Even though the weather for tomorrow has improved since the weekend forecast, the outlook is still rain for Friday and Saturday.  Earlier forecasts initially showed sleet and rain with winds near 20 mph for tomorrow with heavy rain through the weekend.  At any rate, we had to make a decision on Sunday and the trip was cancelled.

The team was last on the island on March 16 and a full year will likely have elapsed since then before the next visit. Tom and John are scheduling their visit as soon as all factors permit.

All arrangements are made for a March 10 to March 12 visit!  At this stage, we are just watching the weather.   My plan is to hire a canoe and to visit the island as many of these days as possible.  David has managed a nice overall tower model from the March 2015 data and I will try to get a really solid, complete model of the vault ... to merge into the larger model.  Likewise, I will try to get more detailed models of the windows and other features to merge into the model.  

The key question will be whether the wind makes passage from shore to island via canoe possible safely.  I can tolerate the cold and rain.

We are still hoping that Tom Addyman and John Sanders can make it out for further building assessment soon, but that is only a remote possibility at this stage ... so I will focus on the photogrammetry and modeling.

It has been almost a year since my last visit and weather has hindered our progress since summer 2015.  I am trying to manage a trip in March ... to continue with photography if nothing else.

We received some wonderful information from a gentleman who had visited the island in the 1950's and we are planning to start a campaign to collect stories and information about Ellan Vhow / Eilean A Vow.   If you are aware of anyone with stories or information, please do contact us!

Thanks,
Bruce

Merry Christmas!

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and holiday rest!

As you can see from the adjacent photo of the Duck Bay Lodge (just north of Cameron House) on Loch Lomond,  the loch levels have been exceptionally high and flooding properties along the shoreline.  Of course, the teams are waiting for low loch levels for the survey of the outer walls at Ellan Vhow, but Tom Addyman's team may still get out to the island as soon as the weather is clear enough for the building preservation assessment.

On the island, Building 1 (at the landing) will surely have been partially submerged, but it has weathered similar loch levels in the past.  The rest of the archaeological features should be on high enough ground to be safe.  If anyone has recent updates on that, please share your observations!   (We actually worry more about Inch Galbraith for short term vulnerability.)

It has been a real pleasure interacting a number of you as the Christmas Holiday has approached and arrived.  It sounds like there have been many challenges and blessings for Macfarlanes around the world.   As mentioned earlier, the Board did donate a branding iron and a limited number of Christmas ornaments were created this year from the Elm wood taken at the doorway of the tower cellar in 2013.  More of this wood is stored in Scotland with the team's tree surgeon and we hope to work more of it on our next visit.  If anyone is aware of wood shop space for hire near Loch Lomond, please let us know.

Praying for lower loch levels and wishing you all a wonderful New Year!

As noted, we had scheduled another island visit to complete survey work on November 16, but we missed our short window of lower loch levels and are still waiting for another opportunity.  In the mean time, Tom Addyman has continued his work to record the tower structure and recently completed digitization of stone-by-stone drawings.   The EVPF Board covered in excess of $1700 for work performed in September (as a donation by the Board to EVPF) and authorized several thousand dollars of additional work.   Currently, two visits are pending scheduled dates.  The first is a visit for final definition of work required on masonry and stone work to preserve the tower itself.  The team there will be Tom Addyman and John Sanders.  David Connolly will be leading the second visit for survey work ... when water levels are low enough to properly record the outer walls.  Tom's trip isn't dependent on water levels and should happen in the next month or so.

We are working on Christmas ornaments.  The  Board is paying to have an iron made with the design shown above for use in the creation of ornaments.  We have an extremely limited supply of the wood from the Scots Elm that was removed from the doorway of the tower cellar in 2013, but we may try to produce additional ornaments from domestic wood.  We hope to spend time processing the stored Scots Elm wood during one of the future Scotland trips so that we will have more ornaments of that wood to offer for next year.

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the States!   Thanks to all for continued interest and support!

Bruce and Katherine

Well ... we were "on call" throughout the summer in hopes that we might get back out to the island when the water levels were low ... but Mother Nature did not cooperate and we looked to September/October.  Tom Addyman and an associate are planning a trip shortly to get more specifics on potential masonry work and reparations.   We may join if water levels are reasonably low and if we can mark some of the outer walls in shallow water.  Loch levels are back down to normal, but not cooperating with low levels.   If not a trip sooner, we are targeting a trip November 16 .. and hoping for low enough water levels.

Apologies for the sparse communication in this period.  We kept expecting to have news of a trip ... and then, of course, Katherine had to head back to U Chicago.  She just missed an opportunity to do some work directly with the OI there, but is working on the Hittite Dictionary project between classes.  We have learned to be patient and persistent over the three years we have been working on this as EVPF.  

The EVPF Board continues to cover the costs of these interim projects.  We will solicit and build more donations to support the next phases and projects after the current reports are finally complete and the next Historic Scotland approval (SMC) is granted.  Designing signage is likely the next major step.  Unfortunately, I haven't made more progress on the 3d modeling of the tower due to time limitations, but will get back to that when time permits.

As we have said, we are in this for the long run!

Thanks for your support!

Bruce

Several key survey points were still under water as of the March 2015 trips and, yes, another trip will be needed.  (See the photo in the March 16 entry below.  If you know the island, you'll recognize that the water was at a high ... lapping at the base of Building 1.) The EVPF Board is funding the additional trips directly.   The initial survey work and drawings look great and we hope to have the report done by year end.

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park (LLTTNP) have graciously offered to help with design of educational signage ... which will be the subject of the next application to Historic Scotland.   We will also have recommendations for further preservation as part of that report and hope to include specifics in the resulting Scheduled Monument Consent application.

First off, a big thank you to David Connolly for his continued contributions to EVPF! Recently he sent us a "small treat" as he put it - a lovely 3D model of the vaulted cellar room integrated into a website called Sketchfab. We have received a few emails notifying us that the 3D models we have provided can be a little glitchy, so hopefully this web model will allow more people to enjoy the site from afar. David's web model is available here, but don't forget to check out our entire 3D modeling page as well!

My father and I continued working on the tower model while I was home from break, so hopefully we will be able to provide y'all with a more complete model soon.

Thank you everyone for your continued support!
-Katherine 

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park (LLTTNP) rangers have been very kind to support our efforts!  Our  February trip was scheduled for March 9 with transportation to be provided by LLTTNP.   Katherine had "finals", but I made the trip ... hoping the weather would clear.   Unfortunately,  gale force winds added to the rain on Monday and the LLTTNP rangers wisely cancelled the trip. Since they were booked until Friday, I was left to find  a way over to the island to salvage my trip.  The weather forecast was "partly sunny" with winds abating for Tuesday ... but for Tuesday only.

Our friend, Bill Porter, is back on the water in his Beneteau, but was fully booked for Tuesday.   The folks at Can You (out of the Loch Lomond Shores Mall in Balloch) were able to help with a canoe, but didn't have racks.  Fortunately, TISO in Glasgow had both canoe and racks.  They are in the opposite direction from the airport to the loch, but are a reliable source for canoe or kayak and were very helpful this trip!

After dropping my key at the Ardlui Hotel,  I made my way south to the third lay by south of the Pulpit Rock construction ... the one with the large rock along side and long enough for three cars to lay by lengthwise.  There's a relatively sharp eight foot drop down to the water, but it was easy to slide the canoe down to the flat bedrock at the water's edge.  The loch was particularly high this trip.

I had a little wind to contend with on the paddle over, but it only took about five minutes to make the crossing.  The drizzle had  stopped and the clouds began to clear as I reached the beach on the north end of the island.  It proved to be another gorgeous day on Eilean A Vow!

The archaeologists were re-scheduled to come over later in the week, so I focused on photogrammetry.  Eight tall, but light traffic cones were place carefully on or near the tower with the camera pole ... as points of reference.   With the vegetation down, I was able to get about 500 shots ... but photogrammetry still has an element of "art" to it and the "jury is out" on whether I got all the necessary shots for good 3D modeling.  The initial run was promising, but will take a lot more processing.

Feeling fully satisfied, I paddled back across a glassy loch ... having the whole loch to myself, it seemed. 

The three archaeologist (Fiona, David, and Tom) were scheduled to be on the loch today to complete the survey work.  The weather seemed good from the forecast, but I haven't gotten word yet on whether the trip was successful.  I hope to provide a full update in the next few days.  Thanks to LLTTNP, thanks to the archaeologists, and thanks to you all for your support!

Bruce
(and Katherine, in absentia)