It had been a long 4 years since I’d last joined any Relative Hills Society (RHSoc) trips and with this year’s AGM a mere hop, skip and a jump away in Kintail in late May it would have been rude not to pop along and catch up with some good old friends from the 2014-2019 period covered in this previous reflections post of mine.

For me, the spare time during the few days in the area was reserved for exploring some nice walking routes both in Kintail and on Skye. There was also a couple of very successful boat trips to the Bracadale Islands and Soay from Elgol as well as an evening trip to Iosaigh on Loch Dunvegan. It was great to be back out on the water again with the chilled out ‘baggers of all things’ as a boatman once referred to them.

Rather fortunately one of the baggers, Jonathan, had purchased an inflatable boat with an outboard engine and, as the days progressed he was off out shipping people to otherwise inaccessible islands.

After passing through the Kyle of Lochalsh a good few times that week, the idea of getting a closer look at the little flat pack lighthouse on Eileanan Dubha East to the east of the Skye bridge crept into my mind. I approached Jonathan with this opportunity and he was happy to help out so I gathered interest from others wishing to head out during the RHSoc AGM and evening meal.

A merry band of us (or not so merry as was the case for myself and one or two others after one – or five – too many drinks the night before) gathered at Kyle of Lochalsh on the Sunday morning and Jonathan prepared our chariot for the short ride across to Eileanan Dubha East.

Off we set, two at a time, and the calm water and fresh air did wonders at bringing me closer to some sort of sensible state. It didn’t do a huge amount for my energy levels though as, once I’d navigated my way across the rocks to the lighthouse, that was where I stayed for the duration of the visit. I had to borrow pictures to help populate this post!

It was an excellent spot to just sit and watch as others made their way over and went off exploring whether the tide was low enough to get to one of the neighbouring islands in the Eileanan Dubha group. The glass-bottomed boat from Kyleakin went past at one point, with passengers enjoying watching the seals on another island – and probably wondering what we were up to as well.

I clearly wasn’t the only one enjoying watching the world go by from that tiny island as the others, rather unusually, also took to sitting around, chatting and just generally enjoying that Sunday morning chilled feeling. Once we (or I) had mustered up some energy we used the opportunity to give the light a group hug, which went rather well. It’s always a fun activity to introduce people to and makes for some great pictures too, even if it is impossible to get everyone in the picture.

Eileanan Dubha marks the east entrance to Kyle Akin, the relatively short stretch of water separating Skye from the mainland. At the west end of the Kyle is the now inactive Eilean Ban, or Kyleakin, Lighthouse which is very much overshadowed now by the bridge.

Further along the Eileanan Dubh group is the teeny tiny Eight Metre Rock Lighthouse, or so it says anyway. In my view it’s a couple of little cabinets with a light on top of one of them, so doesn’t hold anywhere near as much interest.

With a journey back home ahead that day it was time to head back and bid a fond farewell to Eileanan Dubha East which had provided a little piece of calm and quiet on a day where it was very much needed 🙂