Return to Eigg

Simply put, if my spirit says GO, I must go. That isn’t the only way to explain why I went back to Eigg but it is the best way.  I could go into long narratives as to what I was thinking and what I had hoped to gain by re-visiting Eigg but in the end I went for no reason at all except that I felt I should.

As I was travelling alone this time, I decided to economize as much as possible.  The payoff is beautiful natural scenery so where I stayed or how I got there had only nominal importance. Here’s a tip I learned if you’re travelling from England to Scotland by train: book each train separately to save on costs.  Why?  I don’t know, but doing it that way saved me hundreds.

I caught the 6:20 Virgin train from Milton Keynes and arrived at Glasgow about 6 hours later.  How cool is that?  Much quicker than driving.  I did have a two hour wait in Glasgow between trains but I managed to get my first pumpkin spice latte of the season from Starbucks (Yum!)- one of life’s little pleasures which I look forward to every year.

The journey by train was super.  I saw beautiful scenery through my window including Ben Nevis and Lock Eil and we went over the Glenfinnan viaduct, otherwise known as the ‘Harry Potter’ viaduct.

At one point, the train was zooming by a lake with trees in front of it and bright sunshine bursting through at intervals. The effect was simply dazzling.

I arrived at Mallaig about 5:30 and checked in for an overnight stay.

I boarded the ferry the next day just after 2 and decided to stay on the top deck to see the views. It was warm enough that I didn’t mind the wind whipping through my hair.  I had been hoping to see dolphins and I wasn’t disappointed.  I saw several in the distance diving in and out of the water.

As we neared Eigg, it was so exciting to see the familiar shape of An Sgurr.

When I arrived on Eigg, I gathered my bags, disembarked and began to walk quickly down the pier avoiding the temptation to skip…which would have been difficult to do with a backpack on my back and a duffle in one hand and a bag for life in the other. In no time at all, I spotted Charlie (y’all remember Charlie from my previous Isle of Eigg post right?) coming to meet me.  It was at that point that I should have reminded myself that besides refraining from skipping, I should have also tried not grinning quite so boldly! Seeing Charlie the local taxi driver, was like seeing an old friend as he had made our family feel so welcomed when we were last here.

He drove me to the shop where I picked up the goods I ordered ahead of time.  Afterwards we drove to Cuagach Bothy, my home for the week.

Views from Eigg look quite different in Autumn and I couldn’t get over how beautiful it still is and how the Isle of Rum seemed closer than I remembered.