Island Holidays Blog

Shetland's special

I'm just back from Shetland where I was meeting up with folk to make the arrangements for June's "special day" on the island of Yell which will be part of our 21st anniversary Scottish Islands Expedition Cruise.   It was a horribly quick visit - up on the boat (thanks NorthLink) on Monday night and back on Wednesday night's boat.  The older folk in Shetland still refer to it as "the steamer";  at one time it was "The Blue Canoe" but, as far as I know, it still isn't referred to by its correct title of "ship".  The voyages were both a bit bumpy but nothing too serious.  I do love overnights on boats.

My first "meeting" was breakfast with Jonathan who runs the fantastic Noss boat trips.   So it was off one ferry and on to another for the 5 minute crossing to Bressay where Jonathan was waiting on the pier.  We spent a most enjoyable couple of hours catching up, and Jonathan has agreed to join the ship in Yell and do a bit of guiding as we pass Noss on our way to Mousa (where we'll be watching the Storm Petrels "changing nest shift" at twilight (and you don't get much darker than twilight in Shetland in June - it's known as "The Land of the Simmer Dim", the "Simmer Dim" being the description of the amount of daylight at that time of year.

My next ferry took me to the island of Yell where I met up with Mary-Ellen (sister of the late Bobby Tulloch, founding partner of Island Holidays) and Mike McDonnell who was the island's doctor and, since retirement, has put a huge amount of work into the local museums of Shetland, including Yell's Old Haa' where they are planning an exhibition about Bobby to coincide with our visit.  We hatched a few other plans for what should be a very special day.

I'm getting so excited about this cruise.  It will be quite a celebration - 21 years of Island Holidays, my 60th (3 weeks later) and it would have been Bobby's 80th last January.   What's more there are so many really good friends coming along that it's guaranteed to be a terrific party.   The only downside is that we still have some cabins to sell but there's plenty of time yet.

I don't know what it is about Shetland, but it really is incredibly beautiful.  It has an indefinable light and, with nowhere on the islands being more than 3 miles from the sea, the interaction of that light with water never fails to surprise and delight.   Having spent so much time there over the past nearly 30 years, there's always a lot of nostalgia in visits for me - it really feels like going home.

Anyway, enough of this.  There's much to be done to fine-tune the plans for the cruise - right down to what to put in the goody bags which will be in each cabin!  Plus, having been away for 3 days, there's a bit of catch up in the office.  And there's the perennial job of "the brochure" which never seems to go away.   Onwards and upwards!

Hate technology

You can't say I don't try to keep up to date.  But it's very difficult when you really, genuinely believe that the new ways are rubbish.   Take email.   Mine's not working.   The result is that people send you a message, think you're ignoring them and go elsewhere.   I phoned someone yesterday to give her some information and she snapped:  "Send me an email".  She'd hung up before I could explain my email was down.  We seem to be losing our ability to communicate.  Do you think one day evolution will deprive us of our voices because they're no longer useful?  What's more our hands will be a row of thumbs for texting!   All these youngsters are going to come to a sticky end when they develop arthritis in their digits.

Now how's that for a "Keep Britain Smiling" piece of work?   Better out than in, as the saying goes!

Spring has definitely sprung this week, hasn't it?  The air is vibrant with bird song, the days are an acceptable length and the daffodils bring joy every time you glance out of the window.  I've been asking that Grey Squirrel to move out of his house but to no avail and have therefore contacted the Red Squirrel Project, based in Dundee which seems a bit odd.  Haven't seen many Red Squirrels around the Caird Hall!  I don't want to do this, but it seems that it's irresponsible not to.   Any views?

Ah - my email has just woken up.  Oh - no it hasn't.  One message has come in, but the outbox is still full.  Grrrr.

Keep Britain Smiling

I bet you thought I'd forgotten about my "Keep Britain Smiling" campaign.  No chance:  elephants NEVER forget!   So let me share with you a sign which has been by the door of our office for years - so long that I seldom notice it any more.  It says "Everyone brings joy to this office:  some when they enter and others when they leave".   Good, eh?   Also adding joy to the office are the gorgeous daffs I bought in M & S the other day - only 99p!  When you see the prices of flowers in the supermarkets and compare them with the florists you wonder how any of the latter survive.  

On the subject of surviving, nearly everyone who phones us these days asks how we are doing just that.  Well, it's certainly a bit quiet for the time of year - and there are no prizes for guessing why.   But these patches come and go and, eventually, everyone gets fed up with staying at home!   We had excellent bookings last year and several of our tours going out at the moment are fully booked which is great. 

 

've still got a few cabins available on our 21st birthday bonanza from 4-11 June if anyone's interested. I'm off to Shetland in a couple of weeks to meet various folk who are organising events for our day on the island of Yell which will be a celebration of the life of the late Bobby Tulloch MBE with whom I founded Island Holidays 21 years ago.  It will be lovely to see everyone up there again - for so many
  years Shetland was my second home and I seemed to spend nearly as much time there as here.   And it will be good to have time to concentrate of the entertainment side of the cruise - promise no bingo!  But, for instance, I'll be showing the video (OK, so I'm old fashioned) of Track of the Wild Otter which was made on Yell by one of the passengers on the cruise - Hugh Miles.  He stayed with Bobby over the three years which it took to film.   John Busby is going to be doing some master classes - he's a wonderful wildlife and landscape artist who has also signed up.   Then I think we'll have a few power point presentations of various destinations to which we operate to make mouths water and thoughts turn to future holidays! Never miss an opportunity, that's what I say!

Grey Squirrels

Oh dear, I don't know what to do.  I know what I ought to do, but just can't bring myself to do it.  You see, there's a Grey Squirrel mending an old drey in one of the trees in front of the house.  Regular followers of this blog will be aware of my passion for the native Red Squirrel which appeared in my "garden" (actually mixed woodland) a couple of years ago for the first time and which has delighted me ever since.

So what's the problem?  You probably know but, for those who don't, Grey Squirrels (introduced from North America) and our Reds don't really mix and the Greys are winning.   That means I'm supposed to "get rid of" the Greys.   Let's not mince words:  for "get rid of" read "destroy" or, to be perfectly straight, kill.  And I just can't.  The only things I can kill are mosquitoes and only then when they're being vindictive in the middle of the night!  It's all very well to tell me to get someone to do it for me, but I would have to live with the guilt!  I'm not against eradication - just can't bear to do it.  

Eradication programmes are accepted conservation tools.   On Ascension Island the ex conservation officer got her MBE for killing cats (her words, not mine!).  The result is seabirds breeding on the main island for the first time in generations.  Introduced species are almost without exception bad news, whether animals or insects or plants.    By the way, talking about Ascension, more clients have returned saying that a week wasn't long enough.  For our St Helena clients the stay is even shorter, but it really is the most fascinating destination which has only been open for tourism for less than 10 years.  (By the way - if you follow the link to Ascension above you'll find the details of the holiday which has just ended. I'll have the 2010 dates and cost up soon.  Promise!

Happy Day!

I've just had a great weekend.  On Thursday I flew down to London for my nephew's wedding on Friday.  My sister had arranged for someone to pick me up at the airport while they were at the rehearsal.  That evening the best man, ushers and partners all arrived for the first of three parties at the house.  It was great fun and if James was nervous he wasn't showing it.

"The Gondoliers" sprang to mind when I opened the curtains on Friday:  "Brightly dawns our wedding day". We were incredibly lucky - clear blue skies and a warmth in the sun.  A perfect spring day - and that in February!   The wedding wasn't until 4.30 but there was plenty to do with two more lunch parties to come.  The service was in Holy Trinity Brompton and was absolutely fantastic.  About 320 people were there and James's brother, Marcus and his band (Mumford & Sons) played the bride in.  Holly looked beautiful (of course).  Afterwards there was a hoe-down after the speeches and the whole things was great fun and much enjoyed by all.

Two lunch parties later, I fell on to a BMI flight to Edinburgh, exhausted but having had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Since then I've been beavering away on our revised Australia tour - just waiting on a few replies so that I can finalise the cost.  It's looking good.  The other tour I'm working on right now is a new one for the UK - Scottish Mainland.  We'll start at Loch Leven (wintering geese) before driving up to the north-west (Gairloch and Ullapool).  Coming back we'll stop at Grantown-on-Spey for a couple of nights when we'll be doing a spot of dolphin watching as well as visiting Loch Garten's Ospreys and looking for such specialities as Scottish Crossbill, Crested Tit, Capercaillie and Pine Marten. l This is where I have to admit that I've never seen a Pine Marten in the UK.  That would be pretty good.  Might just go on the tour myself!