Adventures on the Isle of Canna
This is part two of my holiday- a week on the Isle of Canna in Scotland. We actually stayed on Sanday, another tiny island separated by a small channel from Canna and joined by a bridge. There is quite a sheltered bay between Canna and Sanday, and the caravan we were staying in looked onto it- such a good view!
View of Rum (on the left in the distance) and Sanday from Canna. We stayed on the right of that little rounded bay on the right on Sanday.
The caravan we stayed in was on the low road, which flooded at high tide, so that was quite exciting!
The road flooded at high tide.
View from the caravan on Sanday- just look at the reflations in the bay!
Natural Colour Inspiration
The weather was definitely a mixture as usual- some bright moments, but there was a lot of rain, and the winds were strong enough that our ferry back was cancelled, and we had to stay an extra couple of days. The rain isn’t enough to stop adventures though, we just got very good at getting our waterproofs on fast and hiding behind big rocks!
Paths on the Isle of Canna were harder to find than on Eigg, but we did make it to the top of the island. Even though it was a big boggy in places, there was still plenty of colour and inspiration to be found. Grasses turning golden, patches of purple heather and some other small flowers or grasses I sadly don’t know that were a beautiful reddish colour. The reads were turning orange, and there was a lot of orange-tinged seaweed- in the right light the colours were fantastic!
I’m note sure what this plant is but I love the colour!
Reeds turning orange - so beautiful
Clumps of heather at the top of Canna.
I just love this yellow lichen- the colour and the texture!
The rock patterns are enhanced by the white lichen.
The contrast of the yellow on dark grey is beautiful here.
Historical Interest
The Isle of Canna has a really rich history, and has about 2000 sites of archeological interest, I think! It was owned by John Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw from 1938 to the 1980s when they gifted the island to the National Trust Scotland. They created an archive of Gaelic culture, documenting island life through photography, film and recording music and folklore. I watched a really lovely documentary about Margaret Fay Shaw just before we went to Canna, and I highly recommend it! Now I’m currently reading one of her books and next on my list is trying to learn some of the songs she documented (that might take longer!).
The church on Sanday
The road to Tarbot and the souterrains on Canna,
Looking towards Rum from Canna.
We walked as far as the road goes on Canna and then followed a stream to find two souterrains. These are iron age underground spaces probably used for storage. We got lucky with the weather that day and had some blue skies and great views! The coast is mostly rocky so I also found it endlessly fascinating to watch the waves funnelling themselves through channels in the rock.
Knitwear for Beaches
Of course no island holiday is complete without plenty of time on beaches! Even if it is still pretty cold and windy and you need plenty of layers. I had a chance to get some cartwheel practice on the beautiful beach on Sanday, and test out some of my new hats and scarves on the beach at Tarbot.
Above you can see my new Berneray hat and scarf, with warm pinks and reds. The hats are hand framed and finished by me in the studio, and the scarves have been knitted for me in Hawick.
Below are my new Skye hat and scarf, with more sea inspired blue combinations with a flash of bright lichen green. Again, I spent ages on those rocks just watching the waves come in and trying to capture them!
Lambswool is the ideal fibre for adventuring in, as it’s breathable, and the lambswool I use is incredibly soft, which I think always helps if you’re going to be wearing something for long periods of time.
Although the Isle of Canna is a tiny island, with only a small honesty shop, it does have a cafe! It was only open on certain days, but we had a wonderful evening there, trying local seaweed as a starter and battling our way back to the caravan in the dark and the wind. The food was amazing, and it was so nice to experience a bit of the local hospitality, even with social distancing restrictions. I thoroughly recommend Canna Cafe if you ever visit the island.
Below is as dressed up as I managed to get, as I also had to wear full waterproofs on and off all the time. But I never mind an opportunity to wear one of my sweaters!
Islay Sweater
Islay Sweater and Yair Scarf on the bridge between Canna and Sanday.
I decided to create a few new hats just in time to take on holiday- they were only just made on time! These are new colours of my most popular hat style, and they’re great for colder days as they create three layers of knit over your ears to keep you cosy. They’re named Canna and Sanday and will always make me think of this adventure.
New Canna Hat
My new Sanday Hat! Worn with Barra Scarf
Canna Hat with Yair Scarf.
Seal Watching
One of the highlights of being on the Isle of Canna was watching the seals, which we saw from most of the bays on Canna. There was a little island that a group of them would be on most of the time that was only a short walk from where we were staying, and one seal in particular would normally appear in the bay near us every day. On our last night a group of six of them came to the rocks near us for several hours, and we had a great time just watching them. This photo of the biggest one was taken through binoculars!
Eden hat and Iona gloves- great for seal watching…
The biggest seal of the group!
I’ve mentioned a few times that I spent a lot of time watching waves. So here are a couple of the best ones! There’s something so mesmerising about watching the sea- it’s calming and exciting, the same but always different, and I love it.
