Andy Strangeway
Andy Strangeway (born 1965 in Londesborough, East Riding of Yorkshire) is a councillor, decorator, adventurer and islomaniac from the Yorkshire Wolds, is the first – and so far the only – person to complete the challenge of landing and sleeping on all 162 of Scotland's islands of 40 hectares and above. One definition of an island is that used by Hamish Haswell-Smith in his book The Scottish Islands first published by Canongate in 1999. This list excludes bridged islands such as Skye and tidal islands such as Oronsay that are much larger than 40 hectares (99 acres).[1] Strangeway's definition is simply "a piece of land surrounded by sea that you can't walk to".[2]
- On 28 August 2007, Strangeway landed on Soay, St. Kilda becoming the first person on record to land on all of the major Scottish islands.
- On 29 August, he became the first person to sleep on them all.[3]
On Saturday 8 August 2009, upon landing Out Stack, Andy Strangeway claimed to be the first person to land the four extreme points of Scotland, and the first and so far only known person to achieve this feat.[4] However, having not yet landed on Rockall this claim is disputed.[5]
Direction | Location | Date |
---|---|---|
West | Soay, St Kilda | 28 August 2007 |
South | Mull of Galloway | 31 March 2009 |
East | Bound Skerry | 2 August 2009 |
North | Out Stack | 8 August 2009 |
Strangeway is now an access rights campaigner.[6][7]
On Saturday 6 March 2010, Strangeway assisted Uri Geller to land and sleep on the island of Lamb which he had bought a year earlier. It was Geller's first visit and Strangeway's second.[8][9]
On 10 May 2010, Strangeway successfully applied for the first ever planning permission for Rockall to replace the Queen's plaque.[10][11][12][13] This he intended to do in 2011 but was abandoned.[14]
Upon landing and sleeping on the southerly point of Yorkshire on 5/6 February 2011 Strangeway became the first person to not only sleep on the summits of the three Ridings but also the first person to sleep on the seven extreme points of Yorkshire.[15][16][17]
On 31 August 2011 Strangeway became the first person to sleep at each of the six extreme points of Great Britain solo on consecutive nights.[18][19]
This is the extreme point route Strangeway took:
Thursday 25/Friday 26 – Southernmost point – Lizard Point, Cornwall
Friday 26 /Saturday 27 – Lowest point – Holme Fen, Huntingdonshire
Saturday 27/Sunday 28 – Easternmost point – Lowestoft Ness, Suffolk
Sunday 28/Monday 29 – Westernmost point – Corrachadh Mor, Argyllshire
Monday 29/Tuesday 30 – Northernmost point – Dunnet Head, Caithness
Tuesday 30/Wednesday31 – Highest point – Ben Nevis, Inverness-shire
In June 2012 Strangeway successfully campaigned for the removal of 69 No Overnight Parking signs on trunk roads in the Highlands.[20][21][22] He followed this in September 2012 by successfully campaigning for an estimated 250 No Overnight Parking signs to be removed from non-trunk roads across the Highlands.[23]
A few days later in September 2012 Strangeway became the first person to sleep on the summit of all 52 counties of England and Wales.[24][25]
On 7 May 2015, Strangeway stood as the UK Independence Party candidate for the Wolds Weighton ward of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, finishing fourth in the three-member ward with 1,915 votes.[26] As an independent candidate, he was elected for the Pocklington Provincial ward in a by-election on 7 April 2016.[27]
Notes
- ↑ Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.
- ↑ "Andy Strangeway's website".
- ↑ Strangeway, Andy (2007). Island Man – Naive Beginnings. ISBN 978-0-9557919-0-1.
- ↑ Marter, Hans J (12 August 2009). "North, south, east and west". Shetland News. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
- ↑ "Conquering perilous Rockall". Stornoway Gazette. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
- ↑ "Scottish Islands Access Rights". Andy Strangeway. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
- ↑ Mathew Little (12 January 2010). "Charging charities fees to climb Ben Nevis 'breaks access laws'". Third Sector. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
- ↑ Leask, David (7 March 2010). "Uri Geller's night on treasure island". The Scotsman. Edinburgh.
- ↑ "I'm going to live on my island.....". uri-geller.com. 5 March 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ↑ Collins, Nick (13 May 2010). "'Islandman' to reassert UK claim to disputed island". The Daily Telegraph. London.
- ↑ "Britain strengthens its claim on remote Rockall". Daily Mail. London. 13 May 2010.
- ↑ "Adventurer plans new plaque for Rockall". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 13 May 2010.
- ↑ "Rockall plaque proposal approved". BBC News. 12 May 2010.
- ↑ "Rockall". Andy Strangeway. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ↑ "Yorkshire Extreme Points". Island Man UK Adventurer. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ↑ "'Island Man' Andy Strangeway prepares for Atlantic challenge on Rockall by sleeping out on Yorkshire summits". The York Press. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ↑ "Island Man Andy's extreme adventure". Pocklington Press. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ↑ Catton, Richard (3 September 2011). "Andy Strangeway, from Full Sutton, sleeps in extreme areas of Britain". The York Press. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ↑ "Great Britain Extreme Points". Island Man UK Adventurer. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ↑ Mckim, Claire. (9 June 2012) Ban on parking is... erm, banned | The Sun |Scottish News. Thescottishsun.co.uk.
- ↑ "Remote sleeper Andy Strangeway wins overnight parking fight in Highlands". BBC News. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- ↑ Campaign victory over parking signs. Herald Scotland (9 June 2012).
- ↑ Council overnight parking U-turn is sign of the times | Ross-shire Journal | News. Ross-shire Journal.
- ↑ The first person to sleep at highest points of counties to complete challenge in lowly Huntingdonshire – Latest News. Hunts Post .(21 September 2012).
- ↑ Andy makes history on county top challenge Archived 15 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine.. Adventuretravelmagazine.co.uk (25 September 2012).
- ↑ "Wolds Weighton Ward — East Riding". Local Elections Archive Project. Andrew Teale. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ↑ "Independent Elected on Anti-fracking Platform". Yorkshire & the Humber. Green Party. 15 April 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
References
- Scottish Island Explorer magazine January–February 2008
- "Journal". 43. John Muir Trust. October 2007: 3. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
External links
- Andy Strangeway Official site
- Profile of Strangeway from The Guardian
- BBC Radio4 youandyours interview
- Tayside and Fife Courier feature article
- BBC Scotland
- BBC In Pictures feature