Canna Thistlecamp 2007

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The Thistlecamp organized at Canna provided an ideal opportunity to visit once more this wonderful island. This time I decided to make the whole trip by train, taking the Eurostar to Waterloo, and transferring to Euston on foot for the sleeper to Fort William, and then on to Mallaig where the whole group met to board the Lochnevis.

The accomodation was unfortunately not the luxury Tighard anymore, this house being under renovation, and our party was split between Kate's Cottage up the hill and the Bothy by the waterfront. The work to be performed was straightforward but quite extensive: cleaning up the garden of Canna House, which had been neglected for decades but was on its way to be retransformed to its former splendour.This meant cutting back plants and hedges, removing deadwood, taking out brambles, cutting branches of trees, mowing grass,... and burning all this stuff on several huge fires! A whole lot to do, but with the combined efforts of the whole team a significant progress was made. The work was rewarding, and the weather exceptionally good, with high temperatures for the season and not one drop of rain for the whole week. And this time of the year, no insects of course!

 

Canna is a small community, and contacts with the friendly islanders were easily established; a relatively new feature was the availability of the licensed Harbour View Tearoom where one can have a refreshing beer after a day's work or a tasty evening meal.
The traditonal day off offers a nice opportunity to explore the island, including the famous Neolithic souterrains (one has to find them first!), or the remote west part with its cliffs.

 

And of course, the social atmosphere on a Thistlecamp is always very good. Communal meals are prepared in a good spirit (particularly the traditional haggis-neeps-tatties supper prepared for the occasion by... two Belgians), and thanks to the presence of musician performers in our group we could even enjoy a Ceilidh!
The week thus passed by way too fast, and the next Saturday we were again boarding the Lochnevis back to Mallaig. For most, this meant heading home again, but I had the chance to go for another week of remote walking...

 

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