A land of my own—what I learned about loneliness when I spent a night on an abandoned island

I spend a lot of time on my own—working at my desk at home alone, travelling for work, or walking in nature. But when I spent a night by myself on an abandoned island, I found the extreme solitude there less familiar and more disturbing than I might have imagined.

I travelled to the island of Swona, a few miles off John O’Groats in the Pentland Firth. During the 18th century, there were nine families…