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Island Bagging

Whilst sailing between Brighton and Portsmouth last September, I had a
surreal phone call- It purported to be from the Sunday Times, wanting to
talk to me about my new title, ‘Queen of Island Bagging. ’ I treated the call
sceptically, believing it to be a call from a friend fond of jokes, but it turned
out to be genuine. At the height of Brexit nonsense, the social affairs
reporter for the Sunday Times needed material.
So, what is Island Bagging? The most widely accepted definition involves
visiting the high point of an island, which is either greater than one acre in
surface area or has a high point greater than 30 metres.

A unique feature of the UK is
the number of islands off its
shores. I have always been a
mountaineer and many
Scottish mountains are on
islands, so by chance I have,
over the years, bagged quite
a few islands. But, when I Denise in the Kayak off the Ore Stone
joined the Relative Hills
Society www.rhsoc.uk I
discovered a list of over 500 ‘climbable’ islands, called Significant Islands of
Britain (SIBs), plus an Island Bagging face book page where endless
opportunities were mulled over.
There’s even a quirky league table called the SIB Ship Manifest with
opportunities to join Lower and Upper Decks before reaching the Quarter
Deck and finally the Officers’ Cabin, plus a ‘Splash League’ and ‘Man
Overboard Club’.
So, along with continuing to ascend
more conventional peaks, Richard, my
husband, and I started to include islands
in our sights. Many can be reached by
Scottish Calmac ferry, but for others you
have to sail or charter a boat, kayak, or
cross a channel at low tide.

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