Posts by Jayne Stokes

An early rise this morning at 5:30am to catch the 6:15 ferry home to Oban. It has been a great 4 days exploring the island and I have come away with over 100 photographs and 20 found objects. I am looking forward to starting a new body of work using this research material. 

I left the cabin accomodation at 11 o'clock this morning and headed by bike to the island of Vatersay. Across the jetty and onto the island discovering lots of abandoned boats. The aim of todays journey was to explore the island and it's famous beaches, collecting found objects along the way. 

Today I discovered the abandoned settlement of Eorassdail. These homes were once occupied by the Vatersay raiders- land raiders from Barra who had the tenecity to attempt to scratch a living from the landscape against the wishes of their absentee landlords. After I discovered the settlement I went for a quick dip on East beach with it's clear waters and white sand.

14:00 on Saturday 20th August

Picked up my bike from the community shop this morning at 10am. My aim was to cycle all the way around the island stopping to take photographs and to pick up objects along the way. I am a novice cyclist and so the journey would prove to be a bit of a challenge with the strong wind and steep roads. I started my journey at Castlebay and headed East to Northbay. 

I experienced many different terrains along the route; rocky outcrops, white sandy bays and a variety of interesting buildings some inhabited and some abandoned. It was a hard cycle back on the West road heading into the wind. The sun was fortunately shining most of the way and I managed to dodge the rain which only returned at the very end of the journey. A total of 40 photographs today so plenty of new material to work with, the aim tomorrow is to investigate the island of Vatersay.

21:00 
After a long ferry ride I arrived in Barra at 18:00 and settled into my accomodation. After tea I took a stroll along the winding roads and discovered lots of fascinating buildings, abandoned vehicles and stranded boats.