“Not as often as I would like. Jonathan, who teaches in the island primary school, was at university with my son. Jonathan shares my interest in ornithology and invited me to stay with him. You’re not a birdwatcher are you?”

She shook her head.

“What a shame. Kinness is very good, you know, but it’s desperately underwatched. I think it would rival Fair Isle if it were properly covered.”

She did not know what he was talking about. She wanted to savour every moment of her journey to Kinness and did not ask him to explain.

It took nearly three hours to get there. Sarah wanted to capture the essence of it in her memory. She knew that she would never again feel such anticipation and excitement. But after the first sharp pleasure as the boat moved away from the jetty and she thought: this is it, the start of a new life for Jim and me, she became only sleepy and a little sick. The long monotonous rolls of the boat, and the sound of the engine and the meaningless jumble of words in the wheelhouse, made her drowsy. She did not quite sleep, but she closed her eyes and thought of nothing but the movement and sound of the boat, and the increasing sense of sickness in the pit of her stomach.

She was surprised when Jim came to tell her that they were nearly there. She had almost forgotten about him. As they approached the island the swell flattened and she felt ready to take an interest in her surroundings again.

“You weren’t sick then,” he said. “ I thought that you might be sick.”

“Not me,” she said. “ I’m an islander now, don’t forget.”

“There are lots of folk from the island who get seasick.”

She took his hand to claim him again and to reassure herself that he belonged to her, not to the men in the wheelhouse. She made him sit by her and point out the features of the island. He began in a distant, dutiful way, but became more involved as the boat moved closer to the cliffs. She had seen a map of Kinness and knew its shape. They were approaching it from the north-east. It was roughly egg-shaped but tilted, with the longest part running north-east to south-west. The only natural harbour was on the west side—a small bay sheltered by two points. The boat would go down the north-east length of the island, round Ellie’s Head, a round, high headland, and halfway up the west side to the harbour. Kinness was three miles long and two miles wide.