The Scottish Islands: A Comprehensive Guide to Every Scottish Island Hamish Haswell-Smith Canongate Books Revised edition

Jan 31

‘As a reference source Haswell-Smith’s book is invaluable … a monumental labour of love that communicates the author’s own passion for island hopping and combines it delightfully with his further talents as a painter and artist.’ Daily Telegraph

Hamish Haswell-Smith’s other titles include AnIsland Odyssey. Heis a qualified yachtmaster who has sailed extensively among the Scottish islands. His sketches and paintings have been exhibited in British and European galleries.

From the abandoned crofts of Mingulay and the standing stones of Orkney to the white beaches of Colonsay and the spectacular Cuillins of Skye, this is the first complete gazetteer to cover all of Scotlands many hundreds of islands, including those which are uninhabited and those which are notoriously difficult to reach. Packed with information on access, anchorages, points of historical or natural interest, and things to do and see, this fascinating compendium provides indispensable information for touring, for browsing, for reference, and for all of those travelers who wish to experience some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world. No other book begins to emulate the range and depth of the information contained in The Scottish Islands. Completewith full-color illustrations and relief maps of all the main islands, this is both an impressive work of reference and a fascinating personal view of Scotlands distant outposts.

The Scottish Islands: A Comprehensive Guide to Every Scottish Island

The Wee Mad Road: A midlife escape to the Scottish Highlands

The Wee Mad Road is a funny, touching, insightful look at the ebb and flow of an isolated Highland fishing and crofting community, a place molded by forces of nature and tempered by its people. It is a road well worth traveling, if only from the comfort of your favorite armchair. –Neill Kennedy Ray, Scottish Life magazine, Summer 2008

If you’re looking for a respite from politics and war, you can lose yourself in The Wee Mad Road…so idyllic it’ll make you Highland green with envy. –Mary Ann Grossman, Saint Paul Sunday Pioneer Press, May 4, 2008

”The Wee Mad Road is kind of like Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence, with rotten weather and lots of whisky.” – Bob Gilbert, Villager, May 7, 2008

”…a gloriously whimsical account of the Highland lifestyle, beautifully captured in words and illustrations — the characters, the pub life, the ceilidhs. This is great fun.” – Hamish Coghill, Scottish Life magazine, Autumn 2008

”…a two-year adventure of shearing sheep, learning folk songs and befriending locals. The whole romantic endeavor is captured in The Wee Mad Road.” –Kerri Westenberg, Minneapolis Sunday Star Tribune, June 22, 2008

Lovesick sheep, rumors of war, storms at sea, whisky galore – a midlife escape from an ‘empty nest’ in America to start afresh in the wilds of Scotland.

When their children grow up and leave home, authors Jack and Barbara Maloney sell their house in a midwest suburb and run off to the Highlands. Following a one-lane track called ”The Wee Mad Road,” they discover an isolated remnant of traditional Gaelic culture, peopled by characters as unique and memorable as the surrounding mountains.

The Maloneys settle into an old stone cottage and spend two years in repeated collisions with quaint Highland ways. Entries from Barbara’s diary detail the realities of village life, while Jack recounts tales of poachers, crofters and lairds in one of mainland Britain’s most scenic and isolated corners.

The Wee Mad Road is a warm and witty account of two years in the Highlands, with illustrations of everyday life in the wildest reaches of the United Kingdom. It’s a ‘how to’ book for anyone who dreams of escaping the doldrums of suburban midlife and starting over.

The Wee Mad Road: A midlife escape to the Scottish Highlands

Canongate Books Revised editionHamish Haswell-Smith

Comments

Manish Kannan

January 31st, 2012 at 10:05 AM


“The Wee Mad Road” is a journey down memory avenue into a time not long ago. The writing is excellent with Jack telling his version intersperced with excerpts from the journal kept by Barb. The book is timeless unless you find certain facts that make it possible to date it. (Look for them!)
Thank you Barb and Jack for preserving the fleeting history of real people working and living together in community. I am Irish(as is Mr. Maloney) and we also have in common some of the same experiences with slight twists and turns but with the identical feelings.What the authors have done is remarkable in that they were really part of the community and lived the life. This is why the book is so true to life.Only wish that I could give you more than 5 stars!
Lily McCallister

January 31st, 2012 at 2:18 PM


What an extraordinary work! Mr Haswell Smith has certainly putin the legwork when researching this book. The detail that he has goneinto is quite unusual with works of this type, that usually seem tofarm out different parts to different people. As a reference book for people who wish to visit any of Scotlands smaller Islands it is invaluable,(as a sea kayaker I use it often to help plan my trips)and as a fireside read when the sea is too wild to paddle, it helps to fire the imagination. As a piece of work you just have to admire the author’s attention to detail. I only wish that he had written this a few years earlier and saved me a lot of effort in researching my own trips.
Steff X

January 31st, 2012 at 4:39 PM


Fun read if you are into Scotland!…and I certainly am! So I’m really enjoying it. If you are looking for an instruction manual on how to move to a foreign land I don’t believe this book will give you all the information that you need, but I don’t think the writers intended that. It’s just a short journal/story of their experience. I am finding it very entertaining. And Mrs. Maloney’s sketches are such a bonus! I believe if you have a love for Scotland you will enjoy this book. And I believe if you are contemplating taking a big step in your life this couples story will be an inspiration to you to just go for it! (…and don’t forget to journal your journey so that others can enjoy your experiences too!)
giftcardblogger

January 31st, 2012 at 4:56 PM


A beautiful, entertaining book for the family coffee table: delightful stories arranged so that you can easily pick the book up, open it to any spot and find a ‘quick read’ of interest right there. Barb’s thoughtful journal entries and evocative illustrations lend a warm intimacy to the overall story line, while Jack’s colorful accounting of his Highland adventures reveal his deep appreciation and respect for a rapidly disappearing traditional way of life that is reminiscent of Herriot’s “All Creatures Great and Small” series. The Maloneys manage to make cold, damp, sheep dip, self-stabbings and near-electrocution sound so appealing that I’m tempted to escape to the Scottish Highlands myself!
Natalina Odus

January 31st, 2012 at 8:32 PM


A great story about a middle-aged couple who were not afraid to leave their comfortable life and find a new life in an out-of-the way place.
Very entertaining. A real life adventure.
O Quinn

February 1st, 2012 at 3:32 AM


What a wonderful adventure in living. How delightfully written and beautifully illustrated. It’s really about the Maloney’s romance with the Highland village of Coigach, whose climate and living conditions that would try the patience of a flagellant. The generally loveable inhabitants would do justice to a 60s Peter Sellers film. The tale of the lovesick ewe is worth the price of admission.
This book almost makes me want to go to Scotland and live the experience myself. However, I think I will resist the temptation, sit in my favorite chair and let the Maloneys do it for me; they do it so well.
Manish Kannan

February 1st, 2012 at 6:48 AM


I discovered this wonderful book in a little shop in the remote Northwest Highlands of Scotland; happened to be leafing through it when I found it featured several unforgettable folks I had come to know during past trips to the Coigach peninsula and the little villages of Achiltibuie and Polbain.

The adventure the Maloneys lived is the sort of thing many of us dream about but few have the wherewithal to actually do. The book is beautifully written and wonderfully illustrated. If you have ANY interest in Scotland, particularly the remote Northwest Highlands, you MUST have this book, which personifies all that is good and genuine about the area and its people in much the same way as the movie, “Local Hero” did, albeit with altogether different plots.
Lily McCallister

February 1st, 2012 at 11:01 AM


The journey on the wee mad road was a wonderful insight to a way of life and a community that is or was close to ideal. So glad the authors invited us along on their two years hiatus.
Steff X

February 1st, 2012 at 1:22 PM


Plainly written but very true to the scottish people, countryside, and a wonderful view of what their life was making this dramatic change to living. Really enjoyed due to the insight into the scottish village life and way of interaction.
Ackston

February 1st, 2012 at 3:45 PM


I have found with the books that I really love that I stop reading them with 30 or so pages left. I just don’t want to finish them beause I don’t want them to end. Then I laugh at myself for being silly and finally read the last pages. This was one of those books. I really didn’t want it to end. Once I finished it I couldn’t decide whether I should start reading it again or just book my ticket to Scotland. I honestly laughed and cried while I read this and feel as though I now know the whole village of Achiltibuie.
Joe Blob

February 1st, 2012 at 5:12 PM


The title, “The Wee Mad Road” intriged me sufficiently to want to know what it was all about. Having toured Great Britain in 2007, the descriptions of the roads, the highlands,etc. were familiar to me as I read the story. It was interesting and painted a very interesting and humorous picture of life in the highlands, especially as experienced by two city born and bred Americans. picture .
Nostradamoose

February 1st, 2012 at 10:14 PM


The Wee Mad Road was a delightful read! It’s the story of an American couple from the mid-west spending two years living in the Scottish Highlands.

It covers their experiences from the weather to the pubs to the local food to sheep-shearing, lambing, etc. They lived just like the local highlanders and wrote in sort of a journal format.

It was light and entertaining. Both my husband and I really enjoyed this book!
obeythefist

February 2nd, 2012 at 3:21 AM


Wow! I’ve just taken a rollicking, adventurous ride along the Wee Mad Road, and I didn’t even have to go to Scotland. There were surprises around every bend and, best of all I became acquainted with some of the highland people – strong and lively with wonderful stories to tell. Even the animals – sheep, dogs, chickens – had their own quirky personalities. This book is full of laughter and a lot of heart without being overly sentimental – not to mention exciting action on land and sea. It has music and dancing and parties with hilarious happenings. It’s a can’t-put-down read – intelligently and beautifully written with wonderful illustrations that evoke the feeling of the land and it’s people. I didn’t want it to end!
jksdbi

February 2nd, 2012 at 12:41 PM


I read about this book in the St. Paul(MN)Pioneer Press

We have a Scottish daughter-in-law. We went to visit her parents on the Isle of Skye after she married our son. I fell in love with Scotland, especially the Highlands.

I ordered this book for my daughter-in-law for her birthday and she was delighted with it. She knew the location of Coicagh, had been there and knew how to pronounce it. I picked the book up at our library and am enjoying it immensely. Anyone born in Scotland or it was their birthplace, can’t help but identify with these Highland Scots: Warm, generous, patient with Americans, especially. To me Scotland could be heaven and I would be satisfied.
Dawleygirl

February 2nd, 2012 at 4:13 PM


I have been sailing the Islands off the Scottish West coast for nearly 20 years now. If ONLY I had this book when I started! It is just wonderful. The attention to detail for those using the sea enables good choices of destination to be made on every day you are out there whatever kind of boat you use. The detail on history, mapping, wild life, plant life, harbours, anchorages all add up to a great resource every day on the boat. The authors own drawings and paintings are so true to the place. And then, what a great joy I have in reading it by the fireside on winter nights when I plan the next great adventure amongst these Islands. It is a book, that once read, you will never put it down again if there is still an ounce of sea-faring in you. It just makes you dream again and be there! A must-buy if ever there was one even if you never go there in your life, its that good. Dont miss it.

AND we have had many many hours on the boat late at night with maybe too much grog inside strongly debating the absolute definition of an ‘Island’ which starts the book. And yet we cannot get any crew to all agree on a single view..
flocktard

February 2nd, 2012 at 7:58 PM


In this day of farm-bred catfish, imitation crabmeat, hot-house tomatoes, stall-raised veal and fabrics made of recycled plastic, it’s refreshing to visit a culture sustained by traditional sheep herding and harvesting prawns, crabs and lobster from the open sea.
This perspective is just one of the appeals of this bright and candid account of an extended stay in a special un-defiled place. One of the reasons for the book’s emphasis on fishing and wool production is that Jack and Barb Maloney became immersed in the industry of the Scottish highlands during their two-year residence. From the moment they decided on the move to a remote coastal village they were tourists no more and gracefully joined a community that accepted them with equal grace. Jack learned to tend the creels and lines and shear and dip the sheep. Excerpts from Barb’s journal, and her tender illustrations, show a mutual affection between her and their community. What Peter Mayle did for Provence, the Maloneys have given the Northwest Highlands, but with somewhat less whimsy and a crustier edge. The character of the land and the people are beautifully revealed. We love this book for its integrity and delightful vicarious experiences of life in an all-but-forgotten corner of the world.

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