This was recommended to me by a friend during the course of a conversation about traditional boats while we were engaged in searching for lichens on Dale Head on one of those August days when even the mountain tops become too warm.
It is a carefully crafted account of a journey or more accurately a series of journeys stitched together to explore the west coast of Britain. The author is an historian and the journey was by necessity fragmentary so as to allow for his lecturing commitments. It is a journey undertaken largely by kayak.
The early chapters give a flavour of the techniques involved in kayaking through the exposed and hazardous waters around Shetland where the journey begins. The narrative includes historical context, wildlife encounters and accounts of interactions with local inhabitants. He quickly realises that the advice given by local people includes descriptions of the uniquely dangerous sea condition that he will encounter.
As the book progresses, we are told less of the kayaking and more of the local landscape and its historical and cultural connections. I was staying on North Uist while reading the chapter on The Western Isles: I had just returned from a walk on the Udal Peninsula where I'd turned back from trying to cross to Vallay to take a close look at a ruined building as the channel seems too hazardous an undertaking. That same evening I read that the son of the archaeologist who'd lived there had been drowned while crossing to the island. Sometimes it turns out that a decision had been a good one !
David is clearly a traveller who values the wild places. As he continues south, he comments that the 'coast' becomes the 'seaside' and friendly meetings become rare events and are replaced by contentious confrontations. He seems to lose the joy of the journey as he continues southward beyond Bardsey.
This is a thoroughly good read and one that I found highly informative and enjoyable.
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