Island Life
Julia and Keith's Crazy Plan
The people driving past the Edinburgh northern bypass are braking and veering. They are distracted by the goings on in the Jewsons car park. There is a guy bent over some metal mesh with a huge machine in his hands, sparks are flying 10 feet in front of him and 10 feet backwards between his splayed legs like a Roman candle. That’s me. I’m trying to cut reinforced concrete mesh because it doesn’t fit on my roof rack. I’m using the wrong type of blade.
Next week we are going to start building a house on an island. We have no experience...
Almost three years ago, we happened upon a plot of land by the sea on the small and beautiful island of Coll on the West Coast of Scotland. It had no access track, no water supply and no electricity lines close by. It was a bog with islands of bedrock, possibly some of the hardest stuff on the planet, but it did have planning permission for a single dwelling!
The island is served by one ferry which comes 5 times a week in the winter and every day in the summer. That said, it doesn’t always make it due to Atlantic swells - particularly with a south easterly wind. People here pay attention to the weather as the only shop on the island can often have bare shelves if the boat doesn’t make it. There are about 200 people living on Coll. There is a primary school with about 8 kids and the older ones weekly board in Oban. A plane flies in from Oban a few times a week, flown by a pilot called “Julie Angel”. It takes about 20 minutes and flies low over the island of Mull providing the 8 passengers with wonderful views if they can bear to look. There is a really good (and newly modernised) hotel (which is also the pub) and a large community hall with some very useful facilities for off grid home builders!
It is the 15th March 2021, almost 2 years after buying the plot, and we have finally arrived to start the build. This is our blog to keep our friends and family updated on progress (or otherwise).
We intend to publish a daily blog for the first 10 days and a weekly one thereafter.
