Lighthouse Cruise 3 - Scarp

After our visit to the Monachs we headed north to Scarp. There is no lighthouse on the island, but it would make a good starting point to try for the Flannan Isles the next day.

As it turned out, the visit to Scarp was one of the major highlights of the cruise. I had visited the island a few times before. On the last occasion, in 2010, I met two Scarp residents, Brian and Sheila Harper. Brain is a subscriber to Scottish Islands Explorer, so in a sense he knew me, and I was invited in for tea. Since then I've met Brian and Sheila twice, including one occasion in Huisinish that was the subject of the August 6 post.

So when we visited Scarp on August 9, only a few days after I'd last seen Brian and Sheila I was delighted to come across them on their way to the island. I had spent the day ashore, climbing to the summit of Sron Romul, the highest point of Scarp. After descending to the village I knocked on Brian's door, but no one was home, so I left a note saying we'd be anchored here for the night, and to visit us when they returned.

I then had a chance to see the restored church. When I first visited Scarp in 2004 (see Book 2, chapter 30) I had wandered through the ruined church after chasing several sheep out. The first photo is from that visit. The second shows the chapel as it looks now. Beautiful.

Scarp church  - 2004

Scarp church  - 2013

After seeing the church we returned to the boat for the night. As we were doing this we saw Brian and Sheila returning to Scarp from Huisinish. Their boat, from a distance looked odd. And as they neared us the reason was clear. They were ferrying a mattress over to Scarp.

Mattress delivery - Scarp

We had an enjoyable dinner on Halmar Bjorge with Brian and Shiela. And afterwards watched them motor back to Scarp in the twilight.  The next day we set our sights on the Flannan Isles.