Isle of Coll
On the next episode of my overseas experience as a Kiwi/Kūki living in the United Kingdom, come with me to a beautiful island off the northwest coast of Scotland, in the Inner Hebrides. I am now residing on the Isle of Coll.
I knew there were islands around Scotland, but I didn’t realise how many, and that one of the best, is a tiny, remote island with one hotel, one shop and a whole lot of sheep. When I say remote, I mean a ferry to the mainland takes around 4-5 hours, give or take, depending on the stops. So why did my partner and I swap the southern countryside of England for the Inner Hebrides of Scotland? Well, we’d spent around 6 months in Surrey, got to travel around Europe, and see what England is like in the Summer. Then we got to a point where we wanted a change of scenery, lo and behold, the Isle of Coll awaited us, and within a couple of weeks, we packed up our stuff, leisurely made our way to Oban (the nearest town on the mainland to catch a ferry to Coll) via London and Glasgow. Two trains and a bumpy ferry ride (which nearly didn’t make it to the island), we arrived on the Isle of Coll.
I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest. Adjusting to life here has been an experience in itself, maybe cause I grew up in a city or at least where a city was accessible, I kind of felt like I always needed that busyness around me, but being on the Isle of Coll, where the pace of life is a lot slower, there’s no traffic, no hassle that comes with a city, I’m giving myself a chance to slow down and take everything in. When I do, I have time to think about how grateful I am for living in such a peaceful place.
Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t much to do on the island, most of the time I’m working, but when I’m not, I need to fill my time being productive. Going to the gym is one of them (yep, there’s a gym at the community centre), writing is something I’ll be doing more of this year, and hopefully exploring the island more when the weather is better (not so hot in winter). I’ve also recently taken up a new hobby, which I’ll be leaning into quite a bit. After taking a DJ workshop at a ski/music festival, I’ve decided to take up djing which is actually something I’ve wanted to do since I was in high school. So pretty excited to do more of that. I’ve already got a DJ mixer on the way.
As for life in the Inner Hebrides, it’s going great, and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the year pans out. We’ve been told the summer here is unreal. Throughout the year, we’ll be travelling to more places we haven’t been to, visiting more of the other Scottish Islands close by, and ultimately enjoying ourselves and our new chapter on the Isle of Coll in Scotland.
