In May 2026, we are partnering again with Shetland Songwriting Festival, and travelling to the incredible Outer Hebrides to bring you this unique Songwriting experience aboard the Lady of Avenel, a two-masted brigantine.
Joining us are acclaimed Scottish songwriters including Jenny Sturgeon, who will lead workshops throughout the trip.
This week-long voyage offers a balance of songwriting workshops and sailing along Scotland's stunning Hebridean coastline.
As you sail from Barra and explore anchorages and harbours, you will draw inspiration from the breathtaking landscapes, seascapes, and wildlife; we will visit isolated and abandoned islands, listen to the grey seals singing, hike sandy hills and explore rocky shores. Depending on the weather, these destinations could include stunning Mingulay, or even the almost-legendary St Kilda.
Throughout the trip, expect a welcoming and encouraging environment where you can improve your songwriting skills, collaborate with fellow participants, or simply enjoy the beauty of the voyage. The trip is open to everyone, whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced songwriter, and no prior sailing experience is required.
The sessions will differ slightly from our other Sessions and Sail trips: on this retreat-style voyage, workshop sessions will be more focused, with tasks being set by our tutors every day. This will be tailored to draw the best of your skills out, and to teach you new songwriting techniques. Evening sessions may begin with a recap of what we have learned/written, although there will still be plenty opportunities to swap tunes and songs and to put new arrangements together with your shipmates.
You can participate in two songwriting workshop sessions each day, focusing on essential songwriting tools such as song structure, lyrics, melody, meter, storytelling, and more. In between workshops, you’ll sail along the coast, and you can choose to either engage with the crew – setting sails, steering, or discussing navigation with the skipper – or simply relax and take in the scenery.
Keep an eye out for whales, dolphins, eagles, and other wildlife from the foredeck. Your floating home will offer comfortable twin-share cabins, and the crew will ensure an enjoyable and safe journey. Join us for an unforgettable voyage of exploration, creativity, and music!
You will be allocated a berth aboard the brigantine 'Lady of Avenel', in one of our six double cabins. For solo travellers, cabins will be allocated on a same-sex basis; if two people travelling together wish to share a cabin, we recommend booking early to ensure availability.
There are two showers and three toilets in the accommodation; these are shared.
Meals are prepared in the modern upper deck galley; these are of a high standard and prepared by our own chef. Meals, tea and coffee are included in the price of the trip.
The upper deck saloon provides an ideal place to socialise and the perfect session space for the evenings we spend aboard. Should the weather be fair enough, we may be able to play music on deck.
Barra is serviced by a daily ferry from Oban - book via Calmac Ferries: https://ticketing.calmac.co.uk
Direct flights from Glasgow are also available;the aeroplane lands on the beach in Barra, so flight times revolve around the tide! www.loganair.co.uk
For those catching the ferry, we have tailored the start time of the voyage so that you can catch the ferry from Oban on Sunday - voyage start time will be 1730, so you can come to the ship direct from the ferry.
Oban is connected by bus from Inverness, Fort William and Glasgow – see Citylink for more information. http://www.citylink.co.uk . There are trains daily from Glasgow: www.thetrainline.com/www.scotrail.co.uk
If you choose to drive to Oban, parking in Oban may need to be organised in advance.
We recommend you bring the following:
You may also be glad to have:
If you'd like more info on what to bring, there's a handy guide from our regular tutor Tim MacDonald here.
Please note that the Lady of Avenel is a ship built in the 1960s - getting around the ship and above and below decks requires a degree of mobility and ability to negotiate stairs.
If you have mobility issues it is best to check your suitability for this voyage - please send us a message and we'll be happy to advise.
The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT) provides financial protection under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 for Nisbet Marine Services/Sessions and Sail, Member Number 5533, and in the event of their insolvency, protection is provided for:
- Non-flight packages
ABTOT cover provides for a refund in the event you have not yet travelled or repatriation if transportation was included in your package. Please note that bookings made outside the UK are only protected by ABTOT when purchased directly with Nisbet Marine Services/Sessions and Sail.
In the unlikely event that you require assistance whilst abroad due to our financial failure, please call our 24/7 helpline on 01702 811397 and advise you are a customer of an ABTOT protected travel company.
You can access The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 here
You can find out more about ABTOT here
A single berth in a 2-berth cabin aboard s.s. Lady of Avenel
3 meals per day plus snacks, tea, coffee
Songwriting classes, workshops and tuition from our onboard tutors
Drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic will be available onboard through the ship's honesty bar.
This itinerary is a suggestion of how the trip may take form; all destinations are subject to change, are weather dependant, and are at the discretion of the Captain.
You make the journey to Barra, at the Southern end of the Hebrides; a short walk from the ferry and you're aboard the Lady of Avenel, your sailing-ship home for the week! The crew welcome you aboard, you find your cabin, and soon we're sitting down to a delicious dinner in the ship's saloon and getting to know each other.
The ship may remain alongside at the pontoon, or we may sail a short distance to a more isolated anchorage; and after dinner is cleared away, we share songs and ideas aroud the table, getting to know better our group, crew and tutors.
Today we make a decision, based on the weather forecast.
If the Atlantic is suitably flat and settled, we may set out on a 65-mile passage to St Kilda, once the most remote inhabited island in the British Isles, and now home to some incredible populations of puffins, gannets and the unique and hostoric Soay Sheep. This will take us all day, so settle in for a day at sea, to be rewarded by evening by the sight of St Kilda's breathtaking volcanic ridges and jagged shorelines.
If we have a fair wind, you can help the crew set sail; our tutors will set a songwriting task for the crossing,
If St Kilda is ruled out due to weather or swell in the Atlantic, we will sail south to gorgeous Mingulay, also abandoned in the 1930s and featuring gorgous sandy beaches and an evening gathering of grey seals in their hundreds.
After dinner we share and chat about some of our musical ideas over a few songs.
Today we have the unique opportunity to explore an island that few get to visit.
If we're in St Kilda, wander ashore through the houses in Village Bay, imagining life here in bygone days, and how it may have felt to look out to sea and watch ships departing. Make a hike to the top of the hill for incredible vistas across 360 degrees of ocean. Or walk by the rocks and watch hundreds of puffins returning from the fishing.
Or, if it's Mingulay, consider the lives of the population here - fishing, battling dangers from the sea and a hard living off the land; climb to the top of the hill and look up the chain of the Hebrides or across the sea towards Skye or Rum, or take your notebook to the sandy beach and be inspired to write.
After another delicious dinner aboard the Lady, we compare what we've written during the day and discuss the next writing task.
We sail today, headed further down the chain if we're in the Hebrides; or, if we're at St Kilda, to explore 'The Stacks', the gannet-covered rocks at Boreraigh.
More collaboration, writing and creative tasks for the day will be set by our tutors.
The west coast of Mingulay is wild and rocky; full of mystery, caves and indentations; and further south is the lighthouse-topped Barra Head. Bottlenose dolphins, whales and porpoises abound in this part of the Hebrides so it will be worth keeping an eye out for these as we sail by.
We're anchored again by evening; after a good day of sailing and writing, we are ready to enjoy a peaceful anchorage and share some of our projects with the group.
We make the crossing back towards the Hebrides, if we've made St Kilda; or to the machair islands south of Barra - Pabbay and Sandray. These islands are glorious for exploring, hiking, beachcombing; look out for fins and whales in the seas and sounds.
As we sail along we are set a further writing task by our tutors; contemplate this as you watch the Hebrides approach.
We arrive in the evening, and find a gorgeous anchorage either in the outlying Monach Islands, or off a golden sandy beach on Sandray or Pabbay.
It's time to start considering our final evening - tonight we plan to hold a last-night event where we may perform a couple of songs for each other. Our tutors and sailing crew may be persuaded to give us a performance as well!
We depart our anchorage, and set the sails on the Lady of Avenel; you may like to get involved, hauling on a haliard with the crew, or taking a turn at steering the ship; or just to take some photos as we get this impressive square-rigged ship under sail.
Back in Castlebay, Barra, we enjoy our last dinner together, then clear away and prepare for the performance in the Lady's cosy saloon.
It’s the last morning - we enjoy a breakfast aboard before heading our separate ways.
If you're catching the ferry this morning, you'll say goodbye early as departure is around 0730; sail onwards, with instruments in hand, a wad of new songs, and a wealth of experiences, memories and new friends made.