St Kilda

St Kilda is a collection of Islands in the North Atlantic 40 miles West of the Outer Hebrides. They are one of the very few sites in the world which have Dual World Heritage status. There never was a Saint called Kilda: the name may be a corruption of the old Norse name for the islands "Skildir", or another origin entirely. Much more information can be found on the National Trust for Scotland St. Kilda page and the St. Kilda Club of which I am a member.

I became interested in St. Kilda through my work on the Royal Artillery missile range on the Outer Hebrides in 1989. I was lucky enough to get a trip out on the army landing craft for an all too brief visit, which was further curtailed by heavy fog which almost prevented the boat from landing! As a result I had less than two hours on the island but while I was there the fog lifted to reveal an almost surreal landscape of cliffs and stacks in the evening light. I was hooked!

I managed to get onto a National Trust for Scotland working party the following year, and have been on two more since. The journey out used to be an overnight boat trip from Oban of 16 hours or more depending on the weather conditions. Having been almost "fogged out" in 1989 my journey in 1990 was held up on North Uist for 6 days because it was too rough. It is not an easy place to get to!

On the other pages are some of the many pictures I have taken on my total of 4 visits so far. Hopefully I will make further visits in the future. Below is a map of the islands and their main features.

[HOME] [Next] [Previous] [1 2 3 4 5]

Map