The Prisoner and the Village, St Kilda.

The morning dawned fair. We were all feeling a bit tired after our paddle to Dun the previous evening...

...so we decided to spend the morning exploring the village.

We waited to meet the National Trust for Scotland warden at the pier head and he introduced us to the island.

We started at the feather store...

...then moved to the gun that was installed after a German U boat had shelled the

An evening paddle in the lee of Dun.

The forecast was not looking promising, the wind was due to increase 5-6 from the NE, imminently. We launched from the Cuma at 6pm...

...and made for the Dun Gap in beautiful evening sunshine.

The wind and the tide were whistling through the Dun Gap as I looked back past Giasgeir, in mid channel, to Oisebhal (293m) on Hirta.

Mostly it was sheltered in the lee of Dun but there were some vicious

Arrival at Hirta, St Kilda.

From Boreray and the Stacs, MV Cuma motored towards Hirta and Soay, which are the two largest islands in the St Kilda archipelago. The next two by size are Boreray and Dun. The cliffs falling from the summit of Connachair (at 430m, the high point on Hirta) are the highest sea cliffs in the British Isles.

As Cuma made her way round the east side of Hirta, we caught sight of the jagged outline of 

Crossing to St Kilda, the islands at the edge of the World.

The morning of Sunday 12th June dawned fair and after an extensive Cuma breakfast, we took some air upon the deck to allow our stomachs to settle. Ken explained to the others how he had managed to hold on to the toast rack with the very last slice of toast!

Murdani listened intently to the weather forecast. It was not looking good at the end of the week and the wind this evening was forecast to