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.