SCOTLAND 'S ISLAND S & THE ISLAND BAGGER

HOW TO GET ISLAND BAGGING

How to do it

It's easiest if you're a sailor, you can use your own boat or charter one like we do.
There are many charter businesses hiring boats on the west coast of Scotland. If you're experienced you can skipper them yourself (what's called a bareboat charter), otherwise there are several vessels with skippers who will take you. For the wealthy, there are even some with a skipper, cook and full crew! To find out more just look in the ads in a magazine like Yachting Monthly or look on http://www.asyc.co.uk/

Other alternatives are:

Go in your car plus make full use of CALMAC Ferries (you can do a lot of islands this way). See http://www.calmac.co.uk/

Hire/beg a fishermen to take you.

Use good old CALMAC to whisk you off to islands you can't take your car to. A brilliant trip from Mallaig is to Rhum, Muck, Eigg and Canna, just Ł14 round trip (last time I did it), there's a bar on the ferry and you can get off at any island for as long as you like!

I'm waiting for someone to bag the lot in a week using a helicopter - please take me with you!!!!!

Many of my friends help support my islandbagging obsession and they volunteer to come with me and bag fresh islands on a regular basis! If you fill all the berths on a bareboat charter yacht, one week will cost you about Ł300 each including yacht hire, food and the essential bit of drink! If you really get away from it all, you won't find anywhere else to spend any more money - even if you wanted to!

Where to get information on islands:

The VERY BEST book is Hamish Haswell Smith's 'Scottish Islands' it's just superb and worth every penny of it's Ł25. (I'm not on commission - honest!) I'm told this may now be out of print but it's still on Amazon and in many shops. (ISBN:0862415799) The only issue I have with Hamish is that I don't agree with his actual list of islands, it's just seems too restrictive. See: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0862415799/026-7990774-7142853

The best maps are the Ordnance survey 1:50000 series; indispensable for planning and for not getting lost once you get there! Get sections of these free by using http://www.multimap.co.uk.

Charts? I go for the UK Hydrographic Office charts every time - can't be beaten but a tad expensive! See: http://www.hydro.gov.uk/

For Sailing pilots (sailorspeak for guidebooks!) I've used the Clyde Cruising Club (CCC) publications for years and they are superb once you get used to them. The Martin Lawrence ones are good for their photos but not as comprehensive as the CCC ones. Go to: http://www.clyde.org/

For a list of islands you won't beat 'LIVINGSTONE's TABLES of the ISLANDS of SCOTLAND'. (But then I would say that wouldn't I?) As far as I'm aware this is the only thorough, complete, full & comprehensive listing - and they have, after all, been prepared solely for the purpose of islandbagging! You can use them to tick off all the islands you've bagged when you're tucked up in front of the fire on those cold winter nights and dreaming of the next voyage! See next page for details & ordering!

The photo on this page is of PABBAY in the Sound of Harris, taken from the 5 mile long white shell-sand beach on BERNERAY - notice not a soul on it!!