Mingulay

Extended Details

Adventurous climbing on massive sea cliffs of perfect gneiss on a hard to access, uninhabited island in the Outer Hebrides, totally self-sufficient for a week, with nothing but the sea birds and the seals to keep up company – this will be a truly unforgettable trip.

Everyone I’ve spoken to who has been to Mingulay has come back raving about the climbing, the experience and the surprisingly good weather! The climbing is superb, with long pitches and generally good gear on good rock. The showpiece crags are Sron an Duin the best part of 100m high and with loads of classic routes to go at, but also massess of virgin rock to explore.

There are routes at all levels from Diff to E Silly but, as is often the case with sea cliffs, the best stuff is at HVS and above.

Unsurprisingly, these remote sea cliffs were late to be discovered and the first routes were put up only in 1993 but Mick Fowler and Chris Bonington. Rumours of the amazing climbing soon spread and a new routing frenzy ensued but there is still plenty of new routing potential!

The only guide book is Garry Latter’s Scottish Rock Volume 2 North but it is fairly definitive and there are photo topos for some of the crags. The 2009 edition is now out of print, but a second edition is anticipated to be released in November 2014. There is a new SMC definitive guide expected.

The island used to sustain small communities of sheep farmers and fishermen but have been uninhabited for about a hundred years. That means we will need to wild camp and take all food and gear for the week with us. There is fresh water though, so you can leave that desalination kit at home!

The main logistical challenge is booking the fishing boat from Barra to the island. I’ve been in touch with Donald the boatman and he says that he’s usually pretty busy with bookings around the time of this trip, so I would like to get back to him as soon as possible to confirm the booking. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested. There are only 12 places on the fishing boat – first come, first served!

To confirm your place, I will ask for a deposit of £105 which includes the costs of fishing boat transfers & hire of satellite phone. (The fishing boat is £90 per person return (minimum 6 passengers). The deposit is non-returnable unless your place on the boat is filled by someone else).

I have had a quote for £156 for the phone, might be able to get one cheaper, so there may be a few pounds either way extra / reimbursement depending on number of people on the trip &/or whether we can find a cheaper phone.

This should be a fairly cheap holiday as the only other costs are ferry and fishing boat costs, getting to Oban, food for the week, and possibly a contribution to some group kit like a base camp style tent (we could also have communal food and fuel if people can agree on what they want to eat!). If you want to splash out, you can spend one or two nights on Barra in a hostel or a hotel but the wild camping is obviously free!

In 2014, ferry fares (Oban to Barra) were £28.50 return per person.
Car was £130 return (not necessary though)

To sum up, this trip will be great for:

• People of an intrepid disposition
• Aficionados of adventurous, committing sea cliff climbing
• People who like new routing and doing early repeats
• Those who think Lundy is too crowded
• Bird watching and gazing at the sunset
• Reading that novel you’ve always wanted to read
• Writing that novel you’ve always wanted to write

This trip will be not so great for:

• People of a nervous disposition
• Sport climbers (the islands are a bolt free zone)
• People who don’t like abseiling
• People who like to post regular Facebook updates
• Shopping

Venue

Mingulay is smaller than Lundy and is a few miles south of Barra, which is the southernmost inhabited island in the Outer Hebrides. Did I say remote?

Date

Friday 5 June 2015 – Sunday 14 June 2015, The days will be long and for it to be warm enough. There are no bird bans in place and nesting birds should not be a problem when climbing as the cliffs are generally too steep for them. However watch out for bonxies dive bombing to protect their nests on the hill side approaches!

Time – Outline schedule as follows:

Friday 5 June meet in Oban in the morning (lift sharing to be arranged if possible or you could get the train), get the ferry across to the island of Barra in the morning. It’s a five hour ferry crossing! In 2014, the ferry left Oban in the morning at 13:40 arriving Castlebay 18:30. Hopefully it will be the same in 2015 so that Donald can take us to Mingulay that evening (he’s confirmed that he will take us over on 5th June as long as ferry times the same — Summer timetable will be available in Dec 14).

You can:

• Leave cars in Oban (free parking) and travel as a foot passenger. Note that CalMac Ferries won’t let you return to the dock to collect a second load of luggage.
• Take a car on the ferry to avoid having to lug heavy baggage on Barra. 2014 prices were £28.50 return for a foot passenger and £130 + £28.50 per passenger return for a car. In 2014, a couple of vans went over to Barra with luggage and people contributed to the extra cost.
• One pair took a car all the way over, expediting a speedy return home on the Sunday.

Hopefully boat to Mingulay on the Friday we arrive in Barra. Donald the boatman is a top bloke! He is happy to be flexible and reschedule the trip in case of bad weather. The boat takes 12 plus gear and we will need at least 6 people for the sailing.

Friday 5th June to Saturday 13th June 2015 awesome climbing, wild camping, storytelling, chilling out, star gazing, bird and seal watching and swimming in the sea if you’re brave!

Saturday 13th June 2015 Donald’s fishing boat back to Barra in the afternoon, followed by some beers and a night in a proper bed, unless you’re hard core and opt to wild camp one more night!

Sunday 14th June Ferry back to Oban in the morning. 2014 times were: leaving at 9.20 and arriving at 14.10, then the journey back home with memories to last a lifetime ☺

Coordinators
Kyle Pattinson & Chris Imray

Coordinator email and phone number
kyle.pattinson@pobox.com

Logistics, logistics, logistics…

The islands are uninhabited (as in properly uninhabited, not like Lundy!) and the nearest pub will be a several mile swim away on Barra, so taking all food and gas supplies for the week would be a good idea. The good news is that there is fresh water on the islands.

There are two small shops on Barra for any last minute supplies but they will probably be closed by the time we get there from Oban on the Saturday evening, so it would be better to get all the food in Oban or back home.

Here’s a provisional kit list:

• Several 100m abseil ropes plus rope protectors for sharp edges would be useful – beg, borrow or steal one! Old woollen carpets work really well for the cliff tops.
• Helmets to protect against dive bombing bonxies
• Usual trad kit for long, adventurous routes
• Medical kit (and first aid skills?!)
• A large base camp style tent would be useful
• Usual camping gear
• Gas or whatever other fuel your stove takes
• Consider water purification kit
• Food and snacks for the week
• Toilet paper
• Rubble bags — to cache gear & keep it dry (hide it on other side of island to avoid carrying it every day)
• Wellies (ground is boggy)
• Oh yeah, midge repellent as well!
• Spade (1 for the group)
• Satellite phone for emergencies.

Non-members are welcome but for insurance reasons we’d require you to be a member of a BMC affiliated club or a BMC individual member.

And finally… I bet you didn’t know that there’s a coral reef near Mingulay!

Meet info written by Misha Nepogodoviev, 2013.
Adapted by Kyle Pattinson & Chris Imray 2014