Pierowall Westray, Orkney
The Isle of Westray is a very welcoming place.... and we hope we passed on some "love" while we were there....read on!
The father of the island is the very welcoming Tommy Rendall who has been working at Pierowall harbour for 53 years. HM since 1997, he started as the ferryman driving the school "bus" (see photo 4) to and from Papa Westray 4 miles away. He once welcomed a Norwegian family into the harbour who were circumnavigating the world for 5 years. Their boat took 12 days to mend and so Tommy had them back to his house to teach the children all about gardening! The boat's owner, Stien Torbergson, is now a Harbour Master in Norway........
Are you thinking what I am thinking?! Message me if you are and would like to come!
Tommy told us how only local people can buy houses on Westray, so there are very few second homes; how the community works with just 600 people; how he got £1.7M EU funding to add a metre to the height of the harbour wall (the sea used to wash over the top in a storm!); about the crab processing business which sells live crabs to China for twice the normal price; how the very first salmon farm was started up in Westray in 1989 by a local cattle farmer using the ship-to-ship oil pipes as the floating rings; how this business was then sold to the Poles, then Norwegians and now the Canadian company Cooke Aquaculture.
I was intrigued to see the salmon feed was organic (see Photo 5) and I was told "organic" salmon are periodically flushed through "fresh" water tanks (Photo 6). The main difference is the density of the fish in the cages - and we did see some cages far out to sea at 60m depth! I know farmed salmon is a very emotive subject, but it is a vital employer in these remote places.
Finally a big thank you to the volunteer host of the marina, Jacob (photo 10) - what a great guy!
Oh yes - passing on love - I nearly forgot! After dark, yacht Deadbeat came into the harbour and asked to "raft up" next to us (photo 8). Before we knew it the whole crew of mainly Swiss engineers (!) were drinking malt whisky in Good Dog's saloon - that is called "passing the love" in sailing!
The father of the island is the very welcoming Tommy Rendall who has been working at Pierowall harbour for 53 years. HM since 1997, he started as the ferryman driving the school "bus" (see photo 4) to and from Papa Westray 4 miles away. He once welcomed a Norwegian family into the harbour who were circumnavigating the world for 5 years. Their boat took 12 days to mend and so Tommy had them back to his house to teach the children all about gardening! The boat's owner, Stien Torbergson, is now a Harbour Master in Norway........
Are you thinking what I am thinking?! Message me if you are and would like to come!
Tommy told us how only local people can buy houses on Westray, so there are very few second homes; how the community works with just 600 people; how he got £1.7M EU funding to add a metre to the height of the harbour wall (the sea used to wash over the top in a storm!); about the crab processing business which sells live crabs to China for twice the normal price; how the very first salmon farm was started up in Westray in 1989 by a local cattle farmer using the ship-to-ship oil pipes as the floating rings; how this business was then sold to the Poles, then Norwegians and now the Canadian company Cooke Aquaculture.
I was intrigued to see the salmon feed was organic (see Photo 5) and I was told "organic" salmon are periodically flushed through "fresh" water tanks (Photo 6). The main difference is the density of the fish in the cages - and we did see some cages far out to sea at 60m depth! I know farmed salmon is a very emotive subject, but it is a vital employer in these remote places.
Finally a big thank you to the volunteer host of the marina, Jacob (photo 10) - what a great guy!
Oh yes - passing on love - I nearly forgot! After dark, yacht Deadbeat came into the harbour and asked to "raft up" next to us (photo 8). Before we knew it the whole crew of mainly Swiss engineers (!) were drinking malt whisky in Good Dog's saloon - that is called "passing the love" in sailing!