The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Light is a glorious spot: the lighthouse is halfway down the island’s western cliff, its light shining red from the foot of the building. Translation: you’ll need to be of at least average fitness if you even hope to descend the steps in the cliff face. But the reward is worth it. This is a twitcher’s paradise; a veritable city of fulmars, sweet-faced kittiwakes and more, crowded on to the rocks. Comical, colourful puffins are virtually within touching distance while peregrines leer ominously from their clifftop perches, waiting to pounce to the panoramic backdrop of wide skies, tumbling Atlantic waves and the distant mainland. After all that wild intensity, take refuge in the café and shop on site where the friendly RSPB staff can answer all of your burning birding questions. As you walk the Rathlin landscape, keep an eye out for the golden hare: shy, rare, beautiful, and mysterious, it’s specific to the island, and is something of a Rathlin emblem. Rathlin is a walkers’ paradise. You can board a minibus to West Point, of course: but the four-mile tramp across the island is eminently worth it. Begin at the harbour at Church Bay, and follow the road west for a few hundred yards, passing the little Anglican church of St Thomas beside the sea, prettily “galletted”, with little basalt stones.
Now brace yourself as you turn steeply up the hill – and onto the windy island upland, with its expanses of heather, woods, peat-dark lakes, and orange-glowing “whin” (the Northern Irish and Scottish term for gorse). An unexpected surprise is the carpet of orchids that blanket the whin in early summer.
The Watch House
A BRACING STROLL WITH BENEFITS
Take a shorter walk from the harbour through the Roonivoolin nature reserve to Rue Point on the island’s southern tip where you can gaze across to the soaring cliffs of Fair Head on the mainland, east to Scotland, and west all the way to Donegal’s blue hills. As you walk, you’ll pass island seals sunning themselves on the foreshore; and the conserved 18thcentury Kelp Store, a relic of the island’s trade in seaweed harvesting.
...AND BACK TO BIRDS
Best of all, Rathlin provides a habitat for birds that have struggled on the mainland in recent years. This year, the rasp of the much-loved corncrake was heard on the island for the first time in several years. In clifftop fields, the grass is left to grow tall to provide a home for the red-billed chough, the rarest and shyest member of the crow family. Birders, keep your binoculars handy and your ears wagging, and you might be in for a treat.
A BIT PECKISH?
Robert the Bruce King of Scots took refuge on Rathlin Island from 1306–1307 For lunch, teas and snacks, visit the
Water Shed (rathlin community.org; from £7 for lunch) for good, home-cooked food and excellent baking. McCuaig’s (rathlincommunity.org; mains from £10) is the island pub and is open all day for drinks, tea and coffee, and, of course, good pub grub, while the Manor House (manorhouserathlin. com; mains from £15) serves lunch and dinner, including locally caught lobster. The kitchen can also rustle up a packed lunch for a day out.
A HOME TO ROOST
Church Bay is the focus of life for the 100 or so Rathlin islanders. Stay at the historic Manor House (manorhouse rathlin.com; doubles from £110), which enjoys an enviable setting on the water’s edge. Once the residence of the island laird, this fine Georgian building is now cared for by the National Trust and offers 11 smart rooms, all with sea views.
Rathlin Island Glamping (rathlinglamping.co.uk; from £65) offers cheery, modern amenities on the harbour, complete with communal firepit and barbecue facilities.