The Isle of Eriskay
The Isle of Eriskay plays a late, but pivotal role in the novel. In real life as well as the book, there lies an abandoned village on the eastern seaboard of the island called Roisinis.
The village was once inhabited in recent memory, but records show the population slowly declined to the zero amount of people there today. Apart from the numerous sheep and the occasional wild pony, the location is empty of any activity.
In the book, Major Patrick Dowling takes refuge in the village where he'd also left an infected girl to spread the Virus to the rest of the survivors. To find out what happened next you'll have to read the book of course!
In the early Spring of 2024, my partner and myself visited the locations, armed with my trusty DSLR, a drone and his go-pro we set about recording as much of what is left as possible. It was a particularly foggy day and happily the photos reflected the best aspects of the fog, including a fog-bow that followed our every footstep!
It's worth noting, before you see the island, that the ship SS Politician sank very close to this location. During World War Two, this ship was carrying precious cargo bound for the (at that time) neutral United States when a navigation error meant it ground to a halt on exposed rocks between the Isles of Eriskay and South Uist. There was a wartime shortage of many luxuries and one of these luxuries - whisky- was much valued in Hebridean life!
There followed a true story of locals boarding the abandoned ship and pilfering anything that could, but mostly whisky of course! Bottles were hidden in basements, caves and peat bogs ensuring the locals had an illegal supply for those long winter nights!
Sadly, the customs men made examples of many of the locals who ended up in jail for the theft. As for the ship, they tried to refloat it but it broke its back, half the ship still lies on the sea bed while the floating half was towed away and scraped.
The story was commemorated in the Ealing Comedy - Whisky Galore! While set on Eriskay, the filming location was actually the Isle of Barra a wee bit to the south of Eriskay. Check the film out, and it's 2016 remake that while not as good, was still entertaining!
And my partner's video of our visit
Various views of the Isle of Eriskay
