What better place for an expedition can there be than Rhum? Watching the peaks slowly dwindling on the horizon I realised it is an island to which I want to return.  Our two weeks had been just long enough to awaken our imaginations to the great wealth of beauty and interest which pervades the island.  The period of time since our first pitching of the camp seemed so brief, and yet how full of activity!

We visited the Castle during our last evening on Rhum. The luxury, with its Chinese vases and mechanical organ, contrasted magnificently with the wild beauty of the hills around our campsite, jagged and broken teeth jutting up into the sky from the surrounding moorland.  Yet these rock-strewn hills are the homes of thousands of sea birds.  Around and across the hills roam great herds of red deer, cared for by the staff of the Nature Conservancy.  And along the steep grassy ledges, between mountain and sea, we found wild goats;  the billies are shaggy beasts with trailing beards and curling horns, accompanied by families of nannies with young kids, butting one another playfully with their horns. Around the same cliff ledges golden eagles soar.  If you are lucky, as were Roger and Calum, they may thunder past only twenty feet distant, their wings beating powerful gusts of swirling air, before spiraling up into the sky.

Askival summit, Rhum. Photo: Mark Rayne

In our two weeks camped at Salisbury Dam, we left only the North Side unexplored.  The rest of the island we walked around, climbed over, or bivvied at.  We slept out nearly two thousand feet up Hallival watching the Manx Shearwaters sail in at midnight, collected bloodstone from the beach at Bloodstone Bay, and weeded young trees at Guirdik.

But for all the fascination of Rhum, the expedition would have been nothing without the wonderful atmosphere and sense of fellowship which developed. Launcelot Fleming, Dean of Windsor, camped with us at Salisbury Dam for five days, joining in with projects and leading the swimming in the cold mountain water of Long Loch.  He led a Communion Service and a more general service in which we considered Christianity as part of our expedition. Launcelot held us spell-bound for an hour and a half one evening as he recounted some of his adventures in the Antarctic.

Above all, we owe a very great deal to the staff of the Nature Conservancy, especially the Chief Warden, Mr McNaughton, and Mike Hughes, the Assistant Warden.  They allowed us to spread ourselves over their island while they were engaged with the annual deer-stalking programme.  We made daily contact with them to avoid disturbing the deer in the areas involved.  They went out of their way to help us, shifting our gear to the campsite and back, not complaining when we bought the shop's entire stock of toilet rolls, and allowing us to spend our last night in the boat-house at Kinloch.

The camp site at Salisbury Dam. Photo: Mark Rayne

Long Loch, a ~800 hundred metres south of Salisbury Dam camp. Photo: Mark Rayne

Rhum coast near Papadil. Photo: Mark Rayne

In our two weeks camped at Salisbury Dam, we left only the North Side unexplored.  The rest of the island we walked around, climbed over, or bivvied at.  We slept out nearly two thousand feet up Hallival watching the Manx Shearwaters sail in at midnight, collected bloodstone from the beach at Bloodstone Bay, and weeded young trees at Guirdik.

But for all the fascination of Rhum, the expedition would have been nothing without the wonderful atmosphere and sense of fellowship which developed. Launcelot Fleming, Dean of Windsor, camped with us at Salisbury Dam for five days, joining in with projects and leading the swimming in the cold mountain water of Long Loch.  He led a Communion Service and a more general service in which we considered Christianity as part of our expedition. Launcelot held us spell-bound for an hour and a half one evening as he recounted some of his adventures in the Antarctic.

Above all, we owe a very great deal to the staff of the Nature Conservancy, especially the Chief Warden, Mr McNaughton, and Mike Hughes, the Assistant Warden.  They allowed us to spread ourselves over their island while they were engaged with the annual deer-stalking programme.  We made daily contact with them to avoid disturbing the deer in the areas involved.  They went out of their way to help us, shifting our gear to the campsite and back, not complaining when we bought the shop's entire stock of toilet rolls, and allowing us to spend our last night in the boat-house at Kinloch.

Highland cow at Harris on the SW coast of Rhum. Photo: Mark Rayne

Taking a drink from a waterfall in Glen Dibidil. Photo: Mark Rayne

It would be unfair not to mention our constant companions, the Rhum midges, a race apart.  Their activities are recounted in the writings of other members of the expedition.  Fortunately, the irritations of their evening visits were temporary, and did little to diminish the enjoyment of the expedition. We left Rhum feeling we had been there just long enough to decide what we would like to do next time we visit Rhum.

Mark Rayne

Canna from Rhum. Photo Mark Rayne [Looking at a map I think this was taken from near the top of Orval, the land nearest is Sanday ~4 miles away]

More photos to follow shortly.