Sanday Mug

[Rosaboobie]

Look what I bought yesterday at our local Craft Shop. It show one of our Selkies.

[Rosaboobie]

And this is the other side of the mug, showing our very famous lighthouse. Start Point lighthouse on Sanday was completed on 2 October 1806 by engineer Robert Stevenson (Robert Louis Stevenson the author was his grandson). It was the first Scottish lighthouse to have a revolving light and since 1915 has exhibited distinctive black and white vertical stripes which are unique in Scotland. The light was automated in 1962 and is powered by a bank of 36 solar panels.

[LadyKestrel]

I probably mentioned this in the book forum, but a fascinating history of the building of the Scottish lighthouses is The Lighthouse Stevensons by Bella Bathurst. The building of those lights was fraught with difficulties, the main problem being, of course, the weather. One light was half built when a whopper of a storm washed it out to sea, and they had to start again from scratch.

I collect mugs from all the places I visit, RB, so if I ever get to Sanday, I'll have to buy that one.

[Rosaboobie]

Oh I can imagine they had the devil of a time building this one, LadyK, with such inclement weather here!

I would like to read that book.

[draclvr]

Me too... if I ever get to Sanday, it will be one of my first purchases! I will have to look for that book - it really sounds interesting.

[Rosaboobie]

Ha ha, it was far easier for me to get from Kenya to Jersey, than it is to get to here from anywhere - travel is a nightmare, with no ferries or flights liaising, and so you always have to include night stopovers. Just a trip to Aberdeen Hospital takes us Sanday people 3 whole days!

Anyway, when you do all come, we can have a lovely BBQ

[draclvr]

I'm ready for the adventure!

[Diat60]

Selkie - I looked this up, as I'd heard of Kelpies but not Selkies. Apparently an Orcadian word for seal. Not exactly what comes to mind when you think of mermaids!

[draclvr]

If you are on Facebook, Diat, the Hillwick Wildlife Sanctuary has a wonderful page where they post pictures and videos of the baby Selkies they rescue, rehabilitate and release back into the wild. They also take in orphaned baby sea otters to raise as wild as they and release when they are old enough. The Sanctuary is on Shetland and is just a wonderful place. They also have a website.

[Rosaboobie]

Hillswick wanted to build some new "wet" rooms for their residents at the end of last year, and they asked for donations to buy boxes of wall and floor tiles on their Facebook page, and they received an overwhelming response. They do such a wonderful job, this Sanctuary.