OUR ISLAND S OF DREAMS
White sands, blue seas and secret trails... it’s Scotland’s hidden gems
THEY are Scotland’s secret gems – the spectacular islands where you can truly escape the rigours of everyday life.
Swimming in crystal-clear waters with no one else around for miles, walking on spectacular sandy beaches and finding hidden trails leading to forgotten coves...
These are, quite simply, some of the most beautiful places in the world – and they have now been catalogued by explorer Lisa Drewe in her book Islandeering: Adventures Around the Edge of Britain’s Islands, and it is a wonderful and fascinating glimpse into these idylls.
Islandeering is the adventure of circumnavigating islands, travelling by land or sea around their periphery.
Mrs Drewe said: ‘It didn’t start with the idea of writing a book, it evolved over time. I have been islandeering for several years and met a lot of people along the way, who said I should write about it.
‘It started out as a curiosity and I’ve just become completely passionate about it.’
Mrs Drewe has a system whereby she spends hours on Google Earth searching for islands. She said: ‘I will look it up and see if there’s any information and if it has an obvious name. I do as much research as I can online then I will go out and travel and see if I can do it.
‘Most of the information isn’t available really and that’s what drove the curiosity, to see if I could do it.’
Mrs Drewe has often found herself battling through undergrowth and being caught on barbed wire – but you are not expected to do the same.
She said: ‘I’m trying to find the routes others will enjoy.
‘There’s a duty of care when writing, and the wildlife to think about, so not all islands made it.’
She recommends that for all adventure-seekers a ‘must see’ is Taransay in the Hebrides – her favourite island of all.
She said: ‘The challenge is getting there. We had to kayak across but I think you could get a local boat.
‘It’s absolutely stunning – the beaches, the wilderness.’
The outdoor lover recalled almost being capsized by a dolphin when it ‘popped up’ next to her.
Mrs Drewe said: ‘It’s one of these places you feel as though you’re in a Sir David Attenborough film.
‘There’s so much undisturbed nature around. It’s not really used to humans so you feel you’re in it rather than observing it.
‘It was an absolute “wow” experience – the dolphin blew next to me then popped up and made me jump. Then, because it was throwing up fish, gannets and terns started divebombing round the kayak.
‘There was this crazy wildlife moment, which is just spectacular when these things happen.’
The island Eilean Shona – owned by Sir Richard Branson’s sister Vanessa – also features in the book.
Mrs Drewe said: ‘We do have the right to roam in Scotland but there’s always the politeness of asking the landowner. It’s the most fantastic island, it’s beautiful. The owners just ask that if people visit, knock on the big house door and let them know.’
She also recommends the Hebridean island of Vallay for a fun family trip, describing it as ‘a cracking coastal crossing’ with a safe tide.
She said: ‘It would be really exciting for kids and round the other side, you’ve never seen beaches like it.
‘You won’t see anybody else. The wild flowers are incredible and the views of St Kilda are brilliant.’
The island of Davaar is also promoted as a family getaway to explore Crucifixion Cave, which has a life-sized painting of Christ on the cross.
Mrs Drewe said: ‘It’s one of seven caves and you need to stick your head in all of them and when you do, that one is obvious and absolutely incredible.’
Her guide to the islands – many hardly visited – is a fascinating glimpse into a remote life and a toe in the water of what it must be like in paradise. Here are some of our
HOLY ISLE (ARRAN)
‘You feel as though you’re in a Sir David Attenborough film’
favourite choices from the book... A SHORT ferry trip from Lamlash on Arran will take visitors to Holy Isle in Lamlash Bay, where a Buddhist monastery can be found in tranquil gardens.
The Samye Ling Buddhist Community owns the island, which is nearly two miles long and rises to more than 1,000ft in the centre.
It is open to everyone as long
as they respect the island rules and is home to two settlements – the Centre for World Peace and Health and the Inner Light Retreat. The latter is for those undertaking a longterm retreat.
Mrs Drewe describes the island as ‘only ten minutes from the mainland but it seems light years away’.
DAVAAR (ARGYLL AND BUTE)
FOR decades, locals believed that a life-sized painting of Christ’s crucifixion on a cave wall – discovered by fishermen in 1887 – was a miracle sent from God. In fact, local art teacher Archibald MacKinnon was responsible for the striking portrait, which he admitted 47 years later.
In 2006, Che Guevara’s face was painted over Christ’s but the original artwork has since been restored.
The main attraction for most visitors to Davaar are the seven accessible sea caves on the south coast. The wildlife population includes mighty basking sharks, dolphins and whales, which are visible on calm summer days.
LUING (FIRTH OF LORN)
THE most southerly of the so-called Slate Islands of the Inner Hebrides, where the landscape in the north is lined with fractured cliff walls.
Only 15 miles from Oban, it is a short ferry crossing from the Isle of Seil. Visitors are encouraged to stop before the main village, Cullipool, and explore the slate quarries.
The island is home to the ruins of 12th Century Kilchattan Chapel and there are views across the Sound of Luing waters to Scarba, with the chance to hear the roar of the world’s third largest whirlpool, Corryvreckan, between Scarba and Jura. North of Cullipool are disused quarries and ‘an impressive legacy of the slate industry’.
EILEAN SHONA (LOCH MOIDART)
THIS is the place to visit for idyllic beaches and fairy tale forests. To get there, a short tidal crossing to neighbouring Shona Beag must be negotiated, a wild and remote peninsula. There is a challenging ascent of a ‘Marilyn’, Beinn a’ Bhaillidh.
The island has two idyllic sandy beaches, one being Sandy Bay on the south-west point. At high tide this spot is known as the Blue Lagoon and at low tide the sands are ‘reminiscent of the Caribbean’.
Mrs Drewe describes the descent towards Eilean Shona House as passing through dense pines and ‘the feel of the woods is familiar like the forests in many a childhood fairy tale’.
IONA (INNER HEBRIDES)
THE tiny low-lying island off the south-western tip of Mull is a tenminute ferry ride away, known for its restored abbey with exquisitely
carved Celtic crosses that stand guard in front.
The round pebbles on the beach are a mix of pink granite, quartz, green serpentine and banded gneiss. The beach at Traigh an t-Suidhe has smooth bathing pools carved by wave action on the serpentine rocks.
The lovely but remote St Martin’s Cave has wave-sculpted walls almost glowing with vibrant green and red rocks.
MUCK (INNER HEBRIDES)
IT is two hours on the ferry to Muck but with the chance of seeing whales, dolphins, basking sharks and sea eagles.
The views to the Inner and Outer Hebrides and the mountains of the mainland are ‘stunning from every perspective’.
A favourite of islanders is the deep swimming hole of Mermaid’s Pool on the south coast. On a clear day there are panoramic views from the top of Beinn Airein to Barra and North Uist, Mull and Coll, the mountains of Rum, Skye and the mainland.
Along the north coast there is a breeding site for more than 80 species of birds, including the island’s only puffins.
ERISKAY (OUTER HEBRIDES)
A CHALLENGING route but there are white beaches and Hebridean wildlife to see.
Coilleag a’ Phrionnsa (the Prince’s Cockle Strand) on the west coast is where Bonnie Prince Charlie first stepped on Scottish soil in 1745.
Around the beach is the nonnative flower sea bindweed, and its seeds are said to have fallen from the prince’s pocket when he came ashore.
The island is thick with wildlife and Eriskay ponies, descendants of an ancient breed, are often seen.
On the north-east tip the crystal-clear water on the sandy beach is inviting.
BERNERAY (SOUND OF HARRIS)
ANGUS MacAskill, who is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest giant of natural size in recorded history, was born in Berneray, where there is a memorial to him.
His family were forcibly evicted and he grew up in Nova Scotia, where he reached 7ft 9in.
North-east at Rubha Bhoisnis is the start of three miles of white sandy beaches.
Mrs Drewe notes that an unmissable activity on the island is ‘wild camping and skinnydipping on miles of perfect white beach’.
The youth hostel, two traditional thatched black houses, has beautiful views to welcome travellers from far and wide.
GREAT BERNERA (OUTER HEBRIDES)
FOR any historian, this island with an Iron Age village site and restored Norse mill is the ideal destination.
In 1993, at Bostadh, a winter storm uncovered stonework within the sand dunes and subsequent excavations revealed them to be Iron Age houses – some virtually intact.
They could not be preserved but a thatched-roof replica lets you experience building techniques and living conditions.
Towards the east of the beach, the tide and time bells were one of the first to be installed around the coast of Britain.
The movement of the waves against the bell creates a constantly changing sound.