Muckdate 5: Shopping, Sunshine and The Little Red Boat
Yesterday started at 6.30am - not with a wakeful baby, but with a call to the Co-op in Mallaig. Because there's no shop on Muck, supplies have to be brought from the mainland, so for daily groceries the only option is the Co-op (no shopping around, click& collect, or doorstep delivery here!). What happens is that the day before you think the CalMac ferry stands the best chance of making it into Muck's harbour, you email the shop with a list of what you want. I'm sure that as you get to know their stock you get adept at requesting quite specific things, but as we're new here we don't know exactly what the Mallaig branch has (there's no list or online shop to check) my list included some fantastically vague items like '4 bottled ales', '1 bottle of red wine', and 'a bag of apples (organic if possible)'.
Then on the morning of the planned delivery, you need to call the Co-op before 7am (but not the night before) to pay for your order. We think this early start is so they can be fairly certain that the sailing won't be cancelled, but still gives the staff time to pick and box up your shopping. Then it's loaded into the little white service van that visits all the islands, driven onto the CalMac and sets off across the sea, calling at Eigg on the way. When the ferry's due (usually around 1pm on Muck, but can very depending on the tides) you need to be down at the ferry terminal to collect your order, along with any post that might also have been dropped off. This isn't the case with Royal Mail items, as there is a paid postman on the island who will deliver to your door, but anything sent by a different courier needs to be collected in person. If you can't make it down in time to meet the ferry, deliveries are left by the pier and you come and collect them when you can.
MV Lochnevis waiting at the pier - with splendid views of Ardnamurchan peninsula behind.
It was a gloriously sunny and fairly still day when I went down yesterday; the boat had already arrived and my order was sitting on the quayside. Two boxes (that had previously held Monster Munch and Bacon Rashers) were waiting for me, with my name written on the top. A neighbour helped me load them into my car, and after a quick chat and check of the mail delivery, it was back to Gallanach to unload the shopping. And this is where the fun really starts.
Tom demonstrating his wheelbarrowing-over-rocks-and-mud technique
As previously mentioned, our cottage is perched on a little cliff above a sandy bay at the northern end of the island. To get anything bigger than a bag to and from the house requires strength, determination - and a wheelbarrow. So our shopping was loaded into the barrow and Tom wheeled it up to the house, over the rocks and across a series of boggy puddles. Then it was time to see if what we’d ordered was the same as what the Co-op could supply. Most things were what we wanted - though there was an absence of marigold gloves and sunflower seeds - and we were pleased with what ‘4 bottled ales and a bottle of red wine’ translated to!
A pleasingly local selection of ales and a promising Rioja
Though a lot of things have to be brought over on the boat, there are some things you can get direct from the island. As we were walking home from nursery on Monday I bumped into the gamekeeper for the first time, who handed me a bag of pheasant breasts, with the promise of a meat pack (sausages, burgers, kebabs and the like) to come. The island runs a pheasant shoot, and the keepers also facilitate stalking on neighbouring Rum, so there's plenty of game to be had And as the gamekeeper says, each pheasant in the freezer is one chicken we don't have to pay for (and I would add, farm intensively. The pheasants have the run of the island and there are two which seem to be resident in our garden - clearly they have more than the usual amount of common sense.) The farm supplies lamb and eggs - I dropped off our empty egg boxes on my way to pick up R from nursery - so we look set to be well-supplied with locally grown sources of protein.
Muck Tea Room, also home of Choc-Ness artisan chocolatiers
Yesterday was also Burns Night - which coincided with Pizza Wednesday. Muck’s tea room (pictured above) is run by Bruce, a trained pastry chef and chocolatier, so the standard of food is very high! On Saturdays he sells beautful sourdough bread - though you have to get there early to secure yourself a sought-after loaf - along with a coffee morning, where delicious baked goods including exceptional brownies and iced cinnamon buns are on offer. The pizzas were exccellent - and of course, there was haggis included as a topping.
Usually you can also buy fresh seafood from The Little Red Boat, Muck’s own shellfish and seafood supplier, but at the moment the Little Red Boat is hauled up by the pier with her stern hanging off - victim to a vicious November storm. This means that there is no working fisherman on the island - something I believe to be almost unprecedented in its history - and that one family is without its main source of income. So if you'd like to help to replace the Little Red Boat, there is a Crowdfunder running at the moment and I know that all donations will be very gratefully received: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/thelittleredboat
Poor Little Red Boat!
