I finally made it to Staffa, 13 years after my first unsuccessful attempt. The weather for the first 6 days of our week on Mull in June 2021 was either too wet or too windy but on the final day it was perfect - calm, sunny and warm, so we booked two of the remaining few spaces on one of the trip boats running from Fionnphort (Staffa Trips and Staffa Tours). Boats also leave from Ulva Ferry (Turus Mara). Landing on Staffa is only possible on very calm days and when there is no swell. You only get just over an hour ashore on Staffa but that is long enough to see Fingal's Cave and also walk to and round the top of the island.
The only landing place is on the east coast. It is a simple concrete platform with a flight of steep concrete steps leading up from it to the top of the island.
Staffa is just over half a mile from north to south by quarter of a mile from east to west and the highest point on the island is 42 metres above sea level.
The island has been uninhabited since about 1800 but in 1772 it was home to one person and in 1784 16 people were living there. The island was originally part of the MacQuarrie's Ulva Estate but they sold it in 1777. It then had a succession of owners - Colin MacDonald of Lochboisdale, Ranald MacDonald, Gerald Newall, Alastair Watteville, the Langs and in 1986 it was bought by an American - Mr Jock Elliott Jr as a 60th birthday present for his wife Elly and donated to the National Trust for Scotland, who still own it.
Staffa is made of fine-grained black Tertiary basalt. Slow cooling caused the lava to form hexagonal columns. The same period of volcanic activity formed the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The coast of the island is indented with many caves, the most famous of which is called Fingal's Cave. It is named after Fionn MacCool, a 3rd century Irishman, who defended the Hebrides against Viking raiders. He is known in Gaelic as Fionn na ghal, which means chief of valour. In Gaelic, Fingal's Cave is known as An Uamh Bhin, which means the melodious cave. The name Staffa means pillar/post island in Old Norse, referring to the basalt columns.
A natural path, known as The Causeway leads from the landing place down the east coast of the island, across the hexagonal blocks to the mouth of Fingal's Cave and then into it. In places the path has been made safer by the addition of some concrete steps. The acoustics in the cave are extraordinary, as the seawater moves in and out of it. The walls of the cave are all composed of tall hexagonal basalt columns. The cave is unique and absolutely amazing.
The other main caves on Staffa are Clamshell Cave, which is located next to the landing place; Boat Cave, McKinnon's Cave and Cormorant Cave on the south coast; Goat Cave on the east coast. McKinnon's Cave and Cormorant Cave are linked by a narrrow tunnel. The cliff near Fingal's Cave was damaged in 1945 when a sea mine exploded.
In 1772 the botanist Joseph Banks brought Staffa to the world's attention. He spent the night in the house of the only family on the island and became infested with lice as a result. He publicised the island on his return to London and tourists started to visit. The famous people who came to see Fingal's Cave included Sir Walter Scott, John Keats, William Wordsworth, Queen Victoria & Prince Albert, Jules Verne, Dr David Livingstone, Robert Louis Stevenson and JWM Turner. The composer Felix Mendelssohn visited Staffa in 1829 and the magnificence of Fingal's Cave inspired him to write his Hebridean Overture (also known as Fingal's Cave).
The top of the island is reasonably flat and a few puffins nest in burrows on the cliffs.
No comments:
Post a Comment