August 2018
I am so embarrassed that this blog has taken so long to get underway but thanks to my teacher and patient friend Eileen Frater, hopefully my hubby and I now have some the skills to write save and publish.
Our friends Eileen and Jackson Frater had made the decision to take a gap year out of city living from our home town of Ayr to go and live and work on the Isle of Barra in July 2018 for a year. Now this had the wow factor for me and after a little chat they both kindly invited us to go out and visit. ….A little taster. …… A chance to work together over the winter to produce a creative body of work in film , photography ( both of our husbands are very keen photographers ) and painting for the following year. This seemed like an opportunity not to be missed, and as we had spent creative moments amicably videoing several projects together, we were more that excited to book tickets for the Twin Otter plane which flies from Glasgow and lands on the beach in Barra for August.
In the meantime my friend Alistair McCulloch who is an Ayrshire fiddler of amazing talent was happy to come on board and has allowed us to use one of his pieces of music for our installation
Now we were all set, a film maker, two photographers and a musician, and an artists it is….. ready steady go … We can do this.
As the time approached we found ourselves getting more excited and hoped for nice weather,and we were not disappointed.
Our Twin otter arriving on Barra we were two very happy bunnies!
Within minutes of arriving we were on the sand dunes and were in sight of the wonderful Eoligarry beach.
Happy to have arrived at Eoligarry Beach
Our friends were staying in Castlebay and the view from their window was magnificent. The house was cosy and warm and we soon found ourselves feeling at home.
I had my sketch book out as quick as lightning and was soon enjoying the view alongside Thai the family pet who loved this spot as it was on top of the radiator !
Setting up residence on the windowsill!
Castle Bay sketch with watercolour
My husband Archie is a very keen fisherman and as he was itching to fish one of the lochs, Eileen and myself along with Thai decided to go to Tangasdale beach to sketch and film on our first day together it started well but the weather soon changed and we got soaked!
Weather changes so quickly and the storm clouds were on their way!
Watercolour sketches in the sketch book with Thai keeping me right and a wee clip of the happy fisherman …but no fish today!
Over the next 4 days we were lucky to be driven around the island by Eileen whose husband Jackson unfortunately was still on the mainland. Surprise, surprise we found ourselves enjoying island life. Eileen could’nt wait to show us the beauty of this small island so much so we had hardly alighted from the plane than she had us covering the two hundred yards to the first beach located just behind the airport. Traigh Eais stretched out before and must have , at a rough guess, been a mile long with waves breaking and wafting up the expanse of smooth sand. This was not going to be our only exposure to fabulous beaches , not if Eileen Frater had anything to do with it! Now the weather was on the up and up. As the sun came out we took off to
Eoligarry and what a gem it was.
On top of the world , but what is Eileen up to ? what has she found?
oh I know she is checking her photo!
As an artist I was in heaven and with some lovely weather enjoyed sitting and sketching. I started with one small sketch but this was simply not enough and found myself doing a panorama view in half and hour
This must be one of my favourite beaches and it looks as if Archie is loving it too, such peaceful moments and what a beautiful day so blessed
The weather was so nice we decided to visit Kismul Castle, we just made it on the last trip what a lovely way to finish a perfect day
Thai is exhausted at the end of a fabulous day
Next day we took off to visit Vatersay
The dunes spread back from the beach into shallow undulating short green pasture , here and there showing hints of the presence of rabbits, although we did not spot any on this occasion. To our left was the small hamlet of Vatersay spread out to the south of the land mass that is the Island of Vatersay. To the north end of the beach was the modern looking community hall surrounded by cattle, bikers and cars parked on the machair. Word has it that in this establishment one can enjoy nicely made coffee and cakes to die for.. I was about to check out the validity of these claims!
In the few days we spent on the island we visited most of the beaches that Eileen had already been on ,several times and we were not disappointed by any of them. Vatersay beach in August is truly stunning , a perfect bay affording shelter to swimmers, sailors, fishermen and anyone interested in outdoor pursuits where safe water is a priority. Clambering down through the sand dunes after negotiating the inquisitive cattle ambling around the cattle grid near the Community Hall, we slid down through the soft sand till we met firmer sand and revelled in the sheer beauty of this curved patch of sand stretching out before us. A large yacht was moored in the bay and we could see that it was flying a French tricolour confirming to us that this ‘secret ‘ gem of a place was certainly known to more than just us Scots..
Yacht in Vatersay
Although this was not such a sunny day , we loved it and brought so many stones back, but not sure if we will get them on the plane! Oh we will need to come back!
Last day and although we were sad to be going home , we had had a wonderful few days.
Sharing a meal round the table is always special and we enjoyed the Barra atlantic salmon mmm delicious great cook Eileen ……. soon time to go go back to the mainland !
As we travelled back up to the airport we noticed a lovely red roofed cottage on a tiny peninsula and I exclaimed how lovely it was and said “now that is a painting I will have to do next time.” Not knowing when that would be, we exchanged a reticent goodbye to Eileen Frater whose journey has been so beautifully documented #barragapyear
Archie and I are so appreciative of Eileen’s kindness and selfless sharing. You can’t put a cost on that!
Taking off on the twin otter plane , we soared above the white beaches and before we disappeared above the clouds, I looked down on that red roofed cottage, offered a silent prayer in the hope that we could be back in Springtime.