Planning
I discovered the recently opened hostel on Ulva on an afternoon visit in summer 2024, and thought it would be a good place for a big celebration. I had the idea of paddling round Ulva and Gometra in two days with a trip out to Staffa. R|oddy kindly offered his support at the club 2025 trip planning meeting and followed up on this with a multi-day checkout of the hostel, yurts and kayak landing possibilities.
Arrival
After a period of very benign weather, the initial forecasts for this trip were pretty poor. An unusual aspect of this trip was kayaking to and from the hostel and a check with the warden was required to reassure us that we could get there. In the end conditions were fine and we experienced the fruits of Roddy’s preparation – the Scottish island equivalent of red carpet treatment – the warden had strimmed a path across a field, built a stile specially for us, and arranged a few cows as a welcoming party
The hostel suited us very well with 13 in the hostel, 3 camping and 2 in the luxury yurt
Day 1 Ulva and Gometra North coast
As it was windy on the south of the island we kayaked as two groups along the north shore of Ulva and Gometra. We sighted white tailed sea eagles and explored the windy channel that separates Gometra.
We finished the day with a great shared meal
Day 2 Ulva South Coast and Little Colonsay or Staffa
The weather was in our favour on the second day, with one group managing a 35km round trip from the hostel to the caves of Staffa, while the other group admired the basalt columns of Ulva’s south coast, stopped at Cragaig bothy, before circumnavigating Little Colonsay.
We returned to another shared meal before being enthralled by a talk given by the hostel warden, Andy. Andy shared the history of the island, its changing population, clearances, famine, community buyouts, the difficult economics of island farming, archeology and early occupations. We could have listened for hours if we could keep awake, and Andy could have talked for hours if he didn’t have an hour’s ride on his quad-bike back to his home on Gometra
Day 3 Easier kayaking, walking and meeting the locals
Thursday was another easy paddle for some. Others walked round parts of the island, or in one case a complete circumnavigation of the island. We kept bumping into Banjo and his dog Grandpa who were busy filming their next TV series. The day ended with a sublime meal at the Boathouse, which opened specially for us.
Day 4 Early return
With the prospect of SE winds preventing our return on Saturday, plans were hastily rearranged for us to leave on the Friday
Thank yous
A big thank you for Roddy and Ian for leading trips and providing the support to allow Ulva to happen
Another big thank you to Amanda, Miranda, Jane and Frances for shared meal preparations
Thank you to Andy the warden for making us so welcome.
Thank you to everyone who came along to make the trip a success, and make it a birthday to remember