A winter visit to Hayling Island - day 2

The alarm goes off at 6:25AM and we bundle into the icy car for another day at Hayling Island. The sun is well and truly up when we arrive at 7:30. Later on, the ferryman will kindly point out that we should've been here at 5:45 to see the sun come up, proving so with a nice shot he took on his phone. The yacht club is incredibly busy – vans and cars with trailers arrive constantly. Parents and kids unpack the gear and set up the boats with their bare, frozen hands! It's not until 11:00 that we get a well earned coffee and bacon bap from the spotless Ferry cafe. T's satisfied with her pictures but we carry on to The Kench, check out the Sinah Warren Hotel and stop by Northney Marina before we agree it's time to head home.

Dune protection at the yacht club

The ferry arrives from Eastney, Portsmouth

Dunes at Sinah Common

Bacon baps from the Ferry Cafe

Icy crust on the shoreline

The strange pool at Sinah Warren hotel

A winter visit to Hayling Island - day 1

T sets up a shot of a stripey beach hut

We visited Hayling Island last summer and enjoyed a wonderfully sunny day on our bikes. Now, in the midst of winter and a while since we last reached an island, we thought we'd pay it a winter visit. It was just as sunny as last time but so much colder. Photography was on T's mind, and a pressing deadline for Outdoor Photography magazine. Hayling Island didn't disappoint. Subject matter abounds from the Funland amusement park to the masses of beach huts, the quiet shingle shoreline to the busy yacht club. The manmade and the wild sit side-by-side with those exciting rough edges you find whenever you reach the margins of the country.

Rounded-up beach huts await their owners visit

South-side sea defences soak up the sun

A lonely groyne stares out to sea

T assesses a pink hut

The Beach Hut

Winter roller coaster

Night time Funland

Beachland amusements, Hayling Island

How big is Jura?

 
Hamish Haswell-Smith is still the undisputed expert on Scottish islands. While comparing the commonly held top 10 largest islands in Britain against our list from Ordnance Survey I was surprised to find a few points of difference. Casting around for some official figures I was astonished to find that there didn't seem to be any. Indeed, both Wikipedia and RJ Berry in the New Naturalists' Islands quote Haswell-Smith's calculations. For his results he used a planimeter to measure "the total surface area lying above sea level at Mean High Water Springs." Out of curiosity I thought I might check his results using some "digitalised map data" that he predicted would be available in the future. I used Daft Logic's online map calculator tool and after some initial excitement spent way too long plotting points around the perimeter of Jura, mimicking the planimeter but with less accuracy. Anyway, the result of my fruitless evening suggest no reason to quibble with Hamish.

My calculation for Jura is 36,359.38 hectares, Hamish's is 36,692 hectares.

Barra airport: the most scenic airport in the world

The Telegraph has a feature this week on the planet's top 10 most scenic airport approaches and landings as voted for by readers of PrivateFly.com. It's no surprise to see Barra included, as it's the only beach runway for scheduled flights in the world. Unfortunately, T and I haven't been on the plane but we did get a very close look when it flew straight over our heads to land. As The Telegraph used one of T's pics to illustrate the article, I thought it might be a good time to show off a few more photos to describe this unique event.

Flybe and British Airways fly to Barra in the Outer Hebrides from as far afield as Southampton, Paris and Dusseldorf. The Twin Otter plane lands on the two mile cockle beach at Traigh Mhor, in the northeast corner of the island. Whenever the windsock blows, the beach needs to be evacuated for the approaching aircraft. Unsurprisingly, the timetable must remain flexible as the runway is submerged beneath the sea twice a day.

Three days in Medway movie

I love holding down the play button on my compact camera and watching the images rush by – it feels like your life rushing before you. So I thought I'd combine all the images I shot from our trip with Dave Wise to the Medway last year into one quick-fire sequence. I think it gives a pretty good impression of the islands out there.

The movie looks a little better here...

Dan's favourite islands 2011

1. Farne Islands
This has to be one of the greatest wildlife experiences in the UK. Where else can you get as close to nesting puffins, razorbills, shags and kittiwakes? On Inner Farne, at the right time of year, arctic terns dive-bomb your head while their fluffy offspring run under your feet. But the birds are only half  the story – the human behaviour is just as weird and fascinating.

2. Lindisfarne 
Holy Island, tidal island, distiller of mead, home to a storybook castle and beacon for tourists from miles around. Being cut off by the tide twice a day gives the island its sense of magic and isolation. Staying overnight transforms the experience to a slower, more spacious and quieter understanding of the place, where faith and history thrum beneath the coffee shops, rambling outfits and rushed daily visits.

3. Darnet Island

At first, Medway doesn't sound quite as exciting as the Shetlands but I guess it depends on what you're doing there. We were taken out of our comfort zone on a canoe trip and a spot of wild camping on one of Medway's many islands: Darnet Island. Next to the shipping lane, a power station and amidst a ring of busy towns it's amazing where you can find wildness and the thrill of adventure. Thanks to our guide Dave Wise we discovered the incredible scent of sea wormwood, the comfort of sea purslane as a mattress, the haunting interior of Darnet Fort, the difficulty of pinhole photography and the joy of waking up on your own secluded island.

Outdoor Photography: Island Journal Pt 17

In Outdoor Photography magazine, Issue 147, Christmas 2011, T covers our canoe trip in the Medway.

Thames Islands Pt 3 - Thames Ditton Island...

Ye Olde Swan public house – crossing point to Thames Ditton Island

Actually reaching the river is not always the easiest thing to do along the banks of the Thames. You can wander along the river's edge without seeing any water, just rows of houses. The access point to Thames Ditton Island takes advantage of a small slipway next to Ye Olde Swan. It wasn't until the early 20th century that holiday houses started to be built on the island.

Thames Ditton Island bridge

The bridge was built in 1939 by David Rowell & Co. of Westminter. Ownership is shared between the 48 households on the island after purchasing it from Ye Olde Swan's landlord in 1963. As well as providing easy access to the the island for residents, it also transports water, gas and electricity in, and sewage out.

Thames Ditton Island

Swan Island and Boyle Farm Island just behind

Swan Island, in the foreground, almost adjoins Thames Ditton Island. It used to house the ferryman before the bridge arrived. Just visible behind is Boyle Farm Island with its single house.

The official Ditton Island website is at www.thamesdittonisland.co.uk

A brief video...

Tagg's Island

Tagg's Island has a long history of developmental prospecting and foiled plans. A lot of people seem to have lost a lot of money trying to make their fortune here. It was in 1872 that Thomas Tagg opened The Thames Hotel, attracting the rich and famous, and giving the island its current name.

Tagg's Island bridge

Tagg's Island bridge - going up

The road bridge wasn't built until 1982.

Tagg's Island bridge - going down

Tagg's Island houseboats

Building is not allowed on the island, so a ring of more than 60 luxury houseboats line the island. The addition of an inner lagoon in 1983 created extra space for mooring.

Tagg's Island sign

Small islet set adrift from Tagg's Island

Official Tagg's Island website (www.taggs-island.com)
Tagg's Island has a floating B&B
History in greater detail

Garrick's Ait

Unlike most islands in the Thames, Garrick's Ait has no bridge access. Around 20 bungalows are crammed onto the island.

Looking over the bank side houseboats to Garrick's Ait

The western tip of Garrick's Ait photographed from Garrick's Temple

The eastern tip of Garrick's Ait

Platt's Eyot

Sunbury water works

Reaching Platt's Eyot involves walking through a strange landscape of gravel filter beds and the geometric buildings of the Sunbury water works. The spoil from the creation of the nearby Stain Hill Reservoirs was dumped onto the island at the turn of the 20th century, raising the height of the western end.

 

Platt's Eyot bridge

While I was photographing the bridge from the island's car park a man, named Neil, asked if I was interested in the island. He ended up showing me around the island and his own photographic studio where he had some amazing furniture designs on the go. I was surprised to find that there was no residential property, just industrial units of various shapes, sizes and states of repair. Thornycroft made Coastal Motor Boats here for the First World War – a fast ship designed to skim over minefields and release torpedoes. Nowadays, Neil said, most of the units are used by artists, musicians and designers of one kind or another.

A private but friendly island

Crossing the bridge to Platt's Eyot

The east end of Platt's Eyot

The west end of Platt's Eyot

Spice Girls studio?

One of Neil's stories involved this old brick building by the island's bridge. Apparently The Spice Girls recorded some early tracks within these walls and the young owners of the studio retired very early on a healthy £5 million payout! 

Current incumbents of Platt's Eyot

Industrial hanger on Platt's Eyot

This pleasant, creative state of affairs may not last too much longer though. Planning permission has been sought twice in the last decade by the owners for a huge development of housing and offices. Judging from the other islands along this stretch of water, it's surely only a matter of time before they get their wish.

More info

Grand Junction Island

Grand Junction Island

The island is now owned by Thames Water, but was previously owned by the Grand Junction Water Company who built a water intake on the island for the nearby reservoirs – hence the name. A few holiday chalets exist on the island as well as some boat moorings.

Sunbury Court Island

Entrance to Sunbury Court Island

The light was fading fast as I raced to Sunbury Court Island. This small gate above provides the only break in the endless residential barricade, giving access over a bridge to the island's charming entrance tower, which was in fact built to house a sewage pump.

Sunbury Court Island

Around 30 houses consume almost every inch of the island.

Sunbury Court Island tower at dusk

Swan's Rest Island and Rivermead Island

Swan's Rest Island

Swan's Rest Island is still marked on the London A-Z even though there is no longer any channel between it and Rivermead Island.

Rivermead Island footbridge

A bridge carries you over a narrow water channel or, if you prefer, you can cross the ford to Rivermead Island.

Narrow channel on the north bank

Rivermead Island park

No houses! The island is an open park with some lovely mature trees...

Rivermead Island

... and ducks.

Rivermead Island bridge

Papp A Postcard competition

Five postcards dropped through our letterbox last week - a card a day. Each one suggested a British island for us to visit.

Monday delivered Flat Holm, enticing us with its “massive Victorian fog horn”.
Tuesday brought us Anglesey, promising “a village with the longest name in Britain”.
Wednesday gave us Handa Island, home to“North West Europe’s largest seabird colony”.
Thursday tempted us with the Monach Isles, from where “the last people… left in 1951”.
Friday completed the set with Walney and its “400 species of moth”.

The reason for these mysterious postcards? It’s all part of a National Rail promotion to get people out and about photographing whatever they discover. Pictures can then be uploaded to the Papp A Postcard app on Facebook for a chance to win a £500 Topshop/Topman shopping experience. If you'd like to enter, the closing date is Nov 28th.

As for us, we couldn't resist Anglesey, which hopefully we'll be visiting in December.