When an email dropped into my inbox looking for volunteers to work on Lundy Island for a couple of days, it implied that it would be oversubscribed. And after a week had passed of when they would select people and I’d had no notification, I naturally assumed I had not been picked. I’d expected as much and was honestly a little relieved. But fate, it seemed, had other ideas.

When I applied to be a volunteer for the National Trust I had no idea of all the other ancillary activities that would be on offer. It’s a bit like a youth club for the elderly, an “Old Club” if you like. You really can fill your days if you felt the need. One such activity was to go to Lundy Island and “help out”. The Trust would pay for a return trip by boat (on the Oldenburg) your accommodation and an evening meal (not steak) in the only pub on the island, Marisco Tavern. In return what you’d be expected to do was, planting trees, mending stuff, general physical labour and I thought I could manage that for a few days at least and it might be fun. It would defiantly be a new experience and I’m all about those these days.

Lyn and Victoria dropped me off at Ilfracombe Harbour on a very wet morning and I met up with our team leader and a couple of other people and got on the boat. Being the old salty sea dog that I am I headed straight for the bowels of the ship and got an actual seat with a table near the buffet bar. There was a fair bit of puking (not from me) and one person was so ill that on arrival at Lundy they had to be airlifted off.

The sun was out when we arrived and whilst my clothing had been perfect for a drizzly Ilfracombe it defiantly wasn’t great for the 1.25km walk from the boat to the village up an elevation of over 100 meters. Once at the top the lack of organisation and makeup of the group became apparent. There were 15 of us in total. 2 members of staff, young ladies who had only started at Arlington a few months ago. 3 university students doing placements, 2 of whom hadn’t started yet. 9 volunteer rangers, who’s role is to help in maintaining natural habitats, preserving footpaths, and assisting with wildlife monitoring and last and certainly least, me, a ‘house nerd’ as one of the rangers called me who I took an instant dislike to. Most of the rangers had also done this before and felt no need to meet the team leader after she put out to all meet at the harbour, so you can probably see how the group dynamic played out. To be honest everyone was friendly enough and I could have made more of an effort but I really didn’t want to.

The sleeping arrangements were not what I expected. I knew we’d be sleeping in a dorm but I didn’t know that the male sleeping accommodation in the barn was just a mezzanine about the living quarters. This meant that if I didn’t want to disturb anyone when I got up (4am) I had to leave the barn. Not that I could have a cup of coffee when I got up because the electric didn’t come on until after 6am. Fortunately the weather helped and I did get to see some nice sunrises.

So what about the work? Well we gathered at 8:30am the first morning outside the barn, all the rangers in their red matching NT tops… and were told by Roger the very softly spoken head ranger for Lundy that what was really needed was bracken bashing. This is a non chemical way of getting rid of bracken and involves squashing it down with a plank over and over and over again for hours on end. I thought at my age I already hated everything so I’m grateful to be introduced to something new to despise. My suggestions of getting rid of it by other means such as flame thrower or agent orange didn’t go down well. By lunchtime I’d fallen over 3 time so in the afternoon I helped build a fence (see below) which was better. I did break a drill bit though.

In the evening in Mariscos I thought I’d try speaking to a few people from the group. The volunteer rangers were all pretty much the same. Recently retired and recent incomers to North Devon i.e. in the last 5 years. I was going to be a bit snarky about this but to be honest it’s only when you retire that you suddenly find you have the time. I would however suggest that if you do retire before 68 with a fat pension to an economically deprived part of the country after selling your (probably) multi million pound house up country you don’t comment that ‘the locals’ don’t seem to want to get involved.

For our second day of work Roger had said we wouldn’t be near the village so would have to take lunch with us. I’d got a flapjack from the shop and a packet of crisps. I did ask if there was any toilet facilities to which he said no and I said only half jokingly that taking a group of old people to the middle of nowhere without a toilet might not be a good idea. In the end we were only about a mile away from the village. The first job was painting rocks white which I immediately volunteered for because it wasn’t bracken bashing. The rocks outline the runway, yes Lundy has an airfield of sorts and it’s apparently very popular. If you have a small plane it’s one of those must do landing strips. They even have an airshow!

I clearly don’t have a clue about this sort of thing because in the time I’d painted nearly half the runway rocks, Tom, one of the rangers, had painted one. It was the largest and he’d done a fine job but still 2 hours for one rock is a bit… The fates decided to punish him because whilst I said we should probably chuck the paint brushes rather than waste water cleaning them (Lundy has a water shortage) he and another volunteer ranger said they would walk back to the village to clean them. Not really a 2 person job. They both came back covered in paint because it turns out that some of the paint that was being used was oil based. The afternoon brought more bracken bashing and a lot of pain to my feet. And that was the 2 days of work.

On the last day I rose before dawn and made my way to the light house, climbed to the top despite my vertigo, sat in the deckchairs and watch the sun come up. It was actually quite peaceful. Our bags had to be outside the barn by 9am and we had to vacate by 10. Which is fairly standard. The problem was the Oldenburg wouldn’t go back to Ilfracombe until 4pm. It had been hot on the island for the last few days (not as bad as the mainland) and a constant wind yesterday helped keep the temperature down but the last day was very hot and there’s not a lot of cover on Lundy. I decided to try and take photos from the same spots I did when I was last here 22 years ago. As you can see it’s not changed.

Eventually the boat came and we were let on after spending nearly an hour queueing on the dock in the blazing sun with no cover. I grabbed a table below decks, by a window on the side that was away from the sun. A couple from Somerset then insisted on sitting at the table and chatting to me the entire 2 and a half hours back to Ilfracombe. They were pleasant and it passed the time. Boat Friend!

I am genuinely grateful for the experience, especially being just a volunteer and a new one at that but it won’t be something I’ll be putting my name down for next year. My body is too broken and I’m too much of a curmudgeon to be stuck with people in an open plan environment especially when I’m in pain and daren’t drink alcohol.