Erraid () is a

tidal island A tidal island is a raised area of land within a waterbody, which is connected to the larger mainland by a natural isthmus or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide, causing the land to switch between being ...

approximately square located in the

Inner Hebrides The Inner Hebrides ( ; ) is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, which experience a mild oceanic climate. The Inner Hebrides compri ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It lies west of Mull (to which it is linked by a beach at low tide) and southeast of

Iona Iona (; , sometimes simply ''Ì'') is an island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there are other buildings on the island. Iona Abbey was a centre of Gaeli ...

. The island receives about of rainWalker, Alex (Ed). (1994). ''The Kingdom Within: A Guide to the Spiritual Work of the Findhorn Community''. Findhorn Press. and 1,350 hours of sunshine annually, making it one of the driest and sunniest places on the western seaboard of Scotland. It is attended by numerous uninhabited small islets, the largest being Eilean Dubh (of which there are two), Eilean nam Muc, Eilean Chalmain, Eilean Ghomain and Eilean na Seamair. The island features a disused signal station for the

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

s on Dubh Artach and

Skerryvore Skerryvore (from the Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic ''An Sgeir Mhòr'' meaning "The Great Skerry") is a remote island that lies off the west coast of Scotland, southwest of Tiree. Skerryvore Lighthouse is located on these rocks, built with some diff ...

and a row of cottages built for the lighthouse keepers.

Satish Kumar Satish Kumar (born 9 August 1936) is an Indian British activist and speaker. He has been a Jainism, Jain monk, nuclear disarmament advocate and pacifist.'' ''Now living in England, Kumar is founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher ...

has also visited the island and his autobiography includes an account of the event. The island is privately owned and is home to an

intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of group cohesiveness, social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, wh ...

, part of the

Findhorn Foundation The Findhorn Foundation is a Scottish charitable trust registered in 1972, formed by the spiritual community at the Findhorn Ecovillage, one of the largest intentional communities in Britain.''The Dictionary of Alternatives: Utopianism and O ...

. There is a well-known anchorage on the western side of the island called 'Tinker's Hole'. It is a deep but narrow channel between Erraid and the westernmost of the islets called Eilean Dubh. In 2021, Ben Fogle's long-running hit Channel 5 series 'New Lives in the Wild' visited the island to record an episode with one of the permanent community members living there (Philip Hetherington). The episode aired on 21 September 2021.

''Kidnapped''

Erraid is one of the locations featured in the novel '' Kidnapped'' by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

. David Balfour, the hero of this tale was marooned for a while on the island having been shipwrecked on the Torran Rocks, which lie to the south. Stevenson's father,

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

was involved in the construction of the nearby lighthouses, and the stones for Dhu Heartach were quarried on the island, and the young Robert Louis visited the island on several occasions, recalling one such excursion in his book '' Memories and Portraits''. He later based the fictional island of Aros, the setting of his short story " The Merry Men", on the island.MacNab, Peter, (1999) ''Mull and Iona: Highways and Byways''. Edinburgh. Luath Press. Davie Balfour is trapped on the island by his ignorance, and as he says in ''Kidnapped: Chapter XIV''-

A sea-bred boy would not have stayed a day on Earraid; which is only what they call a tidal islet, and except in the bottom of the neaps, can be entered and left twice in every twenty-four hours, either dry-shod, or at the most by wading. Even I, who had the tide going out and in before me in the bay, and even watched for the ebbs, the better to get my shellfish—even I (I say) if I had sat down to think, instead of raging at my fate, must have soon guessed the secret, and got free. It was no wonder the fishers had not understood me. The wonder was rather that they had ever guessed my pitiful illusion, and taken the trouble to come back. I had starved with cold and hunger on that island for close upon one hundred hours. But for the fishers, I might have left my bones there, in pure folly. And even as it was, I had paid for it pretty dear, not only in past sufferings, but in my present case; being clothed like a beggar-man, scarce able to walk, and in great pain of my sore throat.

Stevenson also includes a description of the island:

It was still the roughest kind of walking; indeed the whole, not only of Earraid, but of the neighbouring part of Mull (which they call the Ross) is nothing but a jumble of granite rocks with heather in among.

Davie Balfour stayed alive during his stay on the island by eating limpets:

I knew indeed that shell-fish were counted good to eat; and among the rocks of the isle I found a great plenty of limpets, which at first I could scarcely strike from their places, not knowing quickness to be needful. There were, besides, some of the little shells that we call buckies; I think periwinkle is the English name. Of these two I made my whole diet, devouring them cold and raw as I found them; and so hungry was I, that at first they seemed to me delicious.

References

External links

Isle of Erraid websiteFindhorn Foundation website
{{coord, 56, 17, 35, N, 6, 22, 00, W, region:GB_type:isle, display=title Landforms of the Isle of Mull Islands of the Inner Hebrides Ecovillages Tidal islands of Scotland Findhorn community Islands of Argyll and Bute

''Kidnapped''

See also

References

External links