Lord Dunderheid

Tiree is a smallish island to the west of Mull - almost stuck out in the middle of the Sea Of The Hebrides along with Coll. It is in fact the westernmost island of the Inner Hebrides - and it is, for example, further west than Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides (this mainly due, however, to the arc that the Outer Hebrides lies along). It is reached either by the CalMac car ferry from Oban or by plane from Oban airport (but also from Coll and Glasgow). As said, it is smallish - but not tiny. It is larger than, for example, the island of Danna - but much smaller than Islay, Jura, Mull, Skye and the major islands of the Outer Hebrides. It is shaped a bit like an arrow head (with a broken tip) pointing north east. That makes it a bit difficult to define it’s coast lines as there is only one full coast, the west coast, which aligns reasonably well with the cardinal compass points (Note that I am talking here about the general, or average, direction that any particular coast is facing, not jus...

Eilean Shona, or just Shona, is a tidal island at the mouth of Loch Moidart, which is just north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula and about twenty five miles south of Mallaig. I’ve read that it’s about two miles long and one and a half wide - but if so then I suspect that relates to the larger section alone as the whole island looks to be about twice as long as it is wide. It almost fills the mouth of Loch Moidart with the main entrance to the loch, to the south, being less wide than the island itself. Shona is almost split into two with Shona Mhór to the west and the smaller part, Shona Beag, to the east. (Note that I’m not sure if the name Shona Mhór actually exists as it’s usually just Shona and Shona Beag that’s indicated - but I’ve decided to call the larger part of the island Shona Mhór just to make it clear which part I’m referring to). The island is joined to the mainland via a causeway to Shona Beag, which does not appear to offer a great amount for the visitor with only one trac...

 On Thursday 18th May the BBC held Question Time in Fort William. A few days later the National newspaper attacked Fiona Bruce for the way she described the recent woes of the SNP, but it does not take a genius to see that her description was pretty accurate - and, in truth, very much the same as described by senior SNP MP’s and MSP’s. This is just another example of why I gave up buying and reading the National: it is so biased and twisted in what it writes that I don’t see much difference between it and, say, the Daily Mail when it comes to reasonable reporting (it’s just pro independence as opposed to pro union).There can be no doubt that the past few months have been a bit of a nightmare for the SNP. At the same time, while opinion polls over the past few weeks have indicated a not surprising drop in support for the SNP there has been very little in the way of a drop in support for independence (maybe none at all - and maybe even an increase). This, for me, is not surprising, e...

Just a few days after I published my post on Ulva and Gometra I saw a BBC TV programme (Designing The Hebrides) about the renovation of an old bothy on the south coast of Ulva. My post said that there were no buildings on the south coast of Ulva - or any paths in that direction. This, clearly, was not the case - but, in my defence, none of the articles I’d read, prior to my visit to Ulva, mentioned this bothy even existed. Having said that, I need to hold my hand up to failing to examine my maps more carefully and at a magnification level which will clearly show such features. Near the start of this programme there was a map which indicated the location of this bothy so I was able to use the map apps on my phone to focus on only this area. My Google Maps indicated nothing - and at first my free version of OS maps also indicated nothing - but, still on my OS phone map, I zoomed in on the area and there indeed was a small building shown (a small rectangle). I then used the map applicatio...

Ulva and Gometra are, most usually, described as lying off the west coast of Mull. I would argue that this is not totally true. As pointed out in my post about Mull, that island is so indented that it is not easy to find bits of it’s convoluted coast that line up with any of the four cardinal points of the compass - and that applies to the location of Ulva and Gometra. These two Islands are located in what I would call the northern side of Outer Loch na Keel (with Loch na Keel being a small section at the head of the loch). If, however, a line is drawn between Rudha nan Cearc (at the north western tip of the Ross Of Mull) and Rudh a Chaoil (at the western tip of the area known as Treshnish) then that line will run pretty much north to south - so the entrance to Loch na Keel does, I accept, look westward, but that is not the same as claiming that the coast contained within Outer Loch na Keel faces westward: some sections do - but some other sections face north and some face sou...

Foreword: The post that follows goes over an issue already addressed in my previous post on Scottish Politics - namely rejoining the EU, or not, after independence. This post attempts to expand on my argument with a few more observations. On Monday 27th March 2023, the SNP announced that Humza Yousaf had won the battle to be the party’s new leader and, over the next couple of days, he was confirmed as the new First Minister of Scotland, replacing Nicola Sturgeon in both positions. During the campaign all three SNP leadership candidates seemed to be making clear that a priority would be to get a consistent majority in favour of independence (while, at the same time, looking after the immediate problems of running the country). The figure of 51% was mentioned but I believe that at least 55% will be required, over an extended period of time, before Westminster might buckle and either permit a section 30 order or enter into independence negotiations. But what must the SNP, and wider YES mo...