I’ve been reading Matt Gaw’s thoughts on fog in his book ‘In All Weathers’. Ironically, this happened just as fog settled over Lundy! It made me think about my own encounters with fog on the island and how fog shapes life here.

Walking in fog

When fog descends on Lundy, it can be the type of fog where you can completely lose yourself. I know this from experience. Once I was at the Old Light when the fog came down quickly from the north-west. I wandered for at least half an hour. I did not know where I was. With all the usual landmarks hidden, I was convinced I was still on the West Side. Instead, I was suddenly spat out of the dense fog onto the High Street! That’s how weather can change so quickly here on Lundy. I am in my house, where i can easily see St Helen’s church and the Marisco Tavern. Minutes later, I can look up and they’re completely swallowed up by fog.

This regular occurrence of fog is due to Lundy’s location between the Atlantic and the Bristol Channel. Lundy is exposed on all sides surrounded by cool seas and shifting winds. When moist air meets the colder air around the cliffs, the whole place can disappear into whiteness. This seems to be especially so in November through to February.

Many of us know the Shipping Forecast. We recognize its familiar warnings: “Lundy: moderate or good, occasionally poor – poor visibility due to fog patches.” As an aside have you watched the Channel 4 TV programme Sailing the Shipping Forecast with Rev. Richard Coles? it features Lundy’s very own Warden Joe Parker, who does an amazing rendition of our visiting Manx Shearwaters.

Atmospheric Fog

Walking in fog can be interesting and or alarming. As you walk across the island, silhouettes of animals can be seen through the mist. Sometimes a walker materialize right in front of you!

One type of fog I enjoy is when I can swim below it. The fog sits high on the cliffs, leaving a narrow clear band between cloud and sea. In those moments when you are in the sea, the island feels ethereal. Other times, the fog is low. You can sit at the Ugly on the East side and be sitting above the fog. Arriving by ship when this happens is quite something. Lundy stays hidden until the last moment. Then it suddenly rises out of the sea. Sometimes you can watch the fog roll in off the water, mystical and magical. On some days, the mainland is fogbound while Lundy is perfectly clear. On these occasions we feel strangely isolated, as though floating in our own little world. When the mainland is foggy and Lundy is not, it creates a strange feeling. The island seems suspended in its own weather system. It feels quiet, bright, and entirely apart from the rest of the world.

Disruptive Fog

Fog doesn’t just change the atmosphere—it changes plans. Helicopters can’t fly visitors through it, so fog can ground everyone. Sometimes the first flights get through. Then the fog thickens. This leaves the remaining passengers on the island watching the weather. It’s now part of the island experience. There is that sense of waiting. You are not quite knowing. Will you get off or not? It is not unknown for visitors to be stranded here for several days due to fog. People even keep count of how many times they’ve been delayed on the mainland or on Lundy by fog.

Fog in Lundy’s History

Fog has shaped stories on Lundy far longer than anyone living here now. It’s the reason the fog battery was built when the Old Light proved too high to help on foggy days. And it played a part in shipwrecks around the island, including the wreck of HMS Montague in 1906. The fog was so dense that the crew couldn’t see the rocks at all. Even the landing party searching for help became confused about where they’d arrived.

More Than Weather

Fog on Lundy isn’t just a type of weather; it’s an experience. It hides the island, reveals it again, delays people, enchants them, and occasionally scares them. It can make Lundy feel both incredibly close and impossibly far away.

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References

Channel 4 (2025) Sailing the Shipping Forecast with the Rev Richard Coles. More4, UK: Strawberry Blond TV. First broadcast 20 October 2025.

Gaw, M. (2025) In All Weathers: A Journey Through Rain, Fog, Wind, Ice and Everything In Between. London: Elliott & Thompson.

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