Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be given your own remote islands? Thirty years ago it happened to Adam Nicolson.
Sea Room: An Island Life
What you need to know before your trail
Aged 21, Nicolson inherited the Shiants, three lonely Hebridean islands set in a dangerous sea off the Isle of Lewis. With only a stone bothy for accommodation and half a million puffins for company, he found himself in charge of one of the most beautiful places on earth.
The story of the Shiants is a story of birds and boats, hermits and fishermen, witchcraft and catastrophe, and Nicolson expertly weaves these elements into his own tale of seclusion on the Shiants to create a stirring celebration of island life.
Locations
Reset- The Herbrides - Inner Herbrides
- A: Garbh Eilean
- B: Eilean Mhuire
- C: Garbh Eilean southern island
- D: Isle of Scalpay
Travel Guide
The Shianty Islands
Inheriting an island or three might sound like a dream,and in many respects it is, but this is a realistic account of the struggles of inheriting some of the most beautiful yet savage islands in Scotland.
They are not modest. They stand out hight and undoubtable , four miles or so off the coast of Lewis, surrounded by tide-rips in the Minch, with black cliffs five hundred feet tall dropping into a cold, dark, peppermint sea, with seals lunging at their feet, the lobsters picking their way between the boulders and the kelp and thousands upon thousands of sea birds wheeling above the rocks.
Adam does not take his responsibilities lightly. This book is testament to his care and attention for his new role, and his new charges. He researches and prepares well. But he takes time to appreciate what he has and what the islands represent, and how he has the honour of protecting them.
The islands area savage place. Vivid descriptions help explore the emotions he went through when confronted with such a task as this. The islands are hardly a place where dreams are made. Rather they are a place of harsh reality and a struggle to survive
These barren islands it turns out have quite a troubled history and even now has to fight off unwanted attentions from various organizations.
But Adam is not alone – he shares the islands with more than 3 million puffins for one.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Sea Room: An Island Life
Destination : The Hebrides, The Hebrides, The Shiants, Isle of Lewis Author/Guide: Adam Nicolson Departure Time: 1990s
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