I’ve always lived near a beach ;).

Back at the house we had dinner and then brought the kids across and read them all the paperwork to do with the croft application process, talked stuff through some more and began discussing business plans and application forms and the kids began designing future bedrooms.

We are going to have to leave here early – the only days the boat goes to Rum for a day trip is Tuesday and Thursday. You can only get from Eigg to Rum on a Monday which means unless we spent money we don’t have right now on staying on Rum for a couple of nights we need to go back to Mallaig (mainland) and then come across to Rum. It seems utterly ridiculous when we can see Rum out of the window of the house here that we can’t get across to it and then back in the same day but on the winter ferry timetable you can’t. The doctor who covers all three small isles has a boat that goes between them and would have been willing to take us across for a few hours while she visits Rum (she lives on Eigg) but her boat is currently not running and awaiting a part which has not yet arrived on the ferry here. Also she would not have been able to take the kids so although Neil said they’d be welcome to stay with him while we were gone we are very keen for them to come and see Rum and the croft sites anyway. This means either we leave here as planned on Friday and then have to hang around Mallaig until Tuesday (no campsites, no facilities in Mallaig so issues with water / toilet / showering etc. and it’s cold! There is a hotel but we can’t afford 4 nights hotel bills) or we leave here earlier than planned – Wednesday instead of Friday and do Rum on Thursday. This has caused all sorts of agonising as although it is only 2 days early it means the kids can’t go to a birthday party for one of the island kids they have made friends with and been invited to on Wednesday and everyone likes it here. Theoretically we could stay here til Monday but there is another WWOOFer arriving Monday and as we don’t work weekends anyway that is just stretching Neil and Sue’s hospitality really so we’ll be leaving Wednesday, meaning tomorrow is our last day / evening.

We’ve emailed the Rum trust and the secretary happens to be travelling on the boat from Mallaig to Rum herself on Thursday, so we’ll spend the boat trip with her, finding out about Rum and the crofts. Then we’ll be met from the boat by the Coordinator and possibly one of the directors to show us the croft site and answer any questions. We then have until December 16th to submit our application and business plan for the croft. The fact we are visiting and will meet these people will hopefully stand us in good stead and give our application a boost. The process from there is based on a points system which I think we should score fairly well on and the feasibility of our business plan and our skills, experience both directly related to land and livestock and other skills too. More to follow on all these things later…

Friday and Saturday

Friday

After breakfast we fed the chickens, ducks and pigs and then were given our direction for the day. This involved Ady going off with Neil for bonfire wood collecting while I was issued with a job list. Davies and Scarlett ticked the first couple of items off it for me by harvesting beans and the last few raspberries while I got cracking with bread making. Inbetween first and second risings of bread I pulled up and weeded the last of the beans, pulled down some netting that the pumpkin and squash had been growing on in the polytunnel, did some weeding in the greenhouse and some more pruning of the brambles. I also dealt with laundry from us and Neil & Sue as the washing machine did it’s thing. I really enjoy playing house here as it is pretty close to how we would like to be living.

Everyone reconvened for lunch which was a loaf of my bread fresh from the oven, then Ady and Neil headed off for a last hour on the wood collecting while I did a bit more weeding and pruning. The others were back by about 3pm and we all stopped to drink tea and chat. Ady and Neil had been to the shop and procured alcohol and fizzy drink supplies for the evening.

Dinner was omelette and chips cooked by Neil after which we walked next door to Mick’s. Mick runs a B&B and camping pod in the season and has set up a sort of micro pub / games room for his punters which he has opened out to all Eigg residents complete with darts board, music, circular pool table etc. We walked over carrying our beers and firewood supply and were joined by Mick and his wife for a riotous evening playing pool, darts, singing along to music and generally hanging out. It was ace J

We returned to our byre at gone midnight, all fullly replete of things we had been missing 😉

Saturday is one of our official days off but as fairly experienced WWOOFers we know no good can come of such things so after breakfast Ady went off with Neil for the ‘Rodeo’ which was all the islanders cows getting rounded up to be checked over, wormed, ear tagged and generally accounted for before many of them go off to the mainland to market.

I stayed behind to help the kids make the guy for tonight which we did with old clothes, baler twine, sawdust and lots of rags. I then decided to head to the beach for a walk and ended up bringing Rosie the dog and all the kids with me. It was great actually, watching Davies and Scarlett on the beach with Struan and the dog while I did plenty of pacing back and forth agonising and cogitating what to do next in life.

We headed back and I left them all to it for half an hour or so while I vomited out a load of words and thoughts that were in my head into a word document before Ady and Neil got home for lunch. Sue had made a very delicious soup for lunch and then we all left for Craft Club which is held in the school house. Davies and Scarlett had been up for going but had hoped Ady and I would stay which I felt would be a pointless exercise for all concerned. In the end Davies bottled out so we left Struan there and the rest of us headed to the pier. Ady helped Neil finish off the bonfire and get the guy to the top while we went to the shop and spent a fortune buying sweetie supplies for the week along with alcohol for tonight and later in the week.

The shop is a real experience, everyone has an account and there is loads of banter and ribbing. There is pretty much nothing you can’t buy in there at sensible prices although the tobacco and alcohol section is by far the largest area. We collected Struan from the school and then Ady, Davies, Scarlett, Rosie, Struan and I got dropped off at the Swap Shop, which is the islands equivalent of freecycle – the old shop now kitted out with hanging rails and tables where anything you don’t want any more gets put ready for someone else who might want it. There was all sorts there; clothes and shoes, books and toys, kitchen stuff and more. We said the kids have one small thing each and Davies found a Rolf Harris cartoon book (with a name of the previous owner in it who we met later in the day and is now grown up with children of his own J ) and Scarlett a little brass duck.

A nice walk back to the house (about a mile and a half) via the other half of the Swap Shop which is a mini museum all about Eigg, the green stuff on the island, the wildlife and a potted history of how people have lived here with pictures, memorabilia and loads of stuff to read written by older inhabitants. It was excellent.

Back at the house we had cups of tea and chats and then an early dinner before heading off back to the pier for the bonfire and fireworks. Everyone went with pockets stuffed with tins of drink, although the tea room which serves as a pub was open. The fire was lit just after 7pm and pretty much the whole community was there gathered round. Someone brought out mulled wine for adults and someone else was taking sweets round for all the kids. We waited for the fire to be roaring and the guy to fall before the fireworks started.

Davies and Scarlett were straight into the gang of kids (there are 12 on the island, so it was 14 with our two – aged from toddlers to 14 year olds) and made friends with them so we barely saw them all evening. The fireworks were excellent and lasted for ages and ages. The kids all roamed off with torches on to the beach and some adults retreated back into the tea room while others stayed around the fire chatting. Someone had brought an old sofa down which started off as seating but got lobbed on the fire at the end. We were introduced to various people and spent time chatting and getting to grips with how everything works on the isles, what people think of Rum, the inevitable discussions about Home Education and our WWOOFing adventure this year. Some really nice, interesting people.

We eventually went in to the tea room where a full scale jamming session was in progress including a banjo, drums, spoons (the guy played spoons at Madonna’s wedding!) and bagpipes. There was plenty of hard drinking going on and after lots more being introduced to people and chatting Sue challenged me to another game of pool. Which I won J We then played couples – Ady and I against Neil and Sue and we won that too J. Much drink was drunk and a good time had by all before heading for home around midnight. The four of us sat up for about an hour talking about whether we want to apply for the croft on Rum and working out what to do next. Loads to think about and discuss…

This morning we walked along to the Singing Sands, about 20 minutes from here, well it should be 20 minute but was more like half an hour there as we had to navigate cows and some very boggy fields, and then nearly an hour on the way back including Struan getting soaked to waist height in a bog!

They are more squeaking than singing but very pretty and we scooped up a bottle full to bring home. I doubt such a small amount will sing much but it’s a nice momento! The kids played and the dog chased waves while Ady and I walked along the sands and talked more. We knew coming here might just change our direction again and indeed it has but we need to leave to get some retrospective perspective and have proper time to talk things through between the four of us. That’s the trouble with getting on rollercoaster rides – you can’t get off until the end and you don’t ever really know where or when that might be.

Back for lunch and then Neil and Sue have taken all the kids off to one of the other islanders which feels a bit strange. Ady and I were not actually invited and it’s been nice to have a couple of hours to have a bath, catch up online a bit and now we need to start cooking dinner.

3rd November

This morning after pig, chicken and duck feeding we were split up. Ady went off with Neil in the pick up to collect wood to take to the pier ready for the bonfire on Saturday night. He also got to meet some of the residents of Eigg, most of whom were already drinking beer at the pier despite it only being about 1030am. There is a bit of a problem with a drink (and drug) culture on the island which is something that we have been told by several people can be an issue everywhere on the west coast of Scotland but certainly in smaller rural communities and some of the islands. From talking to Sue the accepted wisdom is that if you come from a drinking family you are always more likely to drink, the other kids on the island see drinking first hand and are only too aware of the pitfalls, particularly as they know the drinkers well both drunk and sober and are able to use them as examples for not drinking.

Obviously the small islands are pretty lawless – there are no policemen or real laws. Cars are not taxed, insured or MOTd and as everyone is the same there is no need to worry. Accidents are very rare anyway and everyone drives with care and has old bangers that failed MOTs on the mainland anyway. Theft is rarely an issue and gets dealt with between islanders and as communities are tight knit anyone out of order would be dealt with in their own way too. Whether we decide to move to an island or not I am finding the social science study side of this lifestyle absolutely fascinating.

Ady said there was lots of swearing but the people he met seemed nice.

Meanwhile I had been given a fair sized job list to start working through which started with pulling up some fennel which had finished and weeding the bed ready for the next sowing of something. That done I had a choice of jobs but chose to get the nastiest out of the way first which was mucking out the ducks house. Armed with wheelbarrow, shovel, scraper and clean shredded paper to put down I went down to the bottom field which is very boggy and only slipped over once 😉 It was a proper comedy fall though, sliding down a hill with barrow in front of me which I then tried to use to get back up with but failed at least twice before finally getting up and doing a gymnast finish J

It was not too bad a job despite it basically being shit shovelling as duck poo is not that smelly and I’d always rather do such jobs this time of year than in summer. My hair got in my way lots though and I wished I’d tied it back – lesson learnt for tomorrow! I put the scrapings on some rhubarb planted down there for that very purpose, spent some time looking at the pond and the ducks that live down there and then headed back up for the next job and to check on Davies and Scarlett who had slid away while the jobs were being dished out. They have discovered Angry Birds and have been playing that on Ady’s tablet. I am determinedly not discovering it.

Next job was removing some chicken wire off an old ducking run and rolling it back up. Anyone who has ever rolled up chicken wire will know this is rarely a one person job ;). I did get to use my knife to cut it off posts though which made me feel all proper land-worker-y J I am easily pleased.

I had two jobs left on my list – one was weeding a path, the other pruning brambles so I went for the brambles. I made a cup of tea first to take out with me and then got stuck into that job. I quite like pruning, it’s what I imagined hairdressing might be like when I was a little girl, only outside J, I listened to the next door neighbour shrieking and shouting at someone to the point where I decided he must be killing them and perhaps I should go and intervene before hearing ‘come by’ and realising he was either training or using a sheepdog. I waved to the couple of islanders who passed by. I think there are 95 people living here currently which isn’t that many more than have been at youth hostel camps we’ve done.

Ady and Neil arrived home while I was doing that and called tea o’clock so we chatted over tea and then made lunch and called the kids over. We had smoked fish, tomato sauce and rice and it was delicious.

After lunch we all headed along the road to the woods, supposedly to meet another islander with a tractor and trailer to load more wood into. Neil took his neighbour in his pickup and we took their other car along – Ady drove there and I drove back, hurrah I’ve driven J The kids went off into the woods with Rosie the dog and all came back muddy and happy J We gathered huge amounts of wood and pulled it through the mud to one pile easily collectable by tractor and trailer. Except it didn’t turn up. So we came home again.

Ady and I were up for some more pruning but Neil said we’d all done enough and we should have tea and then help prepare dinner instead so we did that. While Ady went off to feed the pigs Neil and I chopped and grated carrots, onions and cabbage and chatted, learning about how we’d met respective partners, why they only have one child, all about Neil’s ex wife and other stuff. Ady is always amazed at the amount of personal information I gather from our hosts. I’m just interested but maybe I do ask too many intimate questions!

Ady and I both had showers which was lovely. I’d washed my hair in the sink at the byre but was close to feeling skanky after duck poo dealings. Then Sue came home and we had dinner. We all chatted and the kids played until 8pm ish when we leave them to it for the night and come back to the Byre for stories and bedtime.

1st November

Wow, first of the month. This time last year the beginning of our adventure was starting to edge ever closer. Now the end is doing the same, although of course it’s only the end of this phase.

After a really good nights sleep we woke with the alarm and headed over to the house for breakfast at 9am. Sue and Struan had already left for school and Neil showed us where everything was before leaving us to it. We all ate and cleared up and then headed off to be introduced to the animals. Aside from the cat and dog there are chickens and ducks. They are not laying at all at the moment so the food bill is not very justified at this time of year. We discussed whether just killing birds off for meat once they stop laying and then buying in new stock in the spring. We also talked about eating birds and best breeds, incubating and letting them hatch their own and so on.

Next was the pigs – they have a sow and a boar here, just growers they got as weaners and will be killed within the next month or so, so will need moving indoors to fatten up / get less exercise / be in place ready for slaughter. The boar is just starting to get more dominant – he is uncastrated and will need to be slaughtered fairly soon before boar taint sets in. This happens when uncastrated males start to produce hormones which taint the meat. I like pigs and although I’d not want to be a pig farmer I would like to keep them for our own consumption,

We walked a bit of the grounds and came down through the next door neighbours croft land shooing some cattle along which roam freely on the common grazing ground and needed moving on. Various people on the island keep cattle and they generally all herd around together. Once we’d got them off the land they all headed off in a group for the beach. Very funny J

Back to the croft where the next job was some fruit bush pruning – blackcurrants and gooseberries. I quite liked doing this as we’d done a fair bit of soft fruit picking earlier in the year at a couple of WWOOF hosts so it is always nice to feel we’ve completed the circle a little by doing some of the work at the other end of the season. Plus I’d not really done much pruning work so it was good to feel I was learning something new. Neill showed us a book with some pruning tips and illustrations and came up with us to show us the first one before leaving us to it.

It poured with rain a couple of times so we sent the kids off back to the Byre to do some drawing / Dsing and Neill told us to go in for a cup of tea if it rained so we didn’t get wet either. He seems very fair with his expectations J

We all had lunch together and then Neill checked we were still up for cooking dinner tonight – Sue and Struan were both out later this evening and we’d offered to cook. He showed us where various things were in the kitchen and said he’d leave it to us. One of the foods that got mentioned last night in conversation was pizza so we decided to do that as an unambitious starting point J Neill said if we were cooking then we could take some time off in the afternoon then and would we like to take the dog for a walk and go and explore the nearest beach? That seemed a very good deal to us and meant the kids got some exercise and time outdoors with us too so I made the pizza dough and we left it to prove and headed out with Rosie the dog.

The nearest beach is literally across the road and down a lane although the ground is pretty hard going and a bit ankle turning and tussocky so it’s slow going. We were out for a couple of hours though playing with the dog in the waves and on the sand, admiring the views – huge waves, Rhum in the background, gorgeous wintery skies with low sun breaking through every so often.

Back at the house we got the dinner sorted and I brought my laptop over for an hours online time uploading my blogpost from last night, posting up some pictures and catching up on emails. If the byre had internet access I think this place would qualify as perfect!

Dinner went down well and the kids spent the evening playing with Struan while we chatted to Sue and Neill about among other things Forest School, WWOOF hosts, intensive farming and community projects. We have even more food for thought now having learnt more about crafting and our heads are rather in a spin with all the different possibilities we have as options. I think Neill will prove a very useful contact and person to know moving forward.

2nd November

This mornings first job was feeding and watering the animals – chickens, ducks and pigs. The kids did that and then Ady and Davies stayed with the pigs to fix some corrugated tin sheets up around the walls of the old henhouse where the pigs are to be moved in as the weather changes to fatten up. Davies spent his time winning over the pigs who had been a little nervous of but was soon standing in the pen with scratching them behind the ears.

Scarlett and I were tasked with bread making – three loaves of our choice. We looked at the flour on offer and went for one mostly white with a little wholemeal, one mostly brown with a bit of white and one malted with grains and some honey. Scarlett did the kneading for one loaf fully and one which I finished off when Davies reappeared to lure her away to play. I got all three in the oven to prove and then headed outside to my next job which was pruning back some honeysuckle and rose that was rather out of control. Neil had told me not to be scared to be tough with it but Ady Destroyer Goddard came along at that point having finished his task and helped which basically meant cutting both back to the ground almost! In the meantime I was in and out on the bread, knocking it back for the second rise and then putting it in to cook. I do like bread making J

Neil came back as we were finishing the pruning and clearing it all away and then we all had a cup of tea while the bread finished cooking. It smelt so nice we decided to have fresh bread and home made jam for lunch rather than the planned pasta. So we ate one whole loaf J Two remaining loaves were there for Sue’s inspection later – Neil had warned me she is rather competitive with her bread making.

After lunch Neil was off to meet the boat coming in today with various supplies so Ady and I were sent next door to strim the grass around the old croft house. Ady strimmed and I raked it up although with it being very windy today that was a bit of a fruitless task. It did complete a full days work for my arms though with bread making in the morning J it’s quite nice to be back to early nights, teetotal living with plenty of exercise and small meals after a week of excess in the holiday cottage.

We’ve had an almost entirely dry day here from rain which has been lovely and the landscape remains ever changing with Rum in the background as a barometer for what might happen next in the weather.

At about 415pm Neil arrived home and we called it a day going in for a cup of tea and to check emails etc. I forgot to upload my blog post from last night so this will probably get tacked on to the end of it. Their internet connection is pretty good for browsing but photos take ages to upload to flickr and I am loathe to reduce the size as we are planning a photo book at the end of the year so I want them all on there at decent quality.

Sue arrived home so we got involved in dinner prep – peeling spuds, grating cheese etc. and chatting. Dinner was mash, cauliflower cheese, veggie sausage patties and carrots from the garden – raw or cooked depending on taste. All very nice.

As always the kids went off to play in Struan’s room while we adults sat and chatted. We’d been talking to Neil lots about crofting which prompted them to ask if we were thinking we’d like to do it. We are and we have also been debating Eigg lots between us. Our only real issue would be with Davies and Scarlett and how home ed would work and how isolated would they be. We talked at great length and after further chats with D & S we are considering putting our names on the list for a croft, of which there will be several coming up in the not too distant future. Still loads to discuss and think about and we have been invited to sit in and observe at a residents association meeting next week and Neil and Sue have already swung into action coming up with ways for us to meet various key residents over the next few days. They met out very provisional idea that this might be for us with great enthusiasm which is both flattering and reassuring although may of course come to nothing at all. We would need to give the whole idea a lot more thought and also come away from here to get some perspective on it all – I think being at my parents will be a great leveller for talking things through with a nice rational thought process. Particularly given we’ve only been here just over 48 hours!

Back in the byre we had some bedtime story and everyone else is now fast asleep while the wood burner crackles and eats up it’s last few logs. I keep peeping out in search of northern lights and having to content myself with the stars of which there are many – no light pollution here J

Monday 31st October

Arriving on Eigg

A slightly stress morning waking to the alarm and rousing sleepy children to get breakfasted, cleared up and out of the van by 930am. Infact due to nervous energy we were out of the van by about 920am. Davies had woken all teary and suddenly decided he needed several more cuddly toys than we could fit in any of our bags, so cried. He then cried again when he snapped at Scarlett for shouting when she was not shouting at all so I did indeed shout at him for being ridiculous. I then shouted at him for crying and then had to cuddle him and make him feel better. Cue yet another debate about whether or not we should actually go to this last host. We all agreed we should but I think each of us was secretly hoping the ferry would be cancelled or the hosts would ring to say they couldn’t take us after all.

Ady was being super efficient, cleaning things and wiping surfaces, none of which needed cleaning or wiping while Scarlett was being sunny and cheery and super helpful, which only served to show Davies in a worse light and make him feel bad about himself. Argh!

So we left, speedily, kids kissing Willow goodbye and all four of us struggling under the weight of super loaded rucksacks. The ferry terminal is literally across the road so we went in, bought tickets, were shocked when the woman asked for way more than we’d been expecting for tickets. We realised she was trying to sell us returns so amended that (returns are only valid for five days so we needed singles). There were several other people in the port who we exchanged smiles and hellos with.

When it came to boarding the kids were really excited to see the replacement craft is a sea-fari boat from Skye, usually used for whale and dolphin spotting. We climbed aboard, got the safety talk about where lifeboards were, life jackets were stashed and told to stay sitting. Most addressed in pirate type speak for the amusement of the kids aboard (our two and a toddler). Technically the boat took 11 passengers but that was fairly tight. The kids were desperate to sit outside so we zipped up our coats and got comfortable. Ady and I had our waterproof leggings stashed in rucksacks and should really have put them on, the kids had decided not to even bring theirs (Scarlett will only wear hers without trousers underneath so whichever way it meant bringing a pair of trousers she will have a stand up row with me over putting on every single time).

A seal came bobbing up close to the boat, almost as if he was saying goodbye just before the engines turned on and then we were off. The going was fairly choppy for the first bit and we very quickly got drenched. It did get calmer for a while but once we were in the open sea it was really very rocky with waves crashing across the boat and getting us soaked. It was like the craziest fairground ride ever! Initially that is very euphoric with the salty water spray and the wind and you feel so very alive and vital and energised. The kids and I were all laughing and cheering and loving it. Ady was less enthused and within about 15 minutes he had declared it madness and gone inside. We lasted a lot longer – I think the journey was 45 minutes in total and we were outside for a good half an hour of it. Eventually though the kids got quieter and started to look rather chilled. I could feel my socks getting wet as water dribbled down my legs and pooled in my boots so in the interests of not getting ill I said we needed to retreat indoors. The kids didn’t argue at all suggesting they were quite happy with this J.

Once inside the true rockiness of the boat became apparent and the toddler (who had spent the whole journey inside her mum’s coat sitting just outside) was throwing up and several people looked very green inside. We’d been chatting to an older woman who lives part time on Eigg but that conversation died too as we all focussed on not being ill. I am a pretty good traveller but even I was starting to work out which side of the boat was closest to dash to if the need overcame me. Just as we were all feeling like we couldn’t manage much longer land was reached and we all staggered off rather shakily.

We were nearly 40 minutes early from the usual landing craft time so hung about in the tearoom / shop chatting to people, used the toilets (there are showers there too), had a quick poke round the shop and read some of the community notice board. Then the kids came into the shop to find Ady and I to say there was someone outside asking for us and Neill had arrived.

We all shook hands, loaded our stuff into the boot of his car and he drove us to their croft – about 2 miles away from the pier. He showed us where we’re staying, in a converted byre and then said he#d leave us to settle in and go and collect his food from the other boat (just cargo) which had followed ours in and to go to the house and make coffee for ourselves once we’d got settled.

We stripped off into dry clothes, made up the beds (a bunk for the kids and a sofa / futon for us), enthused at the plug points – we’d not been expecting electricity! And bemoaned the lack of phone or mifi signal. The byre is an old cattle shed, foot thick walls and tin roof (a bit noisy in the rain) with a cooker, sink, kitchen set up, table and chairs, stock of books, magazines and a wood burner. It’s lovely and cosy and if we only had internet signal it would come very high on our list of best accomodation this year. There is a compost loo right outside (a really nice, clean, enclosed compost loo with very long drop and no smell or risk of critters) and use of shower and washing machine in the house.

We went across to the house for tea / coffee and a sneaky peek around too. It’s a fairly small two bed croft house, upside down style with bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen diner downstairs and a large lounge area upstairs which looks across to the bay with Rumm in the distance. Neill had said he’d be back by 1 at the latest (it was about midday by then) but actually it was gone 2pm when he arrived back so we had a second cup of tea, enjoyed having their cat, Mickey on our laps and read the magazines lying around on the table while reliving the boat trip.

Neill returned full of apologies and made us all beans or cheese on toast which took us to about 330pm. Scarlett really took to him and was asking him all sorts of questions about island life, wildlife, crofting and so on – she was an excellent example of Home Ed J The kids went to play outside with the dog, Rosie for a while and then went back to the byre for a while. Ady and I were given a whistle stop guide to how the WWOOFing works here – Monday – Friday with weekends off. 9am at the house for breakfast to start work for 945ish. Sue and Struan (nearly 11) will be off to school by then – Sue is a teacher there 2 days a week, the school has 10 pupils aged 4 to 12. We work with Neill, stopping between 1 and 2 for lunch and then finishing at about 4pm. We help with dinner and clearing up and the house is theirs between 9pm and 9am. We said we’d probably head off before that as we have the kids and Struan has homework so D&S will be a distraction.

For today we were just asked to gather some stuff for dinner from the polytunnel, greenhouse and garden (tomatoes, parsley and dill, mint and spring onions) and then chop them, which we did while chatting to Neill.

Struan came home so I fetched Davies and Scarlett back to the house while Ady made up the fire in the byre . The kids instantly hit it off which Neill and Sue said is unusual for Struan so that was good. I’m not sure what they were playing but it sounded noisy and happy J

Sue arrived home so we met her. She is not as instantly warm and friendly as Neill although she was perfectly nice and welcoming and seemed interested in us and happy to chat. Just a bit more like a school teacher I guess ;). She rather interestingly lived in a community for a few years and is very active in community projects here. I rather think we’d clash on educational matters and possibly parenting so will attempt to not be too vocal ;). The primary school here sounds fab, 10 pupils all learning together and including forest school as part of the curriculum (which Sue does) but secondary schooling is over on the mainland and all the island kids board coming home just every 2 weekends. Sue is very wobbly about this but also thinks it will be good for Struan and it is something that all the island kids know is coming from the beginning. Davies and Scarlett were horrified when we told them about it of course. It has put off potential residents on Eigg and the other islands apparently and would definitely mean Eigg wouldn’t work for us – for 12 out of every 14 days there is no one on the island aged between 12 and 16 and on the two days a fortnight there are kids they would be spending time with their families anyway, so obviously no clubs or activities set up for the kids here at all really. We’d need to persuade at least 4 other HE families to move here too…. Anyone?

We had dinner – I really enjoyed it, pitta breads, salad with peppers, tomatoes, spring onions and herbs and bulgar wheat, falafels and then the kids went off to play again. Lots of chatting about various stuff – Eigg is really interesting with it’s green credentials, their current project is waste prevention and aiming for zero waste and Sue had remembered that I have done a waste prevention course so we chatted about that. We talked about Home Ed a bit – Neill was interested in that more, what we are hoping to do in the future and various other first meeting type stuff. They seem really nice, the byre is lovely and the kids seem happy with Struan. So first impressions all good really. We can get internet in their house so will take the laptop over each day to download emails and upload a blog post I’ll try and write in word each evening ready. I think it will be an interesting two weeks and a fitting end to our WWWOOFing.