A Belated Steep Holm Memory
To keep matters moving forwards in this somewhat fallow island-bagging time, Liam has written this piece about our trip to Steep Holm. We've also both visited a few separately recently, the lists have been updated, and we're taking a bigger trip next weekend with a view to pushing on towards the three-figure milestone. Anyway, until then, enjoy a bit of island bagging of Autumn 2011 vintage...
To keep matters moving forwards in this somewhat fallow island-bagging time, Liam has written this piece about our trip to Steep Holm. We've also both visited a few separately recently, the lists have been updated, and we're taking a bigger trip next weekend with a view to pushing on towards the three-figure milestone. Anyway, until then, enjoy a bit of island bagging of Autumn 2011 vintage...
Steep Holm
After our trip to the Outer Hebrides we realised that islands were our thing and planning how to get to them became our main topic of conversation. We're lucky to have some pretty cool islands on our door step - Steep Holm, Flat Holm, Lundy and Denny, and choosing which to go to first was a fun debate by itself. Steep Holm's misty mystery had captured my imagination since I was a child and a quick google revealed its relatively easy access from Weston-super-Mare, making it the perfect choice for a day trip out of the city. Booking tickets with the company that runs boats over to the island was straightforward (via email - http://www.steepholm.org.uk), getting to Knightstone Harbour at six in the morning, replete with sausage rolls, was equally easy and our sleepy faces were brightened by the sharp sting of sea spray as we raced across the Severn through thick fog, watching Steep Holm itself loom ahead in shadow. As we approached the island, the greyish-blue lump gradually became more defined, trees and foliage were inked green and we could make out Steep Holm's noisy tenants, the gulls, swooping and squawking incessantly above.
A smooth landing followed and we were soon left to ourselves to explore Steep Holm at our leisure. It quickly became apparent that the first task was to ascend to the top of the island via a steep (yes, they named this island accurately) zig-zagging path, which had the remains of old train tracks and dilapidated buildings sprinkled here and there. As we neared the top, our choices for exploration increased and we debated whether to check out the really interesting looking 12th Century Priory first, handily signposted, or save it for later. The rain helped make our decision so we headed instead to the old barracks, which now houses a small visitors centre, to grab some coffee and a map or guide to the island of some kind. This was actually one of the smartest ideas we had, as Steep Holm is tiny and hilariously well documented (aside from one wall, which may or may not have had a door in it at some point in the past), so we left the cafe armed with torches (we paid a small fee to borrow them for the day), maps, guides and a new-found desire to visit all of the rather awesome sounding "underground stores."
We made our way clockwise around the island from the barracks, checking out the spooky underground stores as we went by with our island-issue torches, reading the ageing graffiti scrawled on the subterranean walls whilst keeping an eye out for spiders and smoke monsters. As we rounded the western end, we enjoyed a good old fashioned clamber over one of the island's several crumbling WWII batteries, raw, cracked concrete constructions that are fairly common around the coast of the UK yet still manage to evoke sense of what it must have felt like to expect an imminent invasion. The north side of the island is home to the "208 Steps," the most crazy-dangerous steps I had and still have ever seen, dropping down the side of the cliff in a nerve-testing meander. I got about ten steps down before the shrieking and the swooping of gulls got to me and scared me all the way back up.
The next stop was a brief visit to the trig point, a highlight of the trip for me as I was able to stand on top and get a really great 360° panorama of the English and Welsh coasts, as well as an excellent view of Steep Holm's sibling, Flat Holm, and its distinctive lighthouse. After this, we decided it was lunchtime and headed back down to the beach where we landed earlier and destroyed several sausage rolls and other similar savoury snacks whilst we sat amongst the pebbles, and took in a game or two of "Hit A Stack Of Rocks With Another Rock," before returning to the top of the island.
The afternoon was spent checking out anything we hadn't looked at already, including the "Summit Battery", where we got a little too close to the gulls and the threat of attack scared us away again. We inspected the last few underground store rooms, saw what we could of the ancient priory, and then finally explored the south east corner of Steep Holm. By sticking to a pretty steep path we headed all the way down to more or less the bottom and walked along the cliff-face, getting as far along as we could before turning back and heading up the path towards the barracks one last time.
We got back to the barracks just in time to have a much-appreciated cider and enjoyed a brief spell of sunshine while we waited for the boat to take us back to the mainland. As with every island I visit, a feeling of sadness hangs over the homeward trip. In this case, the boat ride was actually really fun, and the mission to visit lots of islands had officially begun, so I didn't get too emo about it.
A smooth landing followed and we were soon left to ourselves to explore Steep Holm at our leisure. It quickly became apparent that the first task was to ascend to the top of the island via a steep (yes, they named this island accurately) zig-zagging path, which had the remains of old train tracks and dilapidated buildings sprinkled here and there. As we neared the top, our choices for exploration increased and we debated whether to check out the really interesting looking 12th Century Priory first, handily signposted, or save it for later. The rain helped make our decision so we headed instead to the old barracks, which now houses a small visitors centre, to grab some coffee and a map or guide to the island of some kind. This was actually one of the smartest ideas we had, as Steep Holm is tiny and hilariously well documented (aside from one wall, which may or may not have had a door in it at some point in the past), so we left the cafe armed with torches (we paid a small fee to borrow them for the day), maps, guides and a new-found desire to visit all of the rather awesome sounding "underground stores."
We made our way clockwise around the island from the barracks, checking out the spooky underground stores as we went by with our island-issue torches, reading the ageing graffiti scrawled on the subterranean walls whilst keeping an eye out for spiders and smoke monsters. As we rounded the western end, we enjoyed a good old fashioned clamber over one of the island's several crumbling WWII batteries, raw, cracked concrete constructions that are fairly common around the coast of the UK yet still manage to evoke sense of what it must have felt like to expect an imminent invasion. The north side of the island is home to the "208 Steps," the most crazy-dangerous steps I had and still have ever seen, dropping down the side of the cliff in a nerve-testing meander. I got about ten steps down before the shrieking and the swooping of gulls got to me and scared me all the way back up.
The next stop was a brief visit to the trig point, a highlight of the trip for me as I was able to stand on top and get a really great 360° panorama of the English and Welsh coasts, as well as an excellent view of Steep Holm's sibling, Flat Holm, and its distinctive lighthouse. After this, we decided it was lunchtime and headed back down to the beach where we landed earlier and destroyed several sausage rolls and other similar savoury snacks whilst we sat amongst the pebbles, and took in a game or two of "Hit A Stack Of Rocks With Another Rock," before returning to the top of the island.
The afternoon was spent checking out anything we hadn't looked at already, including the "Summit Battery", where we got a little too close to the gulls and the threat of attack scared us away again. We inspected the last few underground store rooms, saw what we could of the ancient priory, and then finally explored the south east corner of Steep Holm. By sticking to a pretty steep path we headed all the way down to more or less the bottom and walked along the cliff-face, getting as far along as we could before turning back and heading up the path towards the barracks one last time.
We got back to the barracks just in time to have a much-appreciated cider and enjoyed a brief spell of sunshine while we waited for the boat to take us back to the mainland. As with every island I visit, a feeling of sadness hangs over the homeward trip. In this case, the boat ride was actually really fun, and the mission to visit lots of islands had officially begun, so I didn't get too emo about it.
