Sunrise meets Hail Shower by PhilCorleyPhoto
Via Flickr:
With the sun rising behind me, a heavy hail shower drifted in providing a wonderful display of colour and clouds.
Taransay Island of the west coast of Harris off the west coast of Scotland
Introduction
When Conrad Allen of Urban-SERE was contacted by Simon K Barr of Tweed Media he could tell Simon had a vision and a very clear idea in his own mind what he wanted to achieve. As the idea was relayed to Conrad it went something like “Basically I wanted to take a group of unsuspecting journalists out to a remote uninhabited island and abandon them for 3 days with only the means to hunt. Normally they expect to be wined and dined at a product launch so forcing them to actually use the products and hunt for food is a bit different”. It rapidly became obvious that this was a very ingenious way to promote the products and so Conrad’s role was to make it happen as far as keeping everyone alive for the survival aspects went. Simon would be dealing with the overall event and Steve, the estate manager of Borve Lodge who own Taransay, would be heading up the hunting aspects.
Ideas
So began several conference calls and many emails over the course of a few months to iron out any possible and foreseeable stumbling blocks. As the event approached our greatest concerns were that the weather, scheduled to be wet and windy any the best of times would be far worse. We would be catching the tail end of a hurricane and winds in excess of 70mph were expected. Looking at the map and the relief of the land it was agreed that the whole group would be best dropped off on the North Coast using the estates Falklands war landing craft. This would give everyone the ability to scavenge from the flotsam and jetsam on the North coast and then head in land to get some shelter from the elements.
Shock
As the groups assembled it was obvious that they had no idea what was about to happen. Kitted out with clothing by Ridgeline and rifles by Sauer Ammunition by Hornady and optics by Leica, everyone boarded the landing craft for what they believed to be a day trip to Taransay. As the group disembarked and the landing craft backed away it was only at that point that the whole idea was put to the group. As simon explained that the boat was not coming back for three days and if they wanted food they would have to hunt successfully. With that sinking in Conrad was revealed as the Survival expert and not the photographer he had been posing as and the adventure began. Collecting and scavenging anything that may be of use the whole group then headed in land to a more sheltered area to set up a camp and get a shelter constructed from what had been found including a tarpaulin.
Strong Winds and Strong Character
During the first night as we settled down to sleep and caught the tail end of the hurricane the boulders we had used to hold down the tarp, which were pretty substantial, were being blown around like marbles. It really was a case of just holding on to the tarp and huddling inside the bivy bags to see out the storm. The winds finally abated and everyone somewhat shocked by the nights weather awoke to a grey drizzly but calm day. The adventure began in earnest and as a group headed out hunting Conrad had a small group to sort out the camp…
Later that day Conrad took a small foraging party back to the north coast and collected limpets and seaweed to make a broth. Using the peat for fuel an old sweet tin was used as a cauldron and the soup took shape. Watching a dejected, tired and wet through group of hunters walk back into camp empty handed was soul destroying for everyone. The decision was made to move the camp to an old bothy on the South of the island and where Steve thought the hunting would be better for the morning. We gathered all our meagre belongings and trudged over the hills to the South and found the bothy. It had four walls and very little roof but it was a to us a five star hotel.
Food at Last
As we collected drift wood, got the fire going and settled in for another night on the remote island of Taransay, we were all praying that first light would bring a better hunting opportunity.
It did and as the group watched from the front of the bothy Steve and one of the journalists staked into the stag and took the shot. It was a well placed shot that brought us breakfast and the first real food in three days. It never tasted so good or probably ever will again. Cooking chunks of fresh venison on sticks over a roaring fire and sitting on a white sand beach. As we did so, the sun came out and the clouds parted and the world was peaceful. As we sat back chatting and watching the sea, it was soon time to gather our gear and board the landing craft that was just reaching the beach.
The Conclusion
My blog can never do justice to this story fully so please use the links below. You can watch the whole thing in the three episodes.
