Fáilte
Oban to Eigg to Mallaig
30th May 2011.
From Oban to Eigg to Mallaig.
Video: Ian Fisher on the Coat of Arms at Kildonnan Church
Video: Ian Fisher on Kildonnan Church
Video: The Celtic Cross Slab at Kildonnan
Video: The High Cross, Kildonnan
Ruaidhri and Donncha left first thing in the morning and thus I was promoted in one move from Able Seaman 6th class to 2nd vice-admiral!
We sailed up the sound of Mull and then around to the island of Eigg. St Donnan built a church here in the 7th century. It has a Sile na Gig, a celtic cross slab, and an ornate cross shaft amongst a lot of other interesting archaeological remains.
“Kildonnan is named after the Irish monk who brought Christianity to the island, founding a monastery at the end of the 6th century. Dedications to Donnan extend to south Uist and east Sutherland, reflecting missionary work among the Picts by the saint or his successors.
Donnan was martyred on Eigg with his companions in 617, but a new monastic community was re-established and flourished until the 9th century.
Early Christian carvings found within the Kildonnan burial-ground are the main physical evidence for the monastery. Like Ionait would have had timber buildings bin an earthwork or fenced enclosure.” – quote from local brochure.
The island is nice and somewhat reminiscent of Inisere, without the stone walls.
The boat was moored in the bay and we went ashore by dingy. Troublesome! but worked all right.
Being behind schedule we were unable to visit Rhum where there is another Papar site – Papadil:
We sailed on to Malaig for the night.
Danny has taken over as cook and is every bit as good as Ruaidhri and Donncha, before him.
Ken Price is expected to join us tonight, coming to Malaig by train.
Ian says he will leave in the morning so we will still have a crew of five, which is great comfort.
I went up to the local for a pint and found that they had wi-fi, so got the laptop and did some emails.
When I got back Ken had arrived. Pádraig was clearly delighted to have an experienced sailor again. Ken is from Dun Laoghaire, a member of all the yacht clubs and a very experienced sailor.