Background
Salt island is one of the 365 islands in Strangford Lough. Northern Ireland Its owned by the National Trust and is part of the Strangofrd Lough canoe trail . In 2008 a derelict cottage was transformed into a bothy for kayakers on the trail . The bothy sleeps 12 , it has no electricity but does have a wood burning stove and a toilet , kayakers can use the bothy ( £5 per head per night ) or they can camp for free in the grounds of the bothy .
A few weeks ago I spent a night on it with a few friends (I hadn't been on the island for a year due to illness ) and i was a tad annoyed at the state of the place . I resolved to go back and clean it up
read on
Tuesday
I was going stir crazy stuck in the house for a fortnight . the bloody wind just didn't seem to be letting up
XC Weather was forecasting a lull on Wednesday . packed my kit into the landrover and threw the yak onto the roof on Tuesday night , sacrificed two small children to appease Poseidon and prayed XC had got it right
Wednesday
My weather station (tree outside my window) indicated that indeed they had got it right. ate a quick breakfast and drove to Killyleagh . loaded the yak and set off on the short crossing to Salt Island
Carried my kit up into the forest behind the bothy and set up camp
Since my last trip to the island . I had a few new purchases that i wanted to test , but my main reason for the trip was to do a bit of tidying up.
I camped on the island a few weeks ago for the first time in a year , a serious illness had put me out of action for ten months and I was quite shocked/annoyed at the state of the place . the island is a fantastic resource, one of the few islands on the Lough that kayakers can legitimately camp . Why people litter the place , take stones out of the perimeter walls to build fire rings . strip the bark from tree's etc I have no idea ...it really really annoys me
I had brought some bin liners . a pair of leather work gloves and a few other bits and pieces with me . i started off by collecting most of the rubbish . beer tins/ bottles, discarded kettles . foil and the mesh from disposable BBQ's , tin foil. crisp packets etc etc . I managed to fill two bin bags from the bothy grounds and the forest
My kayak was fully loaded , perhaps even overloaded so I couldn't carry this rubbish back with me. so I dug a hole and buried the rubbish. I will retrieve it the next time I'm out for a day paddle
In the evening after my meal and a pot of coffee, I lay in the hammock read a book and caught up with the shipping forecast for the next day. by the sounds of it I wasn't going anywhere for a while
Moon rise
Thursday morning and i awoke to a fantastic sunrise
I got the stove lit and the coffee on . I cant function until at least one double espresso
The wind had swung round from the west to a southerly and the forecast had indicated it would stay that way for the next few days so I had to move my camp 90 deg to keep the wind off me
After breakfast I resumed the cleanup
There was a dead sheep at the gate of the bothy and it was rank. so i decided to leave it until my breakfast had settled a bit
First job was to repair the wall at the BBQ area , the stones from which had been used to build a fire ring
Before
After
Next up was the wall at the other side of the bothy across from the water butt, again the stones had been used to build a fire ring
Before
After
That done I removed another fire ring at the rear of the bothy and repaired the wall at the side gate
Before
After
I was getting hungry at this stage so went back to my camp baked a fruit soda type thingy , made more coffee and mulled over the problem of the leaking waterbutt
On the previous days litter gathering exercise I noticed quite a few of the pine tress had been producing resin to cover the wounds inflicted by the people who don't know the difference between dead wood and living wood
So I gathered some of this resin and melted it down in a lidls finest spam can
Removing the valve assembly from the barrel was easy enough , I cleaned the valve seating area inside and out . replaced the valve and then used the resin to seal it
I took the barrel down to the shore and filled it to check the repair was water tight . and cleaned the barrel inside and out
The resin worked a treat
Next up was the thistles .. An improvised sickle made short work of them
The final job was the dead sheep... not a particularly pleasant job although I did manage to keep my lunch down , It now resides in a bed of thistles a hundred yards from the bothy
Happy with the days work I retired to camp, read a bit and carved another spoon
Packed up on Friday and paddled back to the launch spot
Good to get away for a while
Andy
Salt island is one of the 365 islands in Strangford Lough. Northern Ireland Its owned by the National Trust and is part of the Strangofrd Lough canoe trail . In 2008 a derelict cottage was transformed into a bothy for kayakers on the trail . The bothy sleeps 12 , it has no electricity but does have a wood burning stove and a toilet , kayakers can use the bothy ( £5 per head per night ) or they can camp for free in the grounds of the bothy .
A few weeks ago I spent a night on it with a few friends (I hadn't been on the island for a year due to illness ) and i was a tad annoyed at the state of the place . I resolved to go back and clean it up
read on
Tuesday
I was going stir crazy stuck in the house for a fortnight . the bloody wind just didn't seem to be letting up
XC Weather was forecasting a lull on Wednesday . packed my kit into the landrover and threw the yak onto the roof on Tuesday night , sacrificed two small children to appease Poseidon and prayed XC had got it right
Wednesday
My weather station (tree outside my window) indicated that indeed they had got it right. ate a quick breakfast and drove to Killyleagh . loaded the yak and set off on the short crossing to Salt Island
Carried my kit up into the forest behind the bothy and set up camp
Since my last trip to the island . I had a few new purchases that i wanted to test , but my main reason for the trip was to do a bit of tidying up.
I camped on the island a few weeks ago for the first time in a year , a serious illness had put me out of action for ten months and I was quite shocked/annoyed at the state of the place . the island is a fantastic resource, one of the few islands on the Lough that kayakers can legitimately camp . Why people litter the place , take stones out of the perimeter walls to build fire rings . strip the bark from tree's etc I have no idea ...it really really annoys me
I had brought some bin liners . a pair of leather work gloves and a few other bits and pieces with me . i started off by collecting most of the rubbish . beer tins/ bottles, discarded kettles . foil and the mesh from disposable BBQ's , tin foil. crisp packets etc etc . I managed to fill two bin bags from the bothy grounds and the forest
My kayak was fully loaded , perhaps even overloaded so I couldn't carry this rubbish back with me. so I dug a hole and buried the rubbish. I will retrieve it the next time I'm out for a day paddle
In the evening after my meal and a pot of coffee, I lay in the hammock read a book and caught up with the shipping forecast for the next day. by the sounds of it I wasn't going anywhere for a while
Moon rise
Thursday morning and i awoke to a fantastic sunrise
I got the stove lit and the coffee on . I cant function until at least one double espresso
The wind had swung round from the west to a southerly and the forecast had indicated it would stay that way for the next few days so I had to move my camp 90 deg to keep the wind off me
After breakfast I resumed the cleanup
There was a dead sheep at the gate of the bothy and it was rank. so i decided to leave it until my breakfast had settled a bit
First job was to repair the wall at the BBQ area , the stones from which had been used to build a fire ring
Before
After
Next up was the wall at the other side of the bothy across from the water butt, again the stones had been used to build a fire ring
Before
After
That done I removed another fire ring at the rear of the bothy and repaired the wall at the side gate
Before
After
I was getting hungry at this stage so went back to my camp baked a fruit soda type thingy , made more coffee and mulled over the problem of the leaking waterbutt
On the previous days litter gathering exercise I noticed quite a few of the pine tress had been producing resin to cover the wounds inflicted by the people who don't know the difference between dead wood and living wood
So I gathered some of this resin and melted it down in a lidls finest spam can
Removing the valve assembly from the barrel was easy enough , I cleaned the valve seating area inside and out . replaced the valve and then used the resin to seal it
I took the barrel down to the shore and filled it to check the repair was water tight . and cleaned the barrel inside and out
The resin worked a treat
Next up was the thistles .. An improvised sickle made short work of them
The final job was the dead sheep... not a particularly pleasant job although I did manage to keep my lunch down , It now resides in a bed of thistles a hundred yards from the bothy
Happy with the days work I retired to camp, read a bit and carved another spoon
Packed up on Friday and paddled back to the launch spot
Good to get away for a while
Andy
