Day 18: Loch Indaal to Ballygrant, Islay

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

 22nd January 2021: 101.16km walked today taking the total to 1900.55/8854km. 7.5% of 193 entries submitting 1348.84km.

Route 5: Islay and Jura

We continue along Loch Indaal shore road to arrive at the Bruichladdich Distillery (1881), ‘corner of the beach’, home to the famous ‘The Botanist’ gin, an artisanal gin with 9 customary gin aromatics plus a further 22 locally picked wild Islay botanicals. It is slowly distilled in “Ugly Betty”, a Lomond Still, one of the last in existence. They also produce whisky, a wide range of flavours from unpeated through to the super-heavily peated ‘Octomore’.

We walk around the Loch Indaal coast, through Bridgend once more (it won't be the last, an important junction on the island!), to arrive at Bowmore, a planned village founded in 1768, and the administrative centre for Islay. It is famous for its round building at the top of the hill, Kilarrow Parish Church, completed in 1769, named after the village that stood here before Bowmore was built. Folklore suggests that the circular design was intended to ensure that the devil could find no corner to hide in. The village is home to the oldest distillery on Islay, Bowmore (1779), ‘great reef’, producing whisky that is rounded, slightly honeyed, followed by vanilla, perfumed smoke and coastal notes. We visit the distillery on the shoreline, then walk to the top of the hill, past the Round Church to continue along the Gartbreck Distillery Road, a now disused distillery, to Saltpan Point.

Pressing on for 3.5 kilometres we head for the top of Laggan Bay with great views of the Big Strand Beach, before heading along Low Road past Islay Airport for 15 kilometres. Just before Port Ellen we turn right and head along the coast to reach Carraig Fhadda (1832), a square lighthouse on Kilnaughton Bay, where just along the rocky shoreline is also ‘The Singing Sands’. If we move the soles of our shoes over the sand on the small beach here it will start to sing. The size and shape of the sand grains plus their silica and moisture content are thought to contribute to this phenomenon.

We retrace our steps, pass through the Kilnaughton area, then head down an inland single-track road through The Oa Peninsula (Mull of Oa) to arrive at the American Monument. The peninsula has a fairly bleak landscape with blankets of peat, rocky outcrops and sheer cliff coastline but there is farming in places and forest has been planted in some areas. Before the clearances, The Oa had a decent population, c800, and if we look closely, we can see the ruins of dwellings dotted about the landscape. The area around the monument is an RSPB Reserve, plentiful with wildlife and rare birds, among them golden eagle, corncrake in spring, kittiwake in summer on the cliff faces, and otters on the tide lines. From this coastal section, we are at the nearest point to Ireland on Islay.

We arrive at the American Monument, built in 1920 by the American Red Cross in memory of 2 American troop ships which sank off the Islay coast during World War 1. The Tuscania, torpedoed by an enemy, in early 1918, then HMS Otranto, who collided with another ship in the Autumn of the same year with a loss between them of almost 700 lives. It shook the islanders to their core, retrieving the lost and helping the survivors, of which there were around 2,780. Those lost on the Otranto were initially buried at Kilchoman Cemetery until the US Government ordered the exhumation of the US sailors in 1920 for repatriation or burial at the US Military Cemetery in Surrey; only the British victims remain, including the Captain, Commander Ernest George William Davidson.

We continue on a circular route of The Oa Reserve before retracing our steps back up the peninsula. We join the main road to Port Ellen on Leodamais Bay. The second largest town on the island, it has the deepest harbour, where you can also catch a ferry to Kennacraig. Frederick Campbell named the town after his wife, Ellen, its previous name being Leondamas, Old Norse for ‘Leod’s Harbour’. From here we take the Three Distilleries Pathway...I wonder where that might lead?

The first distillery we arrive at on this pathway is Laphroaig (1815), meaning ‘slope of broad-bay’. It is the only single malt with a Royal Warrant to be given in person, during a visit by Prince Charles in 1994. The distillery does still use its own malting floors, a rare feat for such a big producer, as Port Ellen Maltings supplies 80% of the malt to the other distilleries on the island. Laphroaig pride themselves as the most distinctive and strongest flavoured of Scottish whiskies. It’s full bodied 10-year-old has a flavour profile of heavy smoke, seaweed and a ‘medicinal’ undertone from the local peat with a hint of salt and sweetness.

A little further on we arrive at Lagavulin Distillery (1816), meaning ‘the hollow of the mill’, which lies in Lagavulin Bay with a view of ruined Dunyvaig Castle. It is one of the oldest distilleries on the island dating back to 1742, however, that was illegal distillation, so their founding date is 1816! It’s whisky? A pungent smoky flavour with tones of sea salt, rich fruits, and smoked tea, which can divide opinion. Leaving the distillery, we wander to the very-ruined and overgrown Dunyvaig castle, built in the 13th century, it was once a naval base for the Lord of the Isles. Over the centuries it saw many struggles, battles, and sieges until it was eventually abandoned in 1677, deliberately demolished and left for nature to reclaim in peace. The owner, Sir Hugh Campbell, moved into Islay House, a much comfier and des-res! From here we walk to the last, but not least, of the distilleries, Ardbeg.

Arriving at Ardbeg (1815), meaning ‘small promontory’, like Lagavulin it began life illicitly, so dates to at least 1794. It specialises in whiskies with an aroma of spices, malt or sweet tones like vanilla and chocolate. It is unique in that it inspired Finnish composer, Osmo Tapio Räihälä, to write a symphonic poem ‘Ardbeg - the Ultimate Piece for Orchestra’ in 2003. Their spirit and wood chippings were also sent to the International Space Station in 2011 to monitor their reaction to being in orbit!

We venture through the Islay countryside northward, passing Knock Bay then leaving the main road to visit the Kildalton Cross, one of the finest early Christian high crosses in Scotland dating from the second half of the 8th century. It sits in the grounds of a ruined 11th-century medieval church and the churchyard contains some 13th-14th century grave slabs; all cared for by Historic Environment Scotland. We re-join the main road and continue 13.5 kilometres northwards passing Beinn Bheigier (491m) and other Marilyns’ to reach McArthur’s Head, on the Sound of Islay. A further 12.5 kilometers takes us to Loch Ballygrant which is popular with fishermen and the remains of a crannog can be seen in the water. Nearby is the village of Ballygrant which is one of the oldest villages on the island and was traditionally an agricultural centre with a grain mill. It was also known for its lead and silver mining industry from the 17th to the 19th century.