Lochinver lifeboat called out after 11 kayakers forced to seek shelter in worsening weather conditions
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Eleven kayakers are being rescued after seeking shelter in the Summer Isles.
The alarm was raised around 2.15pm today when the group - who are all members of a holidaying kayaking club - were overcome by the weather conditions.
They took refuge on a small island west of Tanera Mor.
Lochinver Lifeboat was launched at 2.23pm and is due to ferry the kayakers to safety on the mainland, said Stornoway Coastguard.
"They were overcome by the conditions. The weather forecast did not turn out as they thought and found the conditions difficult and challenging. There are no injuries and nobody capsized," said a spokeswoman.
Tanera Mor in the Summer Isles was bought in 2017 by English hedge fund tycoon Ian Wace - who is married to model Saffron Aldridge - for £1,695,000.
Mr Wace, who is worth £800m according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List, is overseeing a multi-year programme of improvements on Tanera Mor which could see it become an idyllic retreat capable of hosting up to 60 paying guests.
Mr Wace was captivated by the history and natural beauty of the area and began an island-wide restoration project including the derelict herring station which had employed 120 people at its height in a small crofting community, now ruinous.
Mr Wace recognised that such an important community regeneration project needed to be in long term secure ownership, and donated it to a charitable trust structure.
According to online information about Tanera Mor: "This enables the appropriate guardianship to be built around philanthropic goals and with community at its heart.
"Although Tanera will ultimately operate as a commercial activity, the ongoing charitable objectives will be met by the revenues flowing from this sustainable project allowing for the outreach already at the core of the project."
The project is now in its fifth year and has bought considerable local regeneration and employment opportunities for many.
In 1881, there were no fewer than 118 people living on Tanera Mòr, all of whom had left by 1931. The island previously had no roads. Since 2017, the redevelopment of the island has involved the creation of several roads in the form of tracks comprised of crushed and compacted stone from the island.
The pagan-cult island of Summerisle featured in the film The Wicker Man is thought by some film critics to be set in the Wester Ross archipelago, although the movie itself was filmed in Galloway and Plockton.
Tanera was the only Scottish island to operate a year-round private postal service.
A letter posted on Tanera must therefore bear two stamps: a Summer Isles stamp to carry it from Tanera to the mainland post office in Achiltibuie, and a Royal Mail stamp for the rest of its journey.
