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In July 2011 Cape Farewell embarked on a month-long expedition by boat across the Scottish Islands, bringing the notion and experience of expedition home to the UK, with an exploration of island ecologies and cultures, and of the strategies for sustainable and resilient futures being implemented across the Scottish Isles. More ›

The Crew

The expedition crew of 40 includes island artists, storytellers, film makers, playwrights, architects, designers, musicians, community leaders, social scientists, ecologists, marine biologists, oceanographers, poets, acclaimed Gaelic singers and a chef.
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Itchy

Citronella, Avon Skin-So-Soft, choking DEET sprays, lavender, hoods, high winds, bright sunlight, perpetual movement, body armour, despair: what to do about midges?

Counting down to our Scottish Islands expedition departure on 15 July… and we’re itchy. There’s a swarm of tiny, irritating, persistent and unavoidable things to do humming round our heads. Song of the Whale’s neatly berthed at St Katherine’s Dock by the Tower of London, and she’s looking sleek, blue and beautiful, but we can’t get on her – she’s got a research journey to Jersey to make before charging up the coast to Oban, where we’ll meet her, skipper Jim Compton, engineer Mat Jerram and sailor/ocean advocate Jo Royle next week. After so much planning, poring over maps, pouring tea over maps, and dreaming about the Blue Men of the Minch, we just want to get going.

Artists Stephen Hurrel and Anne Bevan joined me on BBC Scotland’s Culture Cafe yesterday. It was wonderful to hear them, along with Julie Fowlis, speak so eloquently about their own research interests and the undertow that’s drawing them to the islands. Stephen’s mother was born on Barra, and he spoke of his interest in data gathering and undersea soundscapes in the local waters. Anne’s from Orkney: she’s already begun researching the invisible life of the sea with scientists from Edinburgh University, and will arrive in the second week of our journey armed with a borrowed ‘bottom grabber’ for collecting samples – looking forward to the demonstration of how that works. Julie and fellow Gaelic singer Mary Smith have been casting nets across the rich tradition of Hebridean songs of sea voyaging, whales, seals and the beauty and sorrow of St Kilda. If the wind abates and we’re able to land there in the third week, perhaps, perhaps, the voices of Julie and Mary and Cape Breton singer Mary Jane Lamond will bring music and memory back to the silent streets and houses of Hirta.

Meanwhile, there are train tickets to hunt for, island cheese makers to contact, Scottish National Heritage and Scottish Wildlife Trust wardens to check in with, community groups and fishermen to chase up, and 32 scattered artists and 8 roving scientists to pin down, point to the west, and release.

Leis gach deagh dhùrachd
Ruth

Author: Ruth Little

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Joins the expedition for week 1, 2 and 3 Ruth Little is Associate Director at Cape Farewell. She is an Australian dramaturg, teacher, writer and former academic who lives and works in London, where she is Literary Manager of the Royal Court Theatre. Much of her work with writers and theatre artists explores the territory at the edge of chaos, and the dynamic relationship between order and disorder.
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Sea Change Programme

Puffin from the Bird Yarns project, part of Cape Farewell's Sea Change programme.
Grown out of the Scottish Islands Expedition, Cape Farewell’s Sea Change is a four-year programme of research and making across Scotland’s western and northern isles. Sea Change involves over 30 UK and international artists and scientists, working collaboratively and independently to consider the relationships between people, places and resources in the context of climate change.... Read more ›

A timely reminder of how valuable an outsider’s perspective can be

Community Energy Scotland’s annual conference offered a timely reminder of how valuable an outsider’s perspective can be.  It was reported on some research into how different countries are taking forward the development of renewable energy. The study looks at several European countries including Scotland, as well as five states in America. The most striking feature... Read more ›

First there was an island – then there was a boat

Shiants 2
“First there was an island – then there was a boat”, so begins a poem by Shetland writer Laureen Johnston.  Since owning my first boat at the age of eleven, I have been an obsessive explorer of islands, the smaller and more remote the better.  Once, in the grip of a sudden attack of aquatic... Read more ›

‘On these isles’

Lawrence has a 7am coffee break after feeding cattle.
‘On these isles’ is a project by photographer Ed Smith, whom we had the great pleasure of meeting when visiting the Island of Eigg. Ed has spent large periods of time on Eigg and other Inner Hebridean isles capturing life there in pictures. Have a look at more of his images and this project at... Read more ›

A gaelic song

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Mary Jane Lamond, Jo Royle and Julie Fowlis Video by Ruth Little

Cape Farewell – we know what to do, can art help us get on and do it?

The following is an excerpt from Sara Parkin’s article found on the Forum for the Future website. …I was fortunate enough to join the crew for one week of a four week tour of Scottish Islands, starting with Skye and Canna before crossing the Minch to Mingulay, Barra and South Uist. The weather was kind,... Read more ›

Islands and Visions

Eigg Barbecue on Song of the Whale
There is a sea view when travelling from Eigg to Mallaig where you have a 360° vision of the Small Isles, Skye, the mountains of Scotland, Mull and, far into the distance, the Outer Hebrides. At 6 am yesterday the grey of the sea bled into the numerous blues of the mountains all dramatised by... Read more ›

Annie Cattrell and Jo Shapcott in conversation about week 4 of the expedition

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JS Annie, what is it about islands? AC I like the fact that there’s a larger proportion of sea than land mass visible. There appears to be a completeness and self-sufficiency about the individual islands even though they are all distinctly different. There seems to be a big distinction between uninhabited and inhabited islands –... Read more ›

Spume

Photo by Sion Parkinson
(1) On the crossing from Ullapool to Stornaway on the Calmac, I wrote myself a list of rules, a set of behaviours that would concentrate my efforts, or assuage any guilt from any feelings of impotence, in my seven days aboard the ship. (1.1) Rules: (1.1.1) Take photographs, more than you need to, get in... Read more ›

Shelter

Cotton Grass marking  Dwelling Rona
It was my birthday when I went to Rònaidh first. A place I wanted to see since I was little but I had always missed the boat. It is about forty miles north of my house near the Butt of Lewis. I went on the sixth of August aged thirty eight on the yacht ‘Song... Read more ›

Mary Arnold-Forster

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Skye architect Mary shows the house of Fred Taylor she designed and reflects on the progress on Eigg and other green based aspirations for the islands architecture and energy supply.   Video shot by David Buckland     Sketches by Mary Arnold-Forster

Farewell and Ahoy: Log of a Voyage

Photo by Mary Smith
“Back in the kitchen.  A new group has joined Song of the Whale. There is an overlap of crew, Cape Farewell folk, and the artists and scientists who will sail together this coming week. They are planning to sail to North Rona, the Shiants and the coasts of Skye. But I’ve left the ship though... Read more ›