Far From The Madding Crowd: Modern-Day Hermits

[ramonmercado]

Rescued again!

A hermit living in an isolated Scottish forest was rescued after his distress signal was picked up in the USA.

Ken Smith made headlines when he was rescued in similar circumstances last February after becoming unwell but this time he was injured after a log pile collapsed on him.

Four members of Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team were airlifted by the Inverness-based coastguard search and rescue helicopter to Glen Nevis in Lochaber on Saturday afternoon.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...-distress-signal-coastguard-via-us-satellite/

Ken Smith emerges from the forest again.

A hermit who has spent 40 years living in isolation in the Scottish Highlands has made a surprise appearance on the red carpet of a film festival.

Ken Smith left his cabin in Lochaber to attend the premiere in Glasgow of a documentary about his life. The 74-year-old normally lives without electricity or running water beside Loch Treig - the "lonely loch".

He described Glasgow as a very changed city and added: "I've never seen so many people."

Ken, who is originally from Derbyshire, began a life of wandering after being beaten up during a night out, leaving him unconscious for nearly a fortnight. While travelling in Canada, he became interested in the wilderness - and on his return, he sought out what he felt was the "most isolated place in Britain" and built himself a log cabin.

His extraordinary story has been told by Lizzie MacKenzie who spent two years filming a documentary for BBC Scotland. ...

The Hermit of Treig will be available online via Glasgow Film at Home from 8 - 11 March and then released in cinemas across the UK from 25 March.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-60632608

 

[EnolaGaia]

... Morandi announced this week on his Facebook page that he's decided to leave. ...

Update (as of September 2021) ... Morandi moved back to "civilization" on the Italian mainland, and he's embraced his new life and lifestyle ...

What Italy's famous hermit did next

Mauro Morandi, known as Italy's Robinson Crusoe after developing a loyal online following, was caretaker of the Sardinian island of Budelli, embracing silence, solitude, and the peacefulness of nature while living in an old beach stone hut. ...

Moving home and starting a new life can be tough for anyone. Even more so for an 82-year-old who has spent three decades living a solitary existence on a paradise island. Is it possible to move on and readjust?

Says Morandi, the answer is an emphatic "yes!"

"It's never really over," Morandi tells CNN. "I'm the living proof that a second, new life is possible. You can always start all over again, even if you're over 80, because there are other things you can experience, a totally different world."

Proving his point, Morandi has apparently been thriving since moving back to civilization on the inhabited island of La Maddalena, not too far from Budelli.

"I'm happy and I have rediscovered the pleasure of living the good life and enjoying everyday comforts," he says. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/mauro-morandi-italy-hermit-did-next/index.html

 

[EnolaGaia]

This Washington (state) man has lived alone on an island for over 50 years.

This man is the lone resident of Washington's Protection Island

Marty Bluewater has spent more than 50 years on a remote Northwest island.

Bluewater is 73 years old and lives by himself on Protection Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In fact, he’s the only person who lives on the island.

Fifty-one years ago, Bluewater and his parents paid $7,000 for a vacation property on Protection Island. It was supposed to be huge development with 1,000 homes, but in the 1980s environmentalists stepped in and requested the island be designated a National Wildlife Refuge.

Bluewater supported that position, but his family had already purchased the land.

After a long legal battle, the family was offered a settlement and the opportunity of a lifetime. He could stay on the island forever.

“They gave the option of ‘life use,'" Bluewater said with a wide grin. "At the time I thought, life use? Whatever that means I'll take it. The fact that I'd end up the only person here, I could've never dreamed that up in a million years.”

A retired Seattle Parks worker and Woodland Park Zoo manager, Bluewater spends his days far from the rat race of city life. He cuts driftwood to burn for heat. The closest thing to a traffic jam is a flock of seagulls on an unpaved road. After more than half a century here, he is one with nature. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.king5.com/article/news/...dent/281-dd466b30-7196-43ae-b6ec-8a927e2ef480

 

[ramonmercado]

Looks more like a Hobbit hut.

Ffald y Brenin 'hermit' huts given go-ahead​

IMAGE SOURCE ,LDRS Image caption, The huts would provide "shelter from the elements... with a basic level of comfort"

Plans for five "hermit" huts have been given the go-ahead at a Christian retreat, offering only "basic" comfort.

But they will be used for mediation rather than overnight stays at Ffald y Brenin Christian Retreat Centre and House of Prayer in the Gwaun Valley, near Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. The former hilltop farm was converted into a retreat in 1985 and now attracts visitors from around the world. But it can become busy, so more quiet places are needed, a report said.

The huts will be partly buried in the hillside providing only a door and a "nominal" window, according to the proposals agreed by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-65147695