Delivering an Everhot to the Isle of Skye
“The logistics of getting anything to Camasunary are the major challenge here”.
Historically the Everhot Cooker was designed for use with renewables. More specifically water power. In fact, the first ever Everhot 60 was built to be powered by the water turbine here at Coaley Mill. So it was fascinating for us to receive an enquiry from a customer who also intended to power an Everhot from water.
Sometimes our deliveries can be in pretty remote locations. But we like a challenge. So, when Andy and his wife Camilla asked us about delivering an Everhot to the Isle of Skye – down what is essentially a rocky footpath – our ears pricked up. Here’s how it started:
“Hi, I am interested in using one of your stoves in an off-grid application. The catch is that it is a long way off-grid. Access is by foot, quad bike, short wheelbase Land Rover, small boat and that is about it. What are your thoughts on transport and installation?”
The Isle of Skye is about a 10 hour run from Coaley Mill but the final ‘mile’ looked like a few hours of off roading for us. Luckily there are some walking videos online to get a feel for the terrain and Andy very kindly sent some further videos to give us a good idea about what our delivery team faced.
Camasunary Bay on the Isle of Skye with the cottage in the background
Guy Goring, Managing Director of Everhot Cookers and occasional delivery team member says: “We decided that there seemed to be no reason why, with the right vehicle and tyres, we couldn’t reach Camasunary. And so we nervously, but excitedly, accepted the challenge.”
Camasunary House is situated in a wonderful location on the edge of Camasunary Bay. The house has been in Camilla’s family since 1916 when it was bought by her great grandfather. She has visited most summers since she was a child, and her own children started coming before they could walk. The house has never had electricity. Historically, candles and gas lamps provided light and the cooker and fridge ran off propane gas bottles. Andy, who is an engineer, has recently installed a solar panel. Now he is in the process of installing three small water turbines that will provide enough power to run the house and the Everhot.
At Everhot we have a Ford Ranger in the business for towing trailers. So, in preparation for the terrain, we stripped off all the unnecessary trims and side steps that would reduce the ground clearance and load capacity and fitted off roading tyres to cope. The size of the cooker meant that the vehicle was at its limit and fully loaded, and we’d lost some suspension travel which was slightly concerning.
Guy continues: “Travelling up the day before we hoped for favourable weather to make life easier and the next day we awoke to glorious sunshine. On reaching the start of the track, and after repairing a local lady’s flat tyre, we took a five minute walk to assess the situation. It was suffice to say that any video of the Camasunary track underestimates the terrain and we began to doubt our ability to reach the property.
Everhot’s Andrew travelled with Guy and guided him down the beaten track to the Bay
“For the next two hours we crept along a dramatic trail comprising steep slopes, large boulders and small streams until we eventually arrived in the spectacular Camasunary Bay.
“Unloading and installing the cooker in the sunshine all went to plan. After a very welcome tea and homemade biscuit, and a tour of the nearly finished turbine installation, we set off back up the mountainside in a very much lighter truck.”
The Everhot Cooker in place next to the now redundant gas cooker! Andy and Camilla chose an Everhot 110+ in Marine Blue.
Watch our short timelapsed video of The Longest Journey here:
