National
Geographic Traveller put together a long list of islands that included lots of
my favourites. Trip Advisor sent a list
round recently that I really didn't agree with. So, here's my list of ideal little islands to visit, and to paraphrase (very
slightly) a work colleague from earlier this year, “Ross was never going to pick a warm Caribbean island”.
These are
my favourite little islands – they’re mostly remote, and mostly uncrowded, sometimes icy and they all appear
in my picture library.
I could put together another list of the bigger
islands I've been to, and I certainly could put together an even longer list of
remote islands I haven’t yet been to. In the meantime and in no particular order, my ten
favourite little islands.
Streymoy,
Faroe Islands
This is
the biggest island in the Faroe Islands group, looks and feels like a
Shetland-Iceland hybrid, which is geographically apt. Very friendly people, despite an unfortunate
(in my mind) line in whaling, with a very long lived democratic tradition, and
one of the few grass-roofed parliament buildings in the world. You can get to the Faroe Islands either by
boat or plane – but pretty much every visit to the islands is going to need to be preceded by a trip to Denmark.
Austvågøy, Lofoten Islands
The Lofoten Islands are a string of mountainous little islands
off the coast of Norway – from a distance it’s easy to see why there are collectively
called the Lofoten Wall, they stretch across the coastline appearing to block
the way north. Austvågøy is one of the bigger islands
and it’s rugged mountain interior is
ringed by fantastically picturesque little villages. There are lots of ways to get to the Lofoten
Islands - the Norwegian Coastal Steamer
stops here every day on both northerly and southerly journeys, there are a
couple of little airports, and if you are so inclined and have the time you can get here by road
too. The Norwegian government recently
built a series of bridges and tunnels to connect the islands to the Norwegian
mainland.
Mainland,
Shetland
This
probably only just fits the little island designation – but I wasn’t ever going to leave the main
island on Shetland off a list of my favourite islands. Despite holding most of the Shetland
Islands 22,000 people Mainland rarely feels crowded, and there are plenty
of places where you can be far away from people with only the wind (of which
there is plenty) and sea birds (of which there are also plenty) for company. In days gone by Shetland was pretty cut off
from Scotland, but these days there are regular flights to the southern end of
the mainland from Aberdeen Glasgow and Edinburgh, and there is an overnight
ferry to and from Aberdeen every day. There's even an occasional flight to Bergen in Norway if you want fit Shetland into you bigger Scandinavia tour.
Barra,
Outer Hebrides
Barra is
at the southern end of the Outer Hebrides, and is a delightful little
island. One of the unique features is
that there is an airport but no runway. The little planes from the mainland
take off and land on the beach (tide permitting). If you don’t
fancy tangling with the tides, the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry turns up two or three
times a week.
East
Falkland, Falkland Islands
East
Falkland is one of the two big islands in the Falkland group. There are lots of little islands around that
are the main lure for the wildlife watching tourist, but pretty much everyone turns
up to have a look at Stanley – the main town in the
Falklands – at some point in a visit to
the islands. Most people get here on
cruise ships, and get to spend an hour or two around the harbour visiting the
local pubs (there are several) and the souvenir shops (there are many). A little further afield is the most accessible King Penguin colony in the world, at Volunteer Point about
2 hours drive from Stanley. Accessible
is a relative term here – the first hour of
the drive is on a gravel road, the second hour needs a decent four-wheel drive
vehicle and a driver who knows how to use it. If you want to get here other than
on a cruise ship, you only have two options, flying on an RAF charter flight
from the UK (8000 miles with a refuelling stop on Ascension Island), or on the weekly scheduled flight from Santiago in Chile.
South
Georgia
If the
Falkland Islands aren’t remote enough, the next stop
is South Georgia. To get here you either
need to get posted by the British Antarctic Survey, or buy a berth on one of
the small number of expedition cruise ships that visit here each year. It’s about 72 hours sailing on an
expedition ship to get here from the Falklands across what can be pretty
entertaining seas. The reward of getting
here, in the summer at least, is unbelievable numbers of seals, penguins and lots of other seabirds. Until you’ve shared a beach with 400,000
King Penguins and several hundred very grumpy fur seals, you can’t really imagine what it’s
going to look, sound and smell like. Neither the penguins nor the fur seals are frightened of tourists. The penguins are just curious. The fur seals seem to have a vague recollection that we tried to make them all into fur coats in the 1920's, and if then can get close enough to take a revenge bite of a tourist they will happily do so.
Alderney,
Channel Islands
One of
the smaller of the Channel Islands, and arriving here is a bit like stepping
back in time. The island has a remarkable resident to restaurant ratio,
and from any point on the lovely coast path you are only a few hundred yards
from a good lunch. The only real
downside is that the island probably isn’t big enough to walk off the
lunches without getting dizzy. The easiest way to get to Alderney is on one of
the little yellow planes operated by Aurigny, the Channel Island airline – the runway was a grass field until recently, but it’s now a ‘proper’ runway, and much less fun to land on.
Svalbard
The most
northerly of my islands is Svalbard.
This is close to 80 degrees north, and until recently it was mainly a
mining colony. Nowadays most visitors turn in the hope of seeing polar bears
and other wildlife in the amazing clear northern air. Despite the remote location and the fact that
it’s dark for several months in the winter, there are regular flights each day from mainland Norway.
Lewis,
Outer Hebrides
This is
at the other end of the Outer Hebrides to Barra –
and is a much bigger island. This means
that there is space to fit in more beaches, more cliffs and even the magnificent Standing
Stones at Callanish. These may not be
quite as big or well known as Stonehenge, but they are in a much more dramatic
setting. Lewis is comfortably the
biggest of the Outer Hebrides and main town Stornaway is able to offer both
a little airport and a regular ferry service across the Minch to mainland
Scotland.
Fair
Isle, Shetland
The Shetland
Islands spread over quite a large area but the extreme southern
outpost is Fair Isle, twenty-five miles south of the Shetland mainland, and just visible on a good day. The island is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and occupied by less than 100 people and (in
the summer at least) by an awful lot of seabirds. The main reason most people visit is to see the birds and to stay at the Fair Isle Bird Observatory.
The poor sailor will need to get to the island on one of the weather
dependent little planes run by the Shetland Islands Council, the good sailor
(and those foiled by the weather) will need to run the gauntlet of the Good
Shepherd IV as it crosses the Noost south of the Shetland mainland. This bit of sea is where the currents from
the North Sea and the Atlantic mingle – and it can be a challenge to
the most hardened seafarer.
