Day 19: Isle of Jura Then Return to Kennacraig, Mull of Kintyre

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

23rd January 2021: 127.05km walked today taking the total to 2027.60/8854km. 9.5% of 192 entries submitting 1337.37km.

Walking the remote island of Jura today before heading back to the mainland.

Route 5: Islay and Jura

Our route now takes us past Loch Allan and Lilly Loch bringing us back to Port Askaig where we catch the ferry to Feolin, Jura.

One of Scotland's last wildernesses, Jura is the same size as Islay and its name is thought to come from Old Norse, ‘Deer Island’. The deer, and indeed, the whisky barrels, certainly outnumber its under 200 residents. You will see deer! The island is famous for the ‘Paps of Jura’ to the west, named for the fact that the hills look like women’s breasts, visible from Islay and the Argyll Coast! The west coast is wild and not easily accessed but is a haven for wildlife enthusiasts and people who want to be alone! The island has been inhabited since the Mesolithic Period (Middle Stone Age) at a time when people were hunter-gatherers; they would have moved between Jura, Islay and Colonsay in the search for food.

There is one main road that heads north along the island’s east coast, The Long Road. Once a drover’s road for cattle heading to the mainland from Islay, via ferry at Lagg, this will be our walking route. It takes us past Jura House (1880), was due to be opened in April 2020 as a luxurious hotel and golfing destination on the Ardfin Estate, though that has been delayed due to the pandemic! Historically owned by the Campbells of Craignish, they benefited from King James IV transferring Clan Donald land to them from Black Donald in 1506. The Campbells continued this ownership until Charles Campbell, last Laird of Jura, sold the remaining properties and estate in 1938.

We head north along the Sound of Jura coast to Craighouse, the only ‘town’ on the island, sitting on Small Isles Bay: home to the Jura Distillery (1810). Here they produce single malt whisky and are well known for official bottlings. They have an award-winning visitor centre too!

Continuing north on the coast, on Loch na Mile and its Corran Sands with fabulous views of the Paps of Jura, we pass an old settlement where Keils Church stands alone in what was once a thriving community. Christianity came to the island c500AD; this church sits in the same area as its predecessor and dates to 1777. It has gone through a few renovations, having been enlarged in the 1800s with its most recent remodelling to the interior in 1922; it is still an active church. We follow the drover’s road a further 25 km, past Lagg and Tarbert Bay, to our next destination: Lussa Bay, a gorgeous sandy beach.

Arriving at Lussa Bay we find ourselves thirsty; fear not, it has a quirky ‘tearoom’. Next to a ‘Tea on the Beach’ sign, we find a table with a menu and a walkie talkie! We radio in our tea and cake order which will be delivered to us in due course, while we enjoy the beach and views. We phoned ahead (recommended) as we were making this journey specifically to do this. Phew! They answered our call!

Retracing our steps back onto the drover’s road it’s just a short walk through Ardlussa village to Lussa Distillery on Ardlussa Bay. This time we are in the world of gin, a distillery founded in 2015 by 3 women who use several botanicals, some foraged on Jura, to ensure their unique flavour. They use a traditional Portuguese still called ‘Jim’ to produce the spirit.

Continuing north for nearly 12 kilometres we pass Barnhill where George Orwell wrote ‘1984’ between 1947-48 whilst living on the island. His real name was Eric Blair and on his first visit to the island, in 1945, he nearly lost his life. He took a sailing trip out with his nephews and nieces during which the boat got caught in the Corryvreckan whirlpool. The boat was lost but they managed to cling to a rock and await rescue. To think the world nearly didn’t hear of the 1984 world of Winston, Julia, and Big Brother! The white house can still be rented today, and the owners have changed little since he was there, so you will feel like you are walking in Orwell’s footsteps. People do come to the island to pay homage to the author.

We arrive at the northern tip of Jura, the Gulf of Corryvreckan, which means ‘cauldron of the speckled seas’. The gulf lies between Jura and the Island of Scarba and is aptly named. The strong currents and the seabed features create the Corryvreckan whirlpool here, in fact, the third-largest whirlpool in the world! We enjoy the view here before our return journey.

We walk back the way we came, and as we do so we'll tell you a little about the Paps of Jura. These 3 mountains are a dominant feature on the island, we see them constantly as we walk south. The highest is Beinn an Oir, ‘Mountain of Gold’, a Corbett at 785m, followed by Beinn Shiantaidh, ‘Sacred Mountain’, at 757m, then Beinn a’ Chaolais, ‘Mountain of Sound’, 734m. There is another small mountain, which is not counted in the ‘Paps’, Cora Bheinn, ‘Steep Mountain’ (569m). We won’t be climbing them on this challenge but, should you return one day to do so yourself, on a good day you will be treated to commanding views of Mull, Arran, Ben Lomond, and Northern Ireland to name but a few! Take time to decide how you do them though; there are no fixed routes, so a little research is a good idea, and most have tough elements to them. If you arrive in stalking season do let the Estate Office know; you don’t want to end up full of lead shot! On arrival back at Feolin, we board the ferry back to Port Askaig, Islay, to catch the ferry back to Kennacraig on the Scottish mainland to head northwards on the Kintyre Way.