Meridian Weekend
Saturday, 24 October 2026
Page 1 · Cover: Travel
Three days on the islands: a slow guide
Take the early ferry, leave the car at home and let the islands set the pace. On the first day, walk the cliff path from the harbour to the old signal station, where the view reaches all the way to the mainland.
The path is well marked and takes about three hours there and back, with a stop at the small chapel halfway, where the door is always open and a visitors' book goes back more than sixty years.
On the second day, hire a bicycle and follow the lanes between the stone walls to the white beaches of the south. Bring a picnic: there are few shops, and that is the point.
The water is cold even in late summer, but the sheltered bay below the lighthouse is warm enough for a quick swim on a still afternoon. Seals often watch from the rocks at the far end.
In the evening, the island's only inn serves whatever the boats brought in that morning, with bread from the bakery next door. Book a table; there are only nine of them.
On the last morning, visit the fish market as the boats come in, then sit in the sun with a coffee and watch the ferry you will reluctantly catch.
Page 2 · Interview
"The sea taught me patience": a conversation with a boat builder
In a shed at the end of North Quay, Marta Solberg builds wooden boats by hand, as her father and grandfather did. Each one takes about a year.
The shed smells of tar and fresh-cut larch. Half-finished frames stand along one wall like the ribs of a whale, and the radio plays quietly in a corner, always tuned to the shipping forecast.
"People ask why I do not use machines for everything," she says. "Some things you can only feel with your hands: how the wood wants to bend, where it will be strong."
She learned the trade at fourteen, sweeping the floor and sharpening tools, before her father let her shape her first plank. "He said I wasted half a tree that day. He was right."
Today her boats sail all along the coast, and a few have crossed oceans. Each carries a small carved kittiwake on the stern, her only signature.
Her waiting list is three years long. She does not plan to work any faster.
