Category: Islay
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Kilslevan deserted village
The remains of deserted houses and settlements are common throughout the whole of Scotland, Islay is no exception. Kilslevan seems to have once been a township of at least eight longhouses, and several other buildings, enclosures and two corn-drying kilns although these are hard to discern under the grass and moss. There are the ruins…
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Eilean Nòstaig
The windswept rolling headland of Ardnave Point is a mix of machair and sand dunes and populated by inquistive sheep. Along the Atlantic facing coast, a strange abandoned arrangement of concrete dam walls and rusty sluice gates, too small for a boat. I read that it is an abandoned lobster farm. Further information has proved…
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Dùn Bheolain
I find walking along the western seaboard of Scotland extremely exhilerating. More so that bagging summits in the clag. This is from Rubha Lamanais or Smaull point, just north of Saligo on Islay. It offer superb views of a trio of sharks teeth peaks, sometimes called Smaull Rocks or sometimes Opera Rocks. The latter must…
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Caolas nan Gall
Portnahaven and Port Wemyss are two fishing villages on the south-western tip of the island of Islay. They are protected from the Atlantic rollers by the islands of Orsay and Eilean an Mhic Coinnich. We arrived on a falling tide, with waves breaking in the Caolas nan Gall, the narrows which separates the islands, and…
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Sound of Islay
A breezy crossing over to Islay. The hypnotic movement of the wake. The Sound of Islay is the 20 mile long narrows between the islands of Jura and Islay. With its 5 knot tides it has a notorious reputation, the graveyard of many shipwrecks, particularly around Glas Eilean, that small skerry in the left distance…