SI'IRIES
For six weeks this summer, arts group NVA stages an installation on a rocky hill in Skye, involving a midnight walk through an illuminated landscape. Nick Barley maps out the route.
Talk to anyone who‘s been on one of NVA‘s installations. and you‘re sure to get an extreme reaction. Most people fondly remember a dark. deeply moving experience. while a few are left totally cold. So I‘m taking a trip to Skye to investigate the most ambitious NVA project yet. set on a mountain called the Storr.
SCENE l
Portree, morning, rain
I am waiting in my camper van. in the main square of Skye‘s capital. l’ortree. I‘m due to meet Angus l-‘arquhar. head of NVA. so we can walk together up the Stort‘. btrt the rain outside is tropical in its intensity. cascading over the windscreen and I can hardly see out. It‘s the kind of weather that inust drive Skye residents to distraction. but to me it‘s exciting. l"arquhar takes
a different view. though. He rolls up in his car
and l scurry over through the downpour. lle‘s hoping the weather will clear up later. and if it does we‘ll get a better sense of the landscape. ‘I don‘t mind if you want to climb it in the rain.‘ he
says. ‘but we might get some spectacular views if
we wait.‘ So we agree to delay our ascent until after lunch. Meanwhile. I drive across the island to meet one of the mountain guides who'll escort
visitors tip the path. as part of a six—week cycle of
night-time walks that involves light. sound and breathtaking natural landscape.
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The look of the Storr varies wildly, depending on the weather. Angus Farquhar believes it will be just as varied at night
SCENE 2
Storr, early afternoon, low cloud We‘ve reached the crest. right beneath the 40 metre stack that is the Old Man of Storr. and we‘re continuing on towards a sign that says ‘Y()U ARli ADVISlil) NOT TO PASS 'l’lllS POIN'l“. (‘louds are swirling round us. mimicking a scene from a Sherlock Holmes lilrn. and bringing extraordinary rock formations in and out of view as the mist advances and recedes. "l‘here is.‘ l"arquhar booms portentously. ‘a 3()() metre high vertical cliff tip there. Right behind that cloud.‘ It might as well be 300 miles. because although the Old Man of Stort is starkly visible in front of the cloud. the rest of the hill is completely shrouded in mist. Last year. a giant rock fall from
this invisible cliff deposited 4()()() tonnes of
boulders down onto the path beyond the sign.
SCENE 3
Trotternish, lunchtime, changeable l emerge from the house ofJohn White. mountain guide. When l‘d arrived 90 minutes earlier. the rain had been pelting down on his house which was too shrouded in cloud to yield tnuch of its setting. Now. the cloud is lilting and I‘m getting views out from this quiet part of northern Skye. across the sea to the Western Isles. some 30 or 40 miles away. This may well be the closest you can get to Lewis or Harris in a camper van without taking a feny and it is one of those jaw-dropping big views which etch themselves into your memory. White lives here together with Anne Martin. a highly respected (iaelic singer. and their daughter. Anne was born and raised in the 'l‘rotternish region of Skye. ‘You still hear (iaelic spoken here.‘ says White.
What. I ask. do the residents make of NVA and their installation'.’ White is unequivocally impressed. ‘lior a start. NVA have got together with some of the landscape agencies to fund the rebuilding of the path up the Storr.‘ he says. ‘So they will leave the mountain in a better condition than they found it.‘ But surely there are some who find it distasteful that the best part of a million
quid is being spent on this'.’ John hesitates. ‘You could do a PhD study on the people who live here.‘ he smiles. ‘()f course there are some who might whisper that the money should have been spent on roads or education. but they‘ve no idea that this money comes out of a totally different pot. If it wasn‘t spent on the Storr project. it certainly wouldn‘t have found its way into our schools. And they seem to forget that this project is helping to pay my mortgage. The local economy is definitely benefiting. Then of course there‘s NVA‘s community liaison person. (‘lare llunter‘. who‘s working with schools and youth clubs around ‘l‘rotternish on various projects. Above all. we‘ve got thousands of visitors who probably wouldn‘t come here otherwise. staying in our hotels and B&Bs this summer.‘
SCENE 4
Storr, afternoon, sunshine
As we walk up the lower part of the hill. it‘s wooded and we hear a clanking in the trees near the path. It‘s a worker clearing out a rnidge trap. Nine of these traps have been placed on the route. The aim is to break the insects‘ six-week breeding cycle. Something tells me the rnidges won‘t be defeated that easily.
SCENE 5 Trotternish, morning, cloud Will it be dangerous. climbing a mountain at