The shipping forecast had it spot on – “Malin/Hebrides, South Westerly Severe Gale force 9 increasing Storm force 10, occasionally Violent Storm force 11”. / A good day to leave the boat in the marina and go exploring by land! Easdale is a particularly exposed piece of coast on the west of Scotland, where the sea has an uninterrupted run from Nova Scotia. To give you an idea of scale, the rocks in the foreground are a metre in diameter, they aren’t pebbles. Coincidentally, this ‘beach’ is where my wife and I had our first open water scuba dives .. fortunately the sea was a little calmer then!
Watching the sea pile in to Easdale’s normally sheltered harbour reminded me of the song oft sung by the Vital Spark’s crew: Oh! The Crinan Canal for me, / I don’t like the wild raging sea, / It would be too terrific to cross the Pacific, / Or sail to Japan or Fiji. / A life on the Spanish Main, / I think it would drive me insane, / The big foaming breakers would give me the shakers, / The Crinan Canal for me. For the curious, the harbour entrance is between the rocks in the foreground, and the little rock right of centre .. not the rocks with the breaking wave!
This is VIC32 steaming north towards Easdale. VIC 32 is the last sea-going coal-fired steam ‘Clyde Puffer’. /
No White Vans Now here’s something you don’t see every day! Thankfully there are no white vans on the island of Easdale, off the west coast of Argyll, Scotland. The locals have devised a far more colourful and environmentally-friendly system of transporting their goods, as depicted here. Date: 21st August 2008 No White Vans was featured by The Scots Are Coming group. Click here to see the Easdale Ferry Shed
Isle of Fladda The largest of the Slate Islands but the least (geographically) hospitable, the island is dominated by the lighthouse built by David and Thomas Stevenson in 1860. / The lighthouse is a white conical tower with a black lantern. Fladda sits between Belnahua and Luing in the Sound of Luing, and is home to a large colony of terns. The first recorded history that we could source of Fladda shows that it was owned by John Stevenson in 1858. Stevenson was a whiskey distiller in Oban. The island was originally spelt ‘Phladda’ but was changed by the Northern Lighthouse Board at the turn of the century because there is another island with a lighthouse on it called Phladda in the Firth of Clyde.
Seil island in on the east side of the Firth of Lorn to the south west of Oban,Scotland, Seil Sound sits between the island and the mainland and is crossed by Clachan Bridge. Clachan Bridge is more popularly known as the Bridge Over The Atlantic. The original design for the bridge, by John Stevenson of Oban, was for a two-arched bridge but this was modified to one arch when it was built by Robert Mylne in 1792. / canonEos400D
The Ferry Shed The Ferry Shed, on the small island of Easdale provides shelter for passengers awaiting the ferry from Ellenabeich on Seil. It is colourfully adorned with “boat jumble”, presumably washed up on the shore. Easdale was the centre of a slate-mining community, which between the 1550s and 1911, extracted thousands of tons of slate from below sea level, just so we could all have a roof over our heads! By 1961 the population had fallen to just 16, but has now recovered to around 60. Date: 21st August 2008 Click here to see the most popular form of transport on Easdale
This was taken shortly after a very deep depression battered us with gales and storms for a few days. The seas were still high, but the sky was starting to clear. The view is from Easdale, south and west to (from the left) Lunga, Eilean Dubh Mor and the Garvellachs. The Garvellachs, or ‘Isles of the Sea’ have a fascinating history, and are one of the earliest outposts of Christianity in Scotland, reputedly containing the grave of Eithne, the mother of St Columba.
WAVERLEY is the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world. This photo was taken near Easdale as the Waverley made her way around the Firth of Lorne on a day trip from Oban.
Isle of Seil to the right to the left Isle of Easdale in the distance the Isle of Mull 3 isles in one photo ..eat my shorts / The Isle of Seil, Easdale Island, the Isle of Luing and Belnahua are the Slate Islands, once known as the Islands That Roofed The World. The Scottish Slate Islands Heritage Trust’s objective is to advance the education of the public on matters regarding the life and times of the people within the islands.
I would like to thank the hosts of Light and Reflection for featuring Ellenabiech….one of my favorite photo,s and took a…
I would like to thank the hosts of Light and Reflection for featuring Ellenabiech….one of my favorite photo,s and took almost 6 years to get this little island of Seil in these conditions and light. / Thank you / Alexander /
A panorama of easdale falls, in the lake district, england.
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