Anna Campbell

July 2019

 
 
 

Ye Canna Do Better than Canna!

One of the wonderful surprises of my most recent trip overseas was my first visit to the Isle of Canna, one of the Small Isles just south of Skye. There are four islands in this group: Eigg, where I have a writing retreat every year; Muck and Rum, both of which I’ve visited on a day trip; and Canna, the only one that until this year I hadn’t set foot on. Because I’m a Virgo and I like a complete set, I decided to visit this last island. I arrived with no particular expectations and found myself completely enchanted!

For a start, the island was covered with bluebells and wild garlic and blossoming trees. It’s much gentler and greener than Eigg, more like Iona which I talk about here: https://annacampbell.com/my-favorite-things/2011-2/june-2011-i-wish-i-own-iona/ The island is tiny, only 4.3 miles long and 1 mile wide. It belongs to the Scottish National Trust and only 17 people live there, although because with the neighboring island of Sanday, it offers one of the few sheltered anchorages on that part of the Scottish coast, there are lots of yachting people who visit.

I’ve booked three weeks there next year to do some writing. I can’t wait. But in the meantime, I thought I’d share some of the beautiful images of this gorgeous part of the world. If you’d like to read more about Canna, this Wikipedia article is a good place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canna,_Scotland

I’ll start with my beautiful room at Tighard Guesthouse where I stayed. It’s a lovely Arts and Crafts house up on the brae looking out over Sanday and Rum on one side (the view out the window) and over the wild Atlantic and Hyskeir Lighthouse on the other side.

Now for a stack of bluebell pictures. The white flowers are wild garlic which laid the most delicious perfume on the air along with the fresh scent of the bluebells. The gravestone belongs to the last Laird of Canna, the famous folklorist John Lorne Campbell (no relation, or at least not as far as I know!). What a perfect place to spend eternity! The white house at the end of the path a couple of pictures down is Tighard. Isn’t that an enchanting setting?

Another lovely spot was the Laird’s house with its beautiful garden full of flowering fruit trees and yeah, more bluebells!

Now for some views from around the island. The gate belongs to St Columba’s Church. It was lambing season when I was there, as you can see!

And I’ll finish with a photo of Canna’s standing stone and with a shot of one of the wee drams at Cafe Canna that finished each of my days there. Cafe Canna ended up being such a find too – it’s the only bar/restaurant on the island and it was brilliant and a great place to meet people.

Goodbye, Canna. See you next year.