FROM THE BOOK
In this extract from Quiet Escapes, Emma Thomson visits a deserted island in the West Highlands
Scotland is one of the quietest destinations in Europe, according to a European Environment Agency report.
On its western fringes, amid the porpoise-rich waters of Loch Sunart, you can find what must be one of its quietest spots, a bonnie eilean beag (small island) that you can have all to yourself. Accessible only by boat, the Isle of Carna is a protected 243-hectare verdant gem offering a blissful
bucketload of nothing: no roads, no traffic, no light pollution, no mains electricity, no water, no gas, and limited mobile phone signal. Instead, there are otters, eagles, butterflies and orchids.
Loch Sunart lies between the district of Morvern and the Ardnamurchan peninsula, which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean and forms the most westerly point on the UK mainland. This is a windswept area of pine and birch forest, thistle-studded moors and volcanic white-sand bays home to just 1,200 humans. The rest is given over to nature and it’s one of the few places in Britain where you can glimpse the elusive wildcat.
Here, the skies are alive with flaxen-capped gannets, guillemots, white-tailed eagles and ospreys; the glass-clear waters are visited by common and grey seals, dolphins and sometimes basking sharks or minke whales. It’s a wild corner in which to reconnect and reclaim your feral side, or spend quality time – always in such short supply – with family or friends without distractions.
Choose between two self-catering cottages: the 1920s four-bedroom Carna House with original gas lighting, or the smaller two-bedroom Carna Cottage with a woodburning stove. For years,
it served as the home of the island caretaker who would row her children to school across the loch. It now has optional wifi and smart TV with Netflix – but say no. Far better to watch otters fish the tranquil shallows around the pontoon from the conservatory or kitchen window, spy foxes and their cubs, or search for seals sunbathing on the rocks, slick as slugs and bent in the middle like
a smile.