ISLE BE THERE
Adventurer John, 74, completes five-year mission to visit every inhabited island in UK
A 74-year-old has finished his five-year mission to visit every inhabited island in the British Isles.
John Chatterton has been greeted by eccentric billionaires and taken part in local customs while visiting 220 islands. And on Thursday, he was given permission to step on to the restricted 84-acre Whale Island, near Portsmouth, Hampshire – the last location on his UK list. John said: “There are some wonderful, beautiful islands around the UK. “Each one has a story to tell, and there are some wonderful, quirky characters.” The climate change consultant has spent thousands and used rowing boats, aircraft and cable cars to reach his goal.
He also took the 90-second shortest scheduled flight in the world between the Orkneys’ Westray and Papa Westray.
Other Scots stop-offs included the Inner
Hebrides’ Soay, Isla and Jura, plus Loch Crinan’s Eileean Da Mheinn.
John, of Birmingham, said: “We were transported to Dry Island in Loch Gairloch on a pontoon bridge and welcomed by the owner who offered to stamp our passports as he’s proclaimed his own country, Islonia. The owner of the Isle of Ewe, Ross-shire, picked us up in his boat and took us across.
“It’s a popular haunt for honeymooners apparently because it’s pronounced: I love you.”
John’s mission hasn’t always been easy.
To visit Foulness Island in Essex, a guide took him on “the most dangerous walk in the British Isles”.
It is home to quicksand, tides and a live military range.
But nothing compares to one inhabited island, in Clew Bay, County Mayo.
There he was met by a pack of baying dogs at the jetty.
The island security guard refused to let him come ashore.
So the best that he could manage was tapping on the pier with his walking stick.
John plans to release a book on his adventures.