Bess

As psrt of our trip this summer to Scotland, we're planning to spend a week in a cottage on Loch Awe, near Oban. Because we like trains, we're planning to take the train from Glasgow to Oban and rent a car there. I guess this is the West Highland Line. Does anyone have experience with this train? I've heard the scenery is lovely. What I'm wondering is if the scenery on the line north of Oban, up to Fort William and Mallaig, is more beautiful, and if it would be worth our while, during the time we're staying in the cottage, to take a round trip on the train from Oban up to the end of the line and back. What do you think?

sheila

Technically it ceases to be the West Highland Line where the lines split at Crianlarich.

The scenery IS lovely. There is unfortunately no line from Oban to Fort William. One has to go back to Crianlarich and change, and in terms of making a journey rather than taking a trip that makes no sense at all.

So you'd have to drive back to Crianlarich from Loch Awe. Your time could be more fruitfully passed. You might however like to think about driving to Fort William and taking the Jacobite excursion steam train to Mallaig and back?

drsawyers

From memory and hence subject to correction, I believe the train from Glasgow to Ft William crosses Rannoch Moor, which is very bleak, very scenic.

From Ft William to Mallaig is what I think of as the West Highland line. Yes, the scenery is spectacular (even in grim weather).

Bess

Thanks for the idea of driving to Fort Williams and taking the steam train. That sounds like a great idea.

lubeltri

Tell me, is it worth taking the train all the way up to Thurso and Wick? And seeing the Orkneys?

I'm going to be in Scotland either for four days or for seven. Is it worth it with my time constraints?

Cluny

Seeing the name Crianlarich takes me back 35 years. My husband and I took the train from Glasgow to visit my aunt who lived near Connel Ferry. She told us that the canteen at the station at Crianlarich did very good coffee and scones and that we should be sure to get some. When the train stopped, it seemed as though everyone on board had the same idea. I took two steps forward on the platform and then turned back to the carriage, thinking that there was no way that everyone could be served during the five-minute stop.

At that point the conductor came by and gave me first lesson on life in the West Highlands. "Go ahead," he said. "The train'll no go until you've got your coffee." My aunt was right; it was very good.

sheila

In 4 days I defintiely wouldn't go to Orkney uness it was my sole destination.

I, personally, wouldn't do it in a 7 day trip either, but you could.

lubeltri

Thanks, Sheila. Its remoteness makes it look so tempting! Perhaps another time.

You live in Scotland. Considering this is my first trip, what are some must-sees in four or seven days?

Edinburgh, I'm sure.
Skye?
Inverness?
Aberdeen?
Lewis-Harris?
Oban?

I don't know how much to trust a guidebook, and I will certainly take your suggestions very seriously.

Thanks again, Sheila! I may be more exciting about my trip to Scotland than anything else this summer.

lubeltri

Please excuse the grammatical errors! I wish this had an EDIT function.

lubeltri

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janis

Well - it makes a huge difference bewteen 4 days and 7 days.

In 4 days you could see Edinburgh and MAYBE one other place. Say 3 days in Edinburgh and 1 in Glasgow, or 1 in Stirling, or 1 in St Andrews and Fife.

If you have 7 days - then a LOT depends on how you plan to get around. if you are driving you could more easily get to some places.

But even in 7 days you would not have time to get to more than a few places. You could do Edinburgh and Skye in 7 days (but there are a lot of wonderful things to see a LOT closer than all the way to Skye)

If you have 7 days you could do 2 or 3 days in Edinburgh, a day somewhere in the Trossachs or on Loch Lomond, a couple of days on Skye, and a day east of Inverness.

Inverness is not a place to go - it is convenient to a lot of other sites - but Inverness itself is just a busy town.

Aberdeen is a nice town - but probably not a place to go when you have such limited time on a first trip to Scotland.

Also, Oban really isn't much. A lot of Fodorites rave about it - but I suspect it is because they haven't been to that many other places on the west coast. It is basically an old fashioned seaside resort town with tons of B&Bs, soso restaurants and tourist shops. The only times I stay in Oban are when I have to catch EARLY morning ferries and don't want to drive more than a couple of miles to the ferry dock.

sheila

lubeltri

I kind of need to know what you like doing and how you will travel. And how you like your holidays to be. And tho' I get bored going on about it, you have to see Edinburgh- maybe 2 days worth- you could spend the whole week there.

lubeltri

Well, Sheila, I will not have a rental car, so it is rail, bus, and bicycle for me.

I study history at university, so obviously I like history. But I also love hiking windswept, hilly country, exploring coastal fishing towns that never seem to change, and hopping around islands. Here in America, my favorite place to go is New England, which reminds me of what (I have always imagined) Scotland would be like.

From Janis's thoughts, it seems like getting around Scotland takes more time than other places. I have seven days before my study at Cambridge on July 6 and a four-day weekend (beginning at 1pm at the Cambridge train station on Thursday and ending as late as necessary on Sunday or early Monday) from July 24-27. At first I had planned to see England's Southwest, the Isle of Man, and Wales during those seven days and then four days in Scotland. But it seems those seven days would be better spent up north.

What can I do in seven days? I thought to take the train up the eastern coast to Edinburgh, putter around the highlands, head west to the Hebrides, and then take the scenic route back down the western side. I know from other posts that you love Islay. Is it worth the difficulty of getting there on a first trip? It sounds lovely.

Perhaps on the train back down I can stop at Warwick to attend the Saturday 5 July evening concert and fireworks extravaganza at the castle. The tickets are expensive at £24.50 (almost $40.00). I wonder if it is worth it. I hate planning everything over here, because I don't know these things.

Anyway, Sheila (and Janis), I thank you for your help and appreciate any suggestions you might have. I cannot express my excitement at going. It has been a 12-year wait, a long time for a 23-year-old.

zippo

Try this round trip - to Kyle of Lochalsh by rail (change at Inverness), bridge to Skye, ferry to Mallaig, train to Glasgow.This loop could be extended through North Uist (ferry from Uig, Skye) via South Uist, Eriska, Barra (bus/ferry) then ferry to Oban, train to Glasgow.

janis

What an exciting opportunity - you will love Cambridge.

From the sorts of things you describe here is an Itinerary that would be doable in 7 days. (Sorry, you will probably have to forego Islay because of the travel complications. In late June/early July the only ferries you could use to/from are on Wed. You could fly to Islay - but that is expensive)

Train to Edinburgh - stay 2 nights. Train to Mallaig, ferry to Skye, buses on Skye - stay 2 nights minimum, 3 is better (it is slower seeing the sights on foot or by bus so you need more time to see the island). Ferry to Mallaig, train to Glasgow (IF you are into the arts scene and a lively big city. There is a LOT to see in Glasgow but it is not for everyone) - stay 1 night. Train to Carlisle and use it as a base to explore Hadrian's Wall (you could also do this from the east side using Newcastle as a base) - stay 1 night. Train to Cambridge.

If you only do 2 nights on Skye you would have another day to play with which you could add between Edinburgh and Skye - go north into the highlands for an overnoght or ????

You could do it a hundred different ways, but this is one way it would work giving you a combination of a beautiful cities and amazing scenery.

The concert at Warwick is VERY worthwhile - but I don't see you making that on the Saturday if you want to see much of Scotland.

lubeltri

Yes, perhaps I could skip Glasgow or cut Skye down to two days and take the train to Skye in a more roundabout way, reaching the island from the north instead of the south.

sheila

I take it that a student living precludes flying?

We're all different; but I'd only do what janis is uggeting if you want to be the same.

"I study history at university, so obviously I like history." Non-sequitur- I studied law.....

And history is pretty varied too.

How about this. Take the train to Glasgow, (June 29th)which has a wonderful mediaeval heart, and then catch the early (June 30th)(and I DO mean early) bus to Kennacraig. It's all part of the experience. And look at the route. You could plot it on a map or just follow the calendar pictures. Tarbet; Luss; Arrochar; Inverary; Lochgilphead; Ardrishaig; Tarbert.

Then get the ferry to Islay. Cars board the MV Hebridean Isles backwards, and the tradition is to repair to the canteen for a bacon buttie. You will have an azure blue sky with gulls and terns and tysties skimming the surface of the water as you sail away down the loch. On the near shore there is pasture and sheep and sharp rocks lining the water's edge. On the far, north, shore, it's wilder with few houses and great gardens that stretch all the way down to the tide.

After 30 minutes or so, the loch widens as you move from the sheltered water in the lee of Gigha into the more open Sound of Jura. Gigha, named by the Vikings 'Gudey', God's Isle, passes on the starboard bow, with its sandy beach occupied by a sparse few holidaymakers.

Once past, you see Jura on the starboard bow with the Paps (three small mountains) in the middle. You veer south west with Ireland visible on the horizon beyond the Mull of Kintyre, and shortly afterwards begin to come close in to Islay on the port side. The three distilleries of Lagavulin, Ardbeg and Laphraoig come into sight amongst the rocks on the foreshore. Trig white buildings with their names etched clearly in black paint.

Yo're still being buzzed by guillemots and the odd gannet passes by too. Then the ship begins to slowly turn into the natural harbour of Port Ellen. As a matter of fact Port Ellen is perhaps slightly run down, but from the sea she's delightful. Port Ellen itself occupies two bays on the loch, between which is the rocky outcrop housing the harbour facilities. The village is made up mostly of the white painted houses and cottages found all over Islay, with a few larger stone faced buildings mixed in. There are two churches, one overlooking each of the two bays: and each bay also offers a beach

This is the island that is home to song, including one of Scotland's more famous folk songs.

Westering Home

(chorus) Westering home with a song in the air
Light in the eye and it's goodbye to care
Laughter o' love and a welcoming there
Isle of heart, my own one

Tell me o' lands of the orient gay
Tell me o' riches and joys of Cathay
Ah but it's grand to be waking ilk day
tae find yerself nearer to Islay

Chorus

Where are the folks like the folks of the west
Canty and couthy and kindly, the best
There I would hie me and there I would rest
At hame wi' my ain folks in Islay

This beautiful island, the Queen of the Hebrides must have more songs written about it than any similar sized piece of rock. There used to be a cassette which had been recorded by two German boys smitten with the island. All the songs were Islay songs. It must be said they had more passion for the music than talent

Only 25 miles in length and 20 miles wide at most, Islay is nonetheless one of the largest islands among the inner Hebrides and has a fairly even climate. For such a relatively small island, Islay offers a widely varied landscape reaching from the Rhinns of Islay on the western peninsula to the rough moorland of the Oa in the south-east and the white sand dunes of Loch Gruinart in the north.

Islay is also an island steeped in malt whisky. Today, there are still seven distilleries on the island, with one defunct. That?s still quite a lot of whisky for a population of around four thousand! However, around the middle of the last century, Islay sported no fewer than a dozen distilleries and the distilleries are still the most important part of the island economy, Islay being famous for making some of the most powerful and flavoursome whiskies in the world.

The Gaelic name of Islay is Ile or sometimes Eila. There are two possible origins to the name. One maintains that Islay is named for an ancient Goddess of the same name. The other tells of a princess from Denmark named Yula who is supposed to be buried on the island near Port Ellen where standing stones mark the grave.

Landing at Port Ellen there is a road leading from the pier which goes to Ardtalla Estate and stops. Following this road, first you come to the three heavyweight distilleries, Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig, each distillery being beautifully situated directly on the shore, a trademark of Islay?s distilleries. The first, Ardbeg, has just begun distilling again after being silent for a number of years. Continuing west along the road, one reaches Lagavulin where can be seen the ruins of Dunyveg Castle, the former stronghold of the Lordship of the Isles. Next comes Laphroaig, the youngest of the three, with its reputation for producing the peatiest whisky anywhere.

Drive on passing skerries on the right, which will be covered by seals at high tide, and shortly you come to the Kildalton Church and the famous Kildalton Cross, the best preserved high cross in Scotland, both dating back to around 800 A.D. Replicas of the cross are everywhere on Islay.

Lastly you reach, just before the gate across the road, Claggain Bay The remains of an ancient "glass fort" can be found. These forts were made by burning enough wood on the outside of the stone walls to turn the stone into rock-hard glass which was impossible to climb. There is a great joy in lying on the machair above the stoney beach, listening to the whoops of the divers (loons) offshore, in spring.

If, when you get off the ferry you turn left instead of right, you are heading into the heart of Islay, but seeing it's a place that believes in doing thing slowly it keeps throwing sidetracks at you. So, just after you've passed the maltings at Port Ellen (used to be a distillery and you can still buy the whisky) if you turn left you're heading towards a fine beach behind which the rugged Oa peninsula rises towards the sea, ending in rocky cliffs so high, that sometimes the aeroplanes heading towards the airport to the north fly below your viewpoint. Illicit stills and smugglers once abounded in this rough place.

At the tip of the Oa stands the American Monument for the sailors of an American vessel shipwrecked in the first World War, merely representative for the many shipwrecks on this coastline. From this southernmost viewpoint on Islay, the northern coast of Antrim and Raithlin Island on Irelands coast can be seen on a clear day.

This is one of the places to see the rare and endangered chough (the reid-nebbed craw).

Just north of the Oa, beginning at Kintra is a miles long beach of almost tropical quality. It reaches far north, almost to Laggan. The coastal road heading to Bowmore from Port Ellen runs parallel to this golden stretch and passes through a flat peatland. past the airport and the island's most upmarket hotel (but not its best) the Machrie you come, at the end of this road to Islay?s largest town, Bowmore, on Loch Indaal, the home of yet another distillery. At the top of the main street the famous church presides over the town. The "Round Church" as it is usually known, was built for Daniel Campbell to serve the population of the Parish of Kilarrow, most of whom he moved to Bowmore once the village had been completed the following year.

The layout of the pews mean that the circular design is not very obvious at ground floor level, except for the central 19 inch wide pillar supporting the main structure of the church. This is plastered, but thought to comprise a single length of hemlock oak. A doorway covered by a curtain reveals the curved staircase leading to the gallery, and here the circular shape of the building is very obvious indeed. It's said it was built round so that the devil couldn't hide in the corners. Today, Bowmore is the islands tourist centre, with the Bowmore Distillery (Islay?s oldest whisky producer) most suited of all the local distilleries for accommodating visitors.

When I first went to Islay there had been a terrible fishing boat accident from which 3 young people had been drowned. None of them could swim. There was a huge public campaign to build a swimming pool. Bowmore distillery gave a warehouse. So Bowmore is probably the only place in the world where you can go swimming in a whisky warehouse.

I didn't tell you about the golf course at Machrie. Much to my annoyance I cannot find online a brilliant article about the Islay Open which was in the Glasgow Herald some years ago- they have a copy of it framed over the bar-so I will simply print you part of a review I picked up

"My golf @ Machrie was almost surreal. Following an Irish stag night of ultimate proportions I rose some 3 hours later on Sunday with no clubs, a hangover of monumental proportions,and me a left hander. Undeterred my kin gave me a 4,7,9 iron a sand wedge,a putter and 3 balls. You need no more! The craic was great,the sun shone,and the ball ran.This is real golf as it was, and should be played. My problems started when I sobered up and thought about how I should play!This was good,I finished with the ball I started with,what more could you want.

Machrie was a must on my list of out of the way courses to play based on James W. Finegan's description of the place. His words do not do justice to this treasure. From the sheep burrowing a new bunker on the second hole to the 24+ blind shots, this is a Scot masterpiece."

On the same stretch of road, from Port Ellen to Bowmore, we pass Duich Moss, a peat bog which was the height of environmental controversy here in the 1980s. The distilleries claimed they needed the peat for the whisky and the environmenalists wanted it left where it was, for the geese (the environmentalists won...but at a price)

Back to Bowmore:-

Bowmore lies near the head of Loch Indaal, (song- "The lights of Loch Indaal&quot

Shore Street, like most of Islay, has pastel coloured houses and the excellent Lochside Hotel which claims to have over 400 malt whiskies in stock. They also sell prawns by the pint.

From the square, most of Bowmore's key features are visible. The new road to Port Ellen leads up the wide Main Street to the Round Church. In the opposite direction lies the short spur of road leading to Bowmore's harbour. And straight ahead of you is the square containing Islay's main Tourist Information Centre and, beyond it, Bowmore Distillery.

This is a planned village, the work of Daniel Campbell, the Laird of Islay, in 1768.

The main landmark at the harbour end of the village is Bowmore Distillery. This was licensed in 1779, becoming Islay's first legal distillery. The emphasis should be on the word "legal". It seems clear that distilling went on here and in other places on Islay for may years before, though on a more informal basis that the residents took care to conceal from occasional visiting excisemen.

Loch Indaal is shallow and Bowmore's harbour has never been accessible to large ships. Until the 1920s steamers from Glasgow loaded and unloaded cargo here using lighters, but no longer. These days the harbour, with its odd surround on two sides of low level rocks, is used primarily by pleasure craft.

In the second world war Loch Indaal's shallowness was less important than its shelter for the Royal Air Force, who operated flying boats from Bowmore.

I spent one summer holiday here with my dad; and Islay show was on- it's one of those old fashioned agricultural shows which still takes place mid week. I spent days trying to convince dad that EVERYTHING shut down on show day, and only when we turned up at the Lochside in mid-afternoon and it was closed did he believe me.

We got in for supper, tho', and I spent about an hour watching 3 skinny kids, running along the pier and diving into the loch and climbing out and.....doing it all over again. It was a stunning day for weather, and that is one of those pictures in my mind that sums up the meaning of the endless days of summer.

The main road goes north east from Bowmore hugging the shores of Loch Indall still. On the right is Islay Farmers, now a huge warehouse of a place, which used to be a little shed when I went there first. I thought it was a place to buy animal feed and baling twine and stuff; little did I know, and you still couldn't tell from the outside, it's where you buy EVERYTHING on Islay. As they say about Sheffield- from a needle to an anchor- but also clothes and food and just everything.

The road curves round the top of the Loch and passes the monument to John Campbell of Islay, one of the greatest 19th century scholar Scots, and then the gates of Islay house are on the left.

When I'm telling stories about Scotland I find that everything intertwines. I can't think of Islay house, without thinking of the Morrisons who own it.

Lord Margadale was, at the turn of the last century, probably the richest common man in the Empire, a clever Londoner businessman (with a few drops of Scottish blood) who started with nothing and ended up with an immense fortune at hand. At 64 he wanted a summerhouse in the Scottish Highlands. Drawn to the west coast's archipelago the family arrived to the Isle of Islay in March 1851. He stayed for two months and liked the looks of the estate but the price was uncomfortable. Fully aware of the owner laird John Francis Campbell's (Iain Og Ila-above) economic troubles he backed off, for two years. Then he put up the dazzling amount of £451,000 and acquired an island and its inhabitants.

His son John Granville Morrison became Lord Margadale, named after a beautiful glen in the northwest corner of Islay. He had been a very prominent Conservative politician and the antithesis of the common man. He was opposed to any form of land reform which made him linked always with Lord Brocket of Knoydart.

Knoydart, in the North West Highlands, was a particularly idyllic estate. However, a succession of potato blights and the failure of migrating herring shoals brought famine and poverty to the area. In 1852 the Factor was ordered to clear the tenants to make way for sheep. Four hundred people were evicted and transported to America.

In the early 1930's, a young English aristocrat, Lord Brocket, bought the estate. Brocket was a Nazi sympathiser to the extent that he was Hitler's personal guest at the Fuhrer's fiftieth birthday celebrations in April 1939.

During the war years, the Knoydart Estate served a very useful purpose in the Allied war effort, much to Herr Brocket's chagrin. Britain's military authorities requisitioned the estate for the duration in order to house and train commandos and undercover special forces (Special Operations Executive) who would actively carry the war to Nazi Germany (aka Lord Brocket's friends).

When peace returned in 1945, the British troops left and after some time, Lord and Lady Brocket returned to Knoydart.

In a new post-war spirit of peace and reconciliation, Lady Brocket's first order to her employees was to completely remove every piece of crockery and cutlery from the house and chuck them into the sea. All other items which those nasty Allied servicemen also might have touched suffered the same fate - even every single cludgie, with seat, was ripped out and dumped in the briny ! Clearly the last proud defiance of the Thousand-Year Third Reich ! (Nazi gold and priceless art treasures dumped in an Alpine Lake - dishes and worthless Barrhead lavvies dumped in the Atlantic!)

sheila

Continuing their "good employer and neighbour policy", the Brockets also sacked umpteen staff and replaced them with "loyal" gamekeepers to scare off unwelcome intruders such as leisurely hill-walkers, any children playing on the beach and unwise straying shepherds who were additionally warned they might accidentally get shot in mistake for red deer.

The locals may have been silently enduring all this up to now, but then the pressure cooker blew. A war for freedom had just been fought at great cost and a new social liberty and equality was expected. Returning young men needed a plot of land to build new peaceful lives and now they were losing patience with the high-handedness of this English despot.

Some questioned Brocket's right to continue, having been a vociferous and unequivocal Nazi supporter even during the War, who had somehow avoided prison or other punishment for his unpatriotic acts. For seven local young men, Brocket's position and power didn't impress them one iota. It was time for direct action.

On 9th November 1948, the seven, including fighting veterans of the recent World War, invaded the Knoydart Estate, staked out 65 acres of arable land each and 10,000 acres of hill land and settled in. Perhaps that sounds a lot, but as part of the whole estate, it was miniscule.

News of the land-raid (or sit-in or squat) was reported nationally. During this post-war period, when the Labour Government's promises of a new social deal was in the population's mind, the Scottish nation loudly cheered and sent mountains of fan-mail to the wee post-office at Inverie!

Undeterred, Brocket struck back with that landlord's legal remedy, a "Get off My Land!" Court Order.

The "Seven Men of Knoydart" meanwhile were invoking the Land Settlement Act of the post-WW1 era, which permitted returning ex-servicemen to take over land which was under-used and farm it as their own. The vast Knoydart estate was certainly under-used, being nothing more than a rich man's outdoor playground.

The "Seven" also believed that the landslide Labour Government elected at the end of WW2, who were swept into power on the votes of servicemen such as themselves, would not let them down when it counted. They hired a lawyer, who assured them that they only needed to follow a number of legal processes in order to almost certainly win their case. Now - this road to victory was best served in the modern day and age, by first vacating the squatted land. BIG MISTAKE!

Once off the land, they lost their best bargaining chip and were on a hiding to nothing. Brocket's legal legions mercilessly blitzkreiged the Seven. Then the Labour Government bottled out completely.

Lord Brocket, hallowed member of the British aristocracy, with the support of John Morrison, MP, won. The Seven Men of Knoydart became legendary heroes to the cause of crofting rights as well as to many of the Scottish working class.

Hamish Henderson put the expectations of the confronting parties in a song named after the seven. As one verse so succinctly put it:-

"You bloody Reds" Lord Brocket yelled,
"Wot's this you're doing here ?
It doesn't pay, as you'll find today,
To insult an English peer,
You're only Scottish half-wits,
But I'll make you understand,
You Highland swine,
These hills are mine,
This is all Lord Brocket's land !"

And all that because you pass the gates of Islay house. The Morrisons, incidentally remain raging Tories. Loch Indaal was visited more than once in the summer by a yacht bearing the Rt Hon M Thatcher MP to spend part of her summer hols with Peter Morrison MP at his family's wee place in the Highlands

As we go past Islay house we get to Bridgend, where the road splits. At this point in my travleogue you take the road to Port Askaig

So, we turn towards Port Askaig, through Bridgend woods.. Just past, on the right is Islay Woolen Mill. Not much further on is a road sign to Finlaggan, and the single track road that leads to it.

Islay has a long and well recorded history reaching from Neolithic times to the period of the Irish-Scottish kingdom of Dal Riada of which Islay was a part. Later, Islay became centre for the Lordship of the Isles after the Norse were defeated and driven of the Island by the 12th-century Prince, Somerled, whose descendants became the hereditary "Lords of the Isles".

For hundreds of years the new Lords of the Isles were initiated on the larger island in Loch Finlaggan, Eilean Mor, in the north-east of Islay where they were handed their signs of office, a white staff and the sword of their ancestors. The Lord of the Isles held council on the smaller island in the Loch, hence its name "Island of Council".

The Great Seal which you see everywhere on Islay, of Hebridean Boat with people in it, is the seal of the Lord of the Isles and refers to the MacBeatha hypothesis: distilling may have come from Ireland to Scotland with physicians accompanying Agnes Ó Catháin from Ireland to Islay

The part of Islay north-east of Port Askaig and Loch Finlaggan is only partially accessible by a single track road, which ends at the Bunnahabhain Distillery after passing the Caol Ila Distillery, offering delightful views of the Paps of Jura opposite the Sound, the "Paps" by the way, being an older and somewhat ribald word of Scandinavian origin meaning "breasts". It would be about a days journey on foot to reach the northernmost tip of the island, Rubh? a? Màil from Bunnnahabhain. This wild region of Islay is naturally a home to such wildlife as the red deer.

Then it's down to Port Askaig where the treacherous Sound of Islay separates Islay from Jura. Some of the more daring inhabitants of Islay actually risk the dangerous waters to go "drift-diving" for oysters during which the divers let themselves be carried along at high speeds by the strong currents in the Sound. The oysters they recover command high prices of course.

An option you have on Tuesday, is to take the little ferry over and see Bowhill, where Orwell wrote "1984", and maybe some Golden Eagles.

Imagine yourself back at the Bridgend junction, only this time turn left and head towards the Rhinns. First you pass the flats at the head of Loch Indaal- wonderful bird moments number 421- standing at the head of Loch Indaal at dusk in March and watching for the geese to swoop in in huge spirals for the night. Islay supports a wintering population of around 12,000 white-fronted geese, over a quarter of the world's population, but the number of barnacle geese wintering here is even more impressive: counts of 30,000 have been made. Their evening flights to communal roosts provide one of the great wildlife spectacles to be found in this country.

Then following the loch, we pass the little villages established by the Campbells-Black Rock then Bruaichladdich, and get to the pretty village of Port Charlotte. The settlement of Port Charlotte dates back to 1828 when it was established by Walter Campbell, the Laird of Islay. He named it after his mother and so presumably ensured a quieter family life. He had named Port Ellen, which he had established seven years earlier, after his wife.

Port Charlotte lies on the north side of Loch Indaal. It was set up primarily to provide housing for the workers in the large Lochindaal Distillery. This ceased operation in 1929, but the local distillery tradition continues a little along the coast at Bruichladdich.

Today's visitor finds a beautiful white-painted village and the largest settlement on the Rhinns of Islay. At the heart of the village is the large Port Charlotte Hotel, fronting onto the main street and backing onto the beach.

Stretching south west from the hotel is Port Charlotte's main street, named like all the other streets in the village in Gaelic. This is designed on a split level. Houses on one side are raised above the road, while those on the shore side are set below it, together with their tiny gardens. The overall effect is unusual and very striking.

Much of the village seems to have been caught at a particular moment in time and it repays exploration. Some of its features, like small back closes and yards reached through archways in terraces of houses, seem to reflect the design of 19th century big city life rather than the layout of a small island village.

Although Lochindaal Distillery ceased production in 1929 some of its buildings are still in use. An old warehouse backing onto the sea is now used partly as the Islay Wildlife Information Centre.

Nearby is the old church converted into the Museum of Islay Life. This includes coverage of Islay's many archaeological treasures alongside material about the island's equally numerous shipwrecks, plus a recreation of life in a croft. Also housed here is the Museum of Childhood, and the Gordon Booth Library with its extensive collection of reference material on Islay.

Moving on along we reach Portnahaven and its close neighbour Port Wemyss at the south-western tip of the Rhinns of Islay, the peninsula that wraps around the north side of Loch Indaal as it takes its huge bite out of the west side of the island.

Portnahaven and Port Wemyss are very much the end of the road in this northern part of Islay. Getting to them takes a little more effort that most places on the island. The last seven miles from Port Charlotte are along single track roads, though good quality ones.

Rest assured, though, that the small effort this takes is well worth it. What you find at Portnahaven is a magical village of whitewashed cottages wrapped around the two steep sides of its harbour. Port Wemyss lies a little to the south and is harbourless. Instead it looks squarely across a narrow sound to the Isle of Orsay, complete with the Rhinns of Islay lighthouse built here by Robert Stevenson in 1825.

Orsay and its smaller neighbouring island of Eilean Mhic Coinnich shelter the harbour of Portnahaven from the weather coming in from the south and west. This was an major factor in choosing this site for these settlements when they were set up to house people cleared from the interior of Islay in the early 1800s, and provide them with an alternative living. There had been an earlier fishing settlement on Orsay dating back to the 1300s. The ruins of its chapel are still visible on the skyline of the island to the north of the lighthouse.

The importance of the shelter afforded by the islands to Portnahaven's harbour is amply demonstrated by the area's main claim to third millennium fame. Since 1989 the tip of the Rhinns of Islay has been the site of an experimental wave powered turbine generating electricity. In 2000, Wavegen Islay started commercial power generation here, using the air compressed by waves in a large underground concrete chamber to power a turbine. This, in turn, makes a significant contribution to the power supply of the island.

The abundant fish stocks that drove the early history of Portnahaven and Port Wemyss declined over the years, though the harbour still boasts a number of small boats. There must still be fish available however. If the tide is right, visitors today can have close encounters with Portnahaven's non-human residents: the seals who seem completely comfortable pulling themselves out onto the rocks in the centre of the narrow harbour.

Above the head of the harbour is the church. White-painted like just about every other building in the area, it is particularly interesting for having two doors. One was intended for the use of residents of Portnahaven, the other for the residents of Port Wemyss.

My friend Liz's mum, whose holiday cottage caused us first to visit Islay, had her place in Port Wemyss. The first night I was there, Liz and I went to a ceilidh in the Rhinns Hall. This was a ceilidh in the real sense with local people singing and dancing and entertaining each other. Two little girls- under 10- were to dance, but the musicians had taken the chance of the fine night and gone fishing instead. So the women started to sing- mouth music-port à beul-and the girls danced to that instead. Absolutely enchanting.
Let's follow the coast road round the south tip of the Rhinns. As we leave Portnanhaven, there's a wee road off to the left and a farm named Claddach at the end of it. Set in the dry stane dyke there's a wee wooden gate and a beach down to a sandy secluded beach in a cove, which is my favourite place to swim on Islay. I once went there after a very heavy black summer thunderstorm- before I was organised enough to have prescription lenses in my swimming goggles- and brought my head out from under the sea to find it was inches from a seal's face. I never moved so fast!! My father, who was standing on the beach, was wetting himself laughing.

We go on back up the Atlantic coast and passing a stone circle on the road verge, first come to Kilchiaran bay. There's a little mediaeval chapel at the bottom of the hill- if you look carefully as you go over the hill there are often choughs over the cliffs. Away above the chapel on the left are the remains of a wartime radar station. The energetic can climb over and down into Machir Bay, one of the best beaches you will ever have seen.

We have to cross back down into Port Charlotte and then take the next road on the left again. This brings us past Loch Gorm to Kilchoman with its chapel ("cille" is Gaelic for chapel)- a definite for choughs- and the path down to Machir beach. All of the Atlantic beaches are gorgeous, but the currents are treacherous and they can be dangerous to swim at. One hot summer, we had friends staying at Kilchoman, and the beach was crowded (ie a dozen people on a mile of sand) so, I thought, what could go wrong?. Whilst I was in the water, the tide changed, and within seconds, I was a hundred yards down the beach.

The next beach round is Saligo, with its beautiful dunes. I sat on them one afternoon in bright sunshine watching the black of a receding storm to the west and gleaming white gannets diving offshore brilliant against he lowering sky. Is it any wonder I love this place?

The road then curves round to Gruinart, the farm the RSPB owns, where all the best birds are. If we follow the single track road up to Ardnave, passing the delightful chapel at Kilnave, we can wave across to the guys in Coll and Oransay.


There'll be a bus waiting for you at the pierhead which does most of aht route. And on Islay, if you're walking alonga road, the cars will stop and offer you a lift. Whether you're hitching or not.

Stay at the Youth Hostel In POrt Charlotte if you're really skint. But there are lots of nice places to stay. This is an island of "windswept, hilly country, and coastal fishing towns that never seem to change" , Tho' it's not particularly like New England,

So, you do that on Monday and on Tuesday you go to Jura. On Wednesday you catch the midmorning ferry to Oban, and then, get the bus to Fort William. Then the train to Mallaig, then the ferry to Armadale, then the bus to Portree.

On Thursday, you get the bus to Kyle of Lochalsh and the train to Inverness and south to Edinburgh. Friday and Saturday there, then Easyjet to Luton and the bus to Cambridge. Scoosh!!

lubeltri

Thank you for the detailed information!

About the trip to Cambridge from Edinburgh. . . Perhaps it would be better to just take the train down? Fortunately, I don't have to be in Cambridge until 4 pm on Sunday 6 July, so I could spend the last night in Edinburgh and take the train in the morning. With daylight, I could watch the countryside all the way down. Checking the timetable, there is a 9:30 am train leaving Edinburgh that arrives at Cambridge at 2:25 pm (with one changeover/transfer; I don't know what you call it in the U.K.).

suzyq

Sheila. your description of Isaly is wonderful. I'll use it when we are there in June.

Can't believe we'll actually be there in only 3 weeks!