Kenneth Mackay campaigned tirelessly throughout the 1970s and 1980s to have a paved road built to his remote village of Rhenigidale on the island of Harris off the northwest coast of Scotland. After a long and arduous struggle involving many conflicting voices, the road was finally opened in 1990 and the future of Kenneth’s village was secured. In this interview with our oldest ever guest on the podcast, 87-year-old Kenneth talks about:

• what drove him to fight so hard for so long for the road into his remote village
• how instrumental the village women were in encouraging Kenneth never to give up
• the resistance he faced in his quest to keep his village connected to the outside world
• why it’s important to halt the abandonment of remote places and secure their future
• the importance of getting help and support when undertaking such audacious work

Kenneth documented his struggle to get the road built in a book, published in 2016, Rhenigidale: A Community’s Fight for Survival

NOTE: As a background to this episode, we’d recommend taking a quick look at this short blog post that Helen wrote earlier this year, as it contains photos and maps that show the location of Rhenigidale and what the area looks like.

And this is the blog post mentioned in this episode about the island of St Kilda that was evacuated in 1930.

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Music: Pablito's Way by Paolo Pavan