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Lundy
Island’s supply vessel MV Oldenburg has begun her 2006 season of
sailings after a break from the worst of the winter weather and a
period of overhaul.
Seeing the
Oldenburg’s timetable featured once again on the island’s website
brought back memories of some of last year’s final sailings when our
family stayed on Lundy in October 2005.
We travelled
down to Lundy’s mainland port of Bideford through the gales that
swept South Wales and the West country of England. My wife Rhian was
hoping against hope that the whole crazy idea would be called off
while our children Guto, Iwan and Heledd were oblivious to the
weather, but very keen to know when we would arrive at somewhere
where they could eat.
Fish and
Chips at Bideford and settling in to our comfortable Kingsdown B&B
helped to restore the spirits, and a walk along the quay brought us
to the MV Oldenburg rocking gently at her berth as she prepared for
the following day’s sailing.
Daybreak on
Saturday saw us back on the quayside, with the vessel’s 4 ton crane
busy loading passengers’ luggage along with all sorts of essential
supplies for the island. This was the last week of scheduled
sailings before the winter, and the Lundy Company and the island’s
managers the Landmark Trust were obviously keen to fit as much cargo
as possible into the hold on the final voyages.
We settled
in the wood-panelled saloon in corner seats overlooking the foredeck
as the final items of cargo were winched aboard. Our young daughter
was particularly fascinated by a large sheep carried in a trailer as
deck cargo. Actually, it was a ram crossing to visit Lundy’s special
breed of organically-raised sheep, and he was looking pretty pleased
with himself until we hit the open sea. This was the first time that
I’d seen a ram turn green at the jowls as he sank further and
further to the floor of the trailer.
While the
voyage down the river Torridge was very pleasant, past the Appledore
shipyard whose future remains uncertain, all passengers- and not
just the ram- were acutely aware when we crossed the bar to the
Bristol Channel and the Atlantic beyond.
The previous
day’s storms had abated somewhat but the long swell made for a
lively crossing from the Devon coast.
Many
passengers, including members of the family, lay down in the saloon
or just held on to the furniture. The rest of us explored the
Oldenburg and enjoyed the coastal views and the experience of an
autumn crossing to a remote island.
MV Oldenburg
was built in 1958 for German Railways’ ferry service to the Friesian
Island and Heligoland, and was acquired by the Landmark Trust in
1986 as Lundy’s supply vessel following the demise of Campbell’s
White Funnel Fleet.
She is a
handsome 295 ton ship capable of carrying almost 300 passengers in
addition to a sizeable cargo capacity. Wooden decks, polished brass,
and varnished wood panelling is much in evidence on this very
traditional vessel.
The
combination of passenger vessel and cargo carrier made Oldenburg a
very different experience to family day trips to Lundy from Swansea
by the Balmoral under Campbell’s and Waverley Excursions ownership,
and this was the first time that we had actually stayed on the
island.
We were a
mixed bunch on the crossing – late-season day-trippers, staying
visitors, islanders returning from the mainland, and a group of
musicians with a flask of spirits and a menacing Jolly Roger tied to
the ship’s rails.
A word with
the Purser and the Master revealed that a disturbed weather pattern
was developing out in the Atlantic and that our stay on the island
could see some spectacular weather variations, but they were still
hopeful of being able to cross to collect us the following Tuesday,
provided that the prevailing south-westerlies allowed them to land!
After a
couple of hours Lundy gradually transformed from a grey-blue smudge
to a long mass of granite cliffs, heather and bracken. We moored at
the sturdy and relatively new wooden jetty below the South
Lighthouse and the Marisco Castle. Until recent years passengers and
their belongings had to be landed by motor launch, as the island
supply boats and Campbell’s White Funnel Fleet steamers anchored in
the bay.
As we
prepared to disembark a glance through the saloon windows across the
jetty saw a sizeable group of seals and any number of seabirds on
the rocks of Rat Island nearby. We had definitely arrived at Lundy!
While we
walked up the steep unmade road from the landing beach to the
village, the island workers and Oldenburg’s crew began the task of
unloading cargo and luggage. Despite its’ remote setting, Lundy has
a quite sophisticated and very helpful system of preparing
residential accommodation and ensuring that all the guests’ bags
arrive at the right mansion, cottage, shed, lighthouse or castle!
One of the
really nice differences from a day-trip was seeing the ship
preparing to leave at the end of the afternoon and not have to worry
about being on board on time. Lundy was now our home, and for the
next few days we were islanders.
The focus of
island life is the small village including St. Helena’s Church, the
Marisco Tavern, the splendidly stocked island shop, and a Post
Office with its’ unique Puffin currency stamps.
Our own
accommodation at The Quarters looked like a shed in a field, but
inside it was very warm, comfortable and well equipped, and it had
wondeful views across the channel to Hartland Point and the north
Devon coast. Other accommodation choices included historic Millcombe
House, the keep of Marisco Castle, the Old Light, several cottages,
a former Schoolroom and the mysterious Tibbetts Coastguard Lookout.
The day after
landing we spotted the Jolly Roger from the Oldenburg tied to the
fence of an old fisherman’s cottage.
Lundy has no
tarred roads or street lamps, and the house lights all go off at
midnight when the generators are cut. Torches and gas lamps are the
norm after late-night chats at the Marisco Tavern, which has a fine
selection of ales and meals.
It is
surprising that when you spend the best part of four days on an
island just three miles long by half a mile wide you still don’t
seem to have enough time to see everything – from castles to
lighthouses, seabirds, seals, ponies, goats, and coastguard
batteries. We had all sorts of weather from storms, rain, mist and
hail to bright sunshine and clear starlit nights, and stunning views
of both sides of the channel with its’ innumerable ships,
lighthouses and buoys.
On the
Tuesday of our return, there was considerable doubt whether MV
Oldenburg could cross in the stormy weather, and a helicopter was on
standby at Hartland Point to pick up around 60 departing guests.
However, word
came during the morning that she was on her way. Through binoculars
we could see a spume of spray like an angry whale, and gradually a
black and white hull became visible as the trusty supply vessel
tacked her way across the channel before a late landing at the
jetty.
New arrivals
and day-passengers told of hanging on for dear life on the crossing,
and MV Oldenburg’s gangway blew off the jetty to be recovered later
by divers.
As the crew
worked the cargo at the jetty, we only had few more hours on the
island, and we enjoyed our last visit to the Tavern before walking
back down to the landing beach to see the seals play on the rocks
and in the bay.
MV Oldenburg
left a bit late from the island, and although improved since the
morning the stormy weather made for a dramatic crossing. We were now
crossing to Ilfracombe and arrived in gathering darkness to an
attractive harbour scene and a respite from the gale in the Channel,
before a coach transfer back to Bideford.
We knew that
our idyllic weekend was over when we headed back to Wales and
stopped at Motorway Services on the M5. The insipid coffee and
indifferent service was such a contrast to the friendliness of our
favourite island!
Alun
Llewelyn |
