When Will Copestake, leader at Kayak Summer Isles in Scotland, slapped a map across the bow of his canoe he was struck with inspiration. Now he’s inviting you to take part with your own island bagging expedition.
Over the last few years I have embarked on a project to spend a night on each of the Summer Isles, an archipelago of islands in the North west of Scotland. This is a place I have the pleasure to spend most of my time as a kayak guide with my business Kayak Summer Isles. The idea, much like many of my adventures, is to embed myself within a landscape I’d like to become more intimately familiar with. There is no better way, in my opinion, than to spend a night.
So how many Summer Isles are there to bag? It’s 15 when you list the larger Summer Isles, some of which are linked by intertidal beaches. For my adventure I’ve paired down to include the rocky islands and skerries. So anything 5m proud of mean high water springs plus a careful assessment of the inter-tidally linked islands, brings that count to 42.
As of the end of summer 2024 I was over half way through my project with 21 islands slept on. As the project progresses the islands are becoming more challenging too, some of which little more than rocks to perch a camp on.
The journey so far has achieved exactly what I hoped it would. Discovery. While some islands I camp on regularly with clients, others I rarely – if ever – land on. Spending time on these lesser landed islands exposes new aspects of the Summer Isles I’d never experienced. On more than one rocky skerry I have been surprised to discover grass and comfortable campsites impossible to have known about without exploring here. These in turn become new and exciting options for the more adventurous guests I often take out. Having the added time of an evening to wander the rocks and islands has also brought more intimate knowledge with the wildlife on the islands, discovering (at respectable distances) how the colonies of birds and seals behave, or which islands have otter and storm petrel on them.
Some islands I’ve explored with guests for the first time too, sharing the fun of a new adventure together when the right weather and group combines.
As part of my challenge I’ve teamed up with Splashmaps to create a personalised Summer Isles SplashMap centred around the islands to which we have added some of my locally learnt tidal information as a useful aid to like-minded paddlers. I’ve discovered that the best way to use it is to whip it out of my buoyancy aid pocket and dunk it in the sea which then allows it to stick across my kayak deck beautifully.
This particular map has been enduring a little bit of a personal experiment too. I’ve been ‘stress testing’ it, being deliberately hard on it over this season. I’ve been leaving it stuffed into my damp buoyancy aid pocket, covered in salt and sand. I have purposefully not washed it, nor cared for it to see how it fared. So far, after a full season’s use, it is still looking great, no tears, no fading and no mildew stains. The few planning mishaps – resulting in small coffee stains – I’m confident will wash out in a machine.
This season has been one of the harshest I can remember in the north of Scotland with persistent strong winds and rain all summer, this naturally has slowed progress a little. I’m aiming to have 25 islands slept on by Christmas this year and over the next coming seasons finish the rest. The excitement of new adventure keeps the islands alive and I’ll look forward to sharing my journey with you.
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