Islay - Jura - Colonsay - Oronsay - Kerrera - Oban

16.06.23 - Islay

I awoke fairly early, I don’t know why but I am glad that I did wake up early as the sun was just coming up and there was a beautiful sunrise over Loch Indaal. There was hardly a breeze and the Loch was fairly calm. It is always quite nice to get somewhere and camp for a few nights and then just explore the area on bikes without having to lug all the panniers about with us. Well that was our plan for the next few days. Today we decided to head south from Port Charlotte to have a look at Portnahaven. The weather was still very good so we didn't need to take too much gear with us. The road south is undulating but with no steep hills. At Nerabus we saw a sign saying ‘Clan McDonald Graves’ so we pulled off down a narrow road to a cemetery where there was an old couple and what probably was their son tending a grave. We got chatting to them and they explained that the Clan McDonald Graves were not in the cemetery but in a field adjacent to the cemetery and pointed to a little gate that would take us there. We soon found the graves. They were lovely carved gravestones that were covered by a protective glass to prevent them from weathering any further.

Just after we had left the cemetery and were cycling up the road there was a shriek from Frank. Her mobile phone had fallen off her handlebar mount and she had ridden overhead it. We were expecting the screen to be broken but luckily it had landed screen up and after wiping off the tyre mark on the screen there was no damage to the screen and there were a few scratches to the case on the back otherwise the phone was fine. We suspect that she hadn’t located the phone in the Quadlock mount on her handlebars correctly. But we can give the Quadlock case its due as it did protect the phone. Mind you it might have been a different outcome if the phone had landed screen down! It didn’t take us long to get to Portnahaven which is a very pretty little port that nestles in a natural bay. All the houses are painted in the traditional Islay white and it looked lovely in the afternoon sunshine. What was interesting was that all the street names are in Gaelic but some of the spellings were in Irish Gaelic such as the pub which was called ‘An tigh Seinnse’ with the Irish spelling ‘tigh’(meaning house) rather than the Scottish Gaelic spelling ’taigh’. This might be due to Islay’s close proximity to the Irish coast which isn’t that far away across the Irish sea and Irish settlers having migrated to Islay in the past. As it was getting late in the day we cycled back to Port Mhor by the same route.

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17.06.23 - Port Mhor

A bit of a dull drizzly morning so we took the opportunity to do some clothes washing as the campsite had some good facilities. It brightened up a bit in the afternoon so we had a walk down to Port Charlotte.

18.06.23 - Kilchoman & Saligo Bay

We decided today to cycle over to Kilchoman and Saligo bay. Our route was back through Port Charlotte and Bruichladdich along the A847and then took the B8018 towards Kilchoman. There was a small hill up from the junction but it wasn't too high and we were soon looking across to Loch Gorm. On reaching Kilchoman we stopped at the entrance to the distillery. The fields opposite and along the road were growing barley for the distillery and each field had a sign indicating which variety it was and how many barrels of whiskey it would produce. One field was called the ‘Rugby Park Field’ and it did indeed have rugby posts in it, so maybe they played rugby in it during the winter lol. A little way further along the road we got to Machir bay with its lovely white sandy beach.

We had a great walk along the beach where we found the wreck of something. We couldn’t quite workout exactly what it was as it was a large lump on metal. On doing a little bit of googling we believe that it is the early steamship called Patti and wrecked in the 1840s. We moved on to Saligo beach where we left the bikes and had a little wander along the track to the bay. Along the way we saw several Six-spot Burnet moths - Zygaena filipendulae which was lovely to see. When we got back to the bikes we headed back to Port Mhor taking the road to the north of Loch Gorm. On the way back over the little climb to get us back on to the A847 we met the guy who owned the village stores. He was out on a quick evening bike ride with a few mates. As we had seen that the Port Charlotte hotel had a folk evening that evening we had booked an evening meal there for tonight. We had a great meal and it was nice sitting there afterwards listening to some Trad music provided by Donnie, Kera & Shane. .

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19.06.23 - Port Mhor

As it was a bit of a rainy day we decided to go and have a look at the Museum of Islay Life in Port Charlotte. It was a very interesting museum with a lot of exhibits packed in a small space. There was a lot of information on the disaster with HMS Otranto that was lost when it collided with another ship and 100 American soldiers were lost to the sea. There was the ship's bell from HMS Otranto and the American flag that was made overnight by the woman of Islay ready for the burial of the American soldiers who died in the HMS Otranto tragedy. As we went back through Port Charlotte we came across the Royal Bank of Scotland banking van which was outside the village shop. These vans must be a lifeline for the islanders.

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20.06.23 - Loch Gruinart

We woke up to a much better day than yesterday, fortunately the rain had passed through. Our aim for the day was to visit Loch Gruinart. We followed the A874 through Port Charlotte and Bruichladdich and then took the B8017 to the RSPB nature reserve at Loch Gruinart. After visiting the visitor center and having a self service cup of tea we cycled around to the car park above the marsh hide. It was an interesting walk down to the hide. I say walk, we had to run to the hide as there were loads of Horse flies in the scrub by the side of the path. We both fortunately managed to get to the hide without getting bitten. Unfortunately there wasn’t too much bird life to be seen from the hide apart from a Heron and the lovely Swallows which had a nest under the eaves of the hide. I managed to get some close up shots of them as they swooped up to feed their young. It was just a shame that I didn’t have my Canon R5 and the 100 - 400 zoom lens with me, but then I wouldn’t want to have carried its weight on the bike on all those hills! After leaving the hide we ran back to the bikes to avoid the Horse flies and cycled around the bottom of the loch and cycled along the road on the east side of the loch. It is a beautiful loch with wide mud tidal sides which must be a haven for overwintering waders in the winter. We got some lovely views of Loch Gruinart as we cycled up the single track road. We got to the end of the road where it turned into a private track and we decided that as it was getting late in the afternoon that we had better head back to Port Mhor. Another lovely day on Islay.

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21.06.23 - Port Mhor to Colonsay

We were up early this morning so that we could get the tent packed and the bikes loaded up before going over to the center to have our breakfast in the restaurant. It was a nice ride around the A874 to Bridgend where we turned onto the A876. It was fairly easy riding and there was a bit of traffic but the drivers all seemed quite courteous which was nice. We stopped at the Craigard Kitchen at Ballygrant for a lovely cup of coffee and a cake which was a nice surprise as we weren’t expecting to find anything like this on our route. Since leaving Bridgend we had been gradually climbing up to Ballygrant and from there we started to drop down towards Port Askaig. As we descended we got some good views of the Paps of Jura in the distance. It wasn’t long before we were then descending down the hairpins to Port Askaig. There was a lass on a touring bike struggling up the hill. We gave her a wave and we were glad that we weren't doing the same. When we got to the port there was a ferry waiting to go across to Jura. As our ferry wasn’t until 5.15pm, we decided we had time to pop across to have a quick look at Jura.

We decided not to go too far onto Jura as the last thing we needed to do was to miss the ferry to Colonsay. So we cycled a little way along the coast road and found a lovely little spot just off the road overlooking the Sound of Jura where we had a brew and some lunch. We hurried back to catch the 4.00pm ferry and we were soon back across to Port Askaig. We had a little wait so we managed to get a drink in the Port Askaig hotel and sat outside and waited for the ferry which arrived just before 5.00pm. We were soon boarded as there weren’t that many people joining the ferry. It was a calm evening so the sea was quite flat and made for a pleasant crossing. We took the opportunity to have a meal on the ferry. We arrived at the ferry terminal at Scalasaig on Colonsay close to 6.20pm. After embarking and coming out of the ferry terminal we took the B8087 that would take us over to Kiloran. Unfortunately there is a steep 70m climb at Bruach Bhreac which we both struggled with at the end of the day. We eventually got to the top of the col and were soon looking down at Loch Turraman on the other side. Fortunately it was all mainly flat from then on to our Backpackers Lodge at Kiloran.

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22.06.23 - Oronsay

We decided to go the long way around to Scalasaig. As with all the roads on Colonsay it is a single track road with passing places. We passed the primary school and wondered just how many pupils it had and we hoped that it was doing well. Soon after that we passed the Colonsay gin distillery. There seemed to be a lot of gin distilleries popping up on the Scottish islands, they have recently opened one on Tiree. Scottish gin will soon be Scotland’s second biggest export after whiskey lol. The road continued passing Port Mòr and on around to the golf course which looked down on the lovely sandy beach at Tràigh Tobair Fhuair. As we were heading to Scalasaig there was a lady on a bike ahead of us who stopped to make a phone call. As we got to her she waved at us to stop. She asked us if we had seen a black pannier by the side of the road. Apparently she had left something at her accommodation and rather than taking the pannier with her she had left it by the side of the road. When she got back to where she had left it it was gone. We hadn't seen it but suggested that someone may have thought that it had fallen off someone's bike and may have taken it to the Post Office. We said that it was a small island and everyone knew each other so we were sure that it was with someone and that we would ask around and I asked her where she was staying just in case we heard anything. As the low tide to go onto Oronsay wasn’t until 2.30pm and it was only 12.30 we decided to stop and have lunch in the Colonsay hotel. The weather was glorious and we couldn’t believe our luck of having such nice weather in Scotland.

At just after 1.30pm we set off for Oronsay, along the road we met a guy in a pickup and we asked him if he had seen the pannier. He hadn’t but he would look out for it. We were soon tackling the hill that would get us over to the strand. Part way up we met a car coming down and the couple in the car stopped and asked us if we had found a pannier. We told them that we had already been asked by the lady who had lost it and we were also asking everyone we met about it. Obviously the word was getting around the island. It wasn’t too bad a climb and at the top we got our first view of the wide strand and Oronsay. When we got to the sand the tide was virtually out. There was a herd of cattle on the sand just mooching about. Fortunately the sand was fairly hard so it was reasonably easy to ride on but with the odd softer bits so we were grateful for our 50mm wider tyres. It was also good to have the Rohloff hubs as we didn’t need to worry about getting sand in them like we would have with the derailleur gears on our old Giant Expedition bikes. The route across the strand is fairly easy to follow as you can see the tracks of the Postie van which makes a regular crossing to Oronsay with the post. Once onto Oronsay there’s a bit of a rocky track along the shoreline between it and the small island of Eileanan Fhionnlaidh but once you are on the island proper it’s a good gravel track and when we got to the top of the little hill there was a stunning view across to Jura with the Paps of Jura looking rather majestic. One these days I would like to do the Paps of Jura as it looks like a cracking walk. We dropped down the other side of Oronsay and cycled to the old abandoned Abbey. It is such a shame that it was now in ruins as it must have been lovely in its hay day. There is a farm attached to the abbey and I got chatting to a chap who was coming out of one of the buildings. The island is owned by an American but managed by the RSPB as a nature reserve and his family manages the farm for the RSPB. His parents were retiring soon and he was hoping to take over from them. I asked him how he liked the isolation. He said he was brought up on the island and he loved it. The abbey had some beautiful Celtic stone crosses and in what had formerly been the abbey church a large display of ornate carved gravestones, very similar to those that we saw at the Clachan of Glendaruel.

Oronsay is such a beautiful little island and we would have liked to have explored the island a bit more but we were concerned about the state of the tide and didn’t want to risk getting cut off by it on our crossing back over the strand. They reckon that there’s a clear window of about 6 hours when the strand is crossable and we were getting close to that so we started to head back across the island. We also had booked a table for 7.00pm at the Colonsay hotel for our evening meal so we couldn’t hang about. When we arrived back at the Strand the tide was just starting to come in and there were a few parts that were only just under water but we made it back across most of the way on dry sand. It probably was a good thing that we hadn’t left it any longer in deciding to cross back over the Strand. As is always when you are at sea level there’s always the climb back up and over that hill that got you there. It was a little bit of a pull but it didn’t seem so steep on this side. We were soon rolling down into Scalasaig and parking our bikes underneath the trees opposite the Colonsay hotel joining the sheep that had settled there for the shade from the early evening sun as it was still fairly warm. When we got to the hotel bar to get a well deserved long drink before our meal we met the guy who we had stopped in the pickup and he asked us about the missing pannier. We said we weren’t sure if it had been found. His mate who was sitting with him asked us where the pannier had been lost. When we explained where it was lost he went ‘Oh dear I cut those verges with my tractor this morning I hope that I didn’t shred it’. I asked him what time he had cut the verges, fortunately it was at 6.30 in the morning, way before the lady had left the pannier on the verge! We had a lovely meal at the Colonsay hotel before setting off back to the backpackers hostel. We had a choice of routes on the way back, it was either go the much longer but slightly less hilly route or the much shorter but hillier route. We both decided on the shorter route and actually were quite surprised that we both managed the steep hill without having to stop. It was certainly much easier without the panniers on. We settled down in the armchairs of the hostel with a lovely cup of tea and resting in that lovely feeling of having had one of those wonderful memorable days.

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23.06.23 - Colonsay

We were so lucky with the wonderful weather yesterday. Unfortunately it was raining this morning. We sat in the cozy sitting room of the hostel talking to Eric who was visiting all the GB islands greater than 5km2 by public transport running 10km and for charity. Frank was feeling quite tired after our full day yesterday so I left her at the backpackers lodge and ventured out on my own in the afternoon as the rain had stopped. The weather was still a bit overcast but dry so I cycled off towards Kiloran Bay where there was a beautiful beach, Tràigh Bàn which I explored for a short while before I decided to explore a bit further around the island and headed south down the island. As I was heading down the B8086 I realised that I was going to pass Steve and Maggie's croft. They were a couple who were staying at the hostel. They had bought a croft on the island which was essentially a piece of land and they were building a shepherd's hut and hoped later to build their actual house there. Steve was there and showed me around the croft site and the shepherds hut he was building. I said that I had the rest of the afternoon free if I could help him with anything. So I helped him move some windows up from his store building and helped him fit one of them into the end of the hut. Being quite a practical guy I really enjoyed it.

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24.06.23 - Kiloran Bay

After breakfast I cycled down to Scalasaig to the General Store to get some supplies as we were getting short of something for our evening meal. I say cycled down as there is a bit of a climb up over the col at Bruach Bhreac so there is a 40m climb on the way up but a 70m climb on the way back. On the way down from Bruach Bhreac I noticed a small cruise ship was moored in the bay. I soon arrived at the stores. It is a reasonably well stocked store but they are reliant on the ferry coming in with fresh stocks and for the last few days they hadn't got any milk but luckily they had some in today. What with all that we needed I had a well packed pannier which would add extra weigh to the climb up over the Bruach Bhreac col. it was a bit of a pant going up there but I was pleased with myself that I kept going right up to the top without stopping.

After a cuppa and a bit of lunch as it was a much better day than yesterday I suggested to Frank that she would enjoy Kiloran Bay and the wonderful beach at Tràigh Bàn (in Gaelic White Beach). So we headed off there on the bikes and parked them against the fence where there is a wee pull in. It was one of those lovely days with beautiful blue skies with white puffy clouds and little wind. It was glorious walking barefoot on the warm sand and it reminded us of the chorus to Runrig’s Gaelic song ‘Air an Traigh’ - On the Beach:

We paddled in the sea, came across a washed up whale bone and climbed over the rocks to Port Easdail where there was an amazing sea cave that went into the rocks at least 80m. There were Common Sandpipers about the rocks and we got a good close up view of one scrambling about on the rocks and calling. As we walked back along the beach Frank collected some lovely sea shells and we came across several Jellyfish washed up on the beach and we hoped that they would survive until the next high tide. Another one of those special days on the west coast of Scotland, a day to remember!

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25.06.23 - Colonsay to Oban

It rained in the morning so we sat in the lodge and drank tea. By lunchtime it had cleared up so we went over to Steve and Maggie's croft and helped them for the afternoon. I helped Steve with the framework for the top paneling on their Shepherds hut and Frank helped Maggie with weeding the trees that they have planted. We left the croft about 5.00pm as we still needed time to get around to Scalasaig. We got there in good time so we stopped at the Colonsay hotel for a drink. Our ferry was leaving at 19.00 and we got down to the ferry terminal at 18.30 and we were told to book ourselves in at the office in the terminal building. Once inside I showed the guy the tickets on my phone and the CalMac guy asked me to fill in some boarding forms. It was the first time that we had to do that on a ferry on this trip. Whilst we were waiting for the ferry we got chatting with another tourer. She was from Singapore and was doing a tour of Scotland. She was riding a small wheel folding bike and was planning to do the Outer Hebrides. When we got on board we met up with Steve and Maggie and had a meal with them, well it was like a relay as they had to take it in turn to look after their dog who was in the doggie lounge area. The ferry ride was lovely and calm and after our meal we did sit outside for a bit hoping that we might see a cetacean such as a dolphin or porpoise but we weren't lucky. On arrival at Oban it didn’t take us long to cycle to our B&B.

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26.06.23 - Kerrera

We cycled from Oban to catch the ferry that went across the Kerrera. When we got to the small slipway at Gallanach. There were a few people waiting and the postie was there waiting to cross on his quad bike. The ferry was on the Kerrera side and the next sailing was at 10.30am so we only had 10 minutes to wait. As we were waiting suddenly a walking group came down a footpath behind us. There was a party of about 30 Germans who were obviously going to catch the ferry. We saw the ferry coming across and it was quite small, there was only room for one car at a time. When it arrived and the transit van that was on it had offloaded the CalMac guy said that they could only take 12 at a time and that they would do several trips to get us all across. We managed to get on the next crossing. Whilst we were waiting there there was a map of Kerrera which showed that there was a castle at the south end of the island and that there was a tea room close to it. Fortunately the sign next to the map confirmed that it was open on a Monday. We set off along a narrow tarmac road which quite quickly changed to a gravel track. Unfortunately it started to rain a little so we had to put waterproofs on. We were so lucky on this tour that this was the first time that they had been taken out of the front panniers. Fortunately it was only a light shower. There were several gates along the way and on top of all of the gate posts were teapots and a little sign saying how many miles to the tea room. Unfortunately there was a last hill to get over to where the tea room was. We had timed it just right as it was lunchtime when we arrived at the tea room. Fortunately they had a large barn that had picnic tables in it that we could eat our dinner out of the showers.

We decided after lunch to have a look at Gylen Castle which was a short walk from the tea room. Just then we bumped into Eric, the guy who we had met on Colonsay who was doing all the 82 islands over 5 sq km in the UK. Gylen Castle was built in 1582 by the Clan MacDougall as a stronghold. It was only occupied for a relatively short time as the castle was besieged and then burned by the Fanatic Covenanters under General Leslie in 1647 during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Not only did the MacDougall loose their castle they also lost a precious family treasure, the Brooch of Lorn. On returning back to the tea room we got back on the bikes and cycled back the way we had come. Fortunately the weather had improved and it was a lovely ride back to the ferry terminal past the very aptly named ‘Horse Shoe' and 'Little Horse Shoe' bay. We decided to ride to the north of the island. The road had recently been changed from gravel track to tarmac so it was a good ride. At Ardantive farm we stopped as they had a little farm shop and we bought a very welcome ice creams. They had some very inquisitive chickens who jumped onto our bikes and were obviously hoping that we might share! A little way on was the big marina and we noticed a sign saying ferry this way. I asked at the marina office and they said that there was indeed a small ferry that goes across to Oban and that it would take bikes. She said the next one was in an hour's time. We always like ferries so we decided it would be a nice way to get back to Oban. The marina had a little cafe so we sat and had a cup of tea and watched the boats while we waited. The ferry was indeed small but there was plenty of room for our bikes and it was a lovely ride back across the water to Oban.

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27.06.23 - Oban

Unfortunately our plans to take the ferry across to Lismore today were scuppered by low cloud and torrential rain. We decided it wasn’t worth going and we would leave it for another time. We couldn’t complain as we have had some absolutely gorgeous weather this tour.

28.06.23 - Oban to Edinburgh

Our homeward journey begins. The train to Glasgow did not leave until 12.11am so we had time for a leisurely breakfast before loading up the bikes and riding the short distance to Oban station. When we arrived at the station we noticed a Brompton folding bike vending machine outside. We hadn’t seen one of these before, basically by going Online you can hire one and it gives you the code to unlock one of the lockers. You can then return it to that location or to various other locations around the UK. You can even if you like it opt to buy it at a discount! When our train arrived we were soon able to board it. The train had a storage area for only 3 bikes (which is why we had to book them in advance).We had to hang the bikes from hooks but at least there was plenty of room to get them in unlike the awful LNER bike cupboards. The train journey was very pleasant taking us through some very lovely Scottish scenery. They say that the West Highland railway is one of the best railway journeys in the world. Unfortunately due to the line being single track we were held up for 30 minutes at Garelochhead waiting for a delayed train from Glasgow. This unfortunately meant that we missed our connecting train to Edinburgh. By the time we did indeed get to Edinburgh Waverley we had missed our connecting train to Peterborough. Unfortunately we couldn’t just get on the next train as we needed spaces for the bikes. On inquiring at the travel center at Waverley there were no spaces on the next few trains and the only one that did have spaces would have got us into Peterborough too late for any onward connection. We didn’t fancy staying the night in Peterborough so our only choice was to stay the night in Edinburgh. This worked out better for us as Frank had never been to Edinburgh before! Fortunately we managed to find a hotel and it also had somewhere safe to store the bikes overnight.

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29.06.23 - Edinburgh to Home

We had a very comfortable night at the hotel. I had booked us on the 11.00am train to Peterborough so with an early breakfast I had time to show Frank around a few of the sights of Edinburgh. We had a look at the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle and Princess Street Gardens. Sadly Princess Street isn’t what it used to be back in the days when I used to visit. There are so many of the big shops that have closed down and it is really looking a bit shot at. Our journey home on the train from Edinburgh was thankfully without drama. We had worked out that by loosening and rotating the handlebars on our bikes we could just get both bikes into the silly LNER bike cupboards.

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All in all it was another memorable tour with some wonderful memories. We were super lucky with the weather which was unbelievable for Scotland. Difficult to pick out the best bits as it was just so good. All of those western isles are so lovely with their white sandy beaches. One day that does really stick out is the ride across the Strand from Colonsay to Oronsay. Lastly would we use the East coast LNER trains again? A resounding no unless they remove those hideous bike cupboards and put in some proper bike storage!