Day 43: Salen, Mull to Scarinish, Tiree
Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021
16th February 2021: 97.10km walked today taking the total to 4419.99/8868km. 12.5% of 110 entries submitting 776.99km.
Today we complete Mull then sail back to Oban to catch the ferry to walk the Island of Tiree. Pop on your walking boots and grab a cuppa!!
We continue south to arrive at Salen, Gaelic for ‘willow’, which sits on Salen Bay. The village is an important junction for travel to all areas of the island and, as we approach, we see 2 old boats decaying on the shore. These are the most photographed boats on the island and have a haunting beauty about them, so we pause to take a photo. Salen was here before St Columba came to Iona, becoming more developed in the early 1800s when the Laird of Gulaine and Ulva, Lachlan Macquarie, decided a harbour would be an advantage here. So, steamers and mail boats from Oban docked en route to Tobermory, dispensing of mail, goods, and people, until 1964 when the arrival of bigger boats saw Craignure take over the position. We walk to the site of the old pier, which has been restored to working order recently, then retrace our steps to the main road for the last section of our island journey.
After passing through the Fishnish Ferry Terminal, a further 9 kilometres brings us to Craignure. The Fishnish ferry would take you to Lochaline, Morvern area of the mainland, which are the views we enjoyed across the Sound as we walked to Craignure - that and the Kingairloch area. We say farewell to the Isle of Mull and hop on our ferry back to Oban, where we catch yet another ferry, this time to Tiree via Coll. It will take about 4 hours so settle in and admire the views as we pass Mull. Although we stop at Coll, we will stay on the ferry to visit Tiree and will go back to Coll later.
Tiree is the most westerly island of the Inner Hebrides and sits nearly 100 kilometres from Oban in the Atlantic Ocean. Its name derives from Tir lodh, ‘land of the corn’, from the 6th century when Tiree provided the monastic community on the island of Iona with grain. It is only about 20 kilometres long at its longest point and 8 kilometres at its widest and is one of the sunniest places in the UK due to the Gulf Stream. It is also a very windy place with the strongest winter gales normally occurring in December and January. It has no woodland, only three hills in an otherwise flat landscape and has some of the best beaches in Scotland. These white sand beaches fringe most of Tiree and are renowned for their great surfing and windsurfing which is why it is sometimes called the ’Hawaii of the North’. Much of the land behind the beaches is machair, that dry fertile grassland we also saw on the Western Isles, formed by sand blowing over peat which is covered in wild flowers in early summer.
From the ferry we walk up Pier Road past the war memorial, which is on a small hill to our left, before we turn left to walk into Scarinish which is the main village on Tiree. Here we can see some of the traditional ‘Pudding Houses’, or ‘Spotted Houses’, which are a form of architecture unique to Tiree. They are characterised by the use of dark stone, with white painted mortar, which results in a spotted appearance.
At the next junction we take the left fork to reach Scarinish Harbour which was built in 1771. Just past the harbour we can see a small white square building which is Scarinish Lighthouse. It used to be a more substantial building and was hexagonal in shape, but this has since been replaced.
Continuing along the road we reach An Iodhlann which is Tiree’s historical centre. An Iodhlann is Gaelic for ‘the stackyard’ where the harvest is stored. This historical centre gives an overview of Tiree’s history as well as holding a collection of maps, books, and other interesting artefacts.
About 1 kilometre outside Scarinish we turn left to walk down a track to the coast where we will see the low mound of Dun Heanish. This was an Iron Age fort but not much of it remains. There are, though, fantastic views of the small but sandy bay of Traigh an Duin which means the ‘Beach of the Fort’.
After walking through the township of Baugh we see a monument on the small hill, Cnoc Eibrig, built in memory of Dr Alexander Buchanan. He was Tiree’s first doctor and worked here from 1860 until he died in 1911. His favourite remedy was said to be water from An Fhaodhail, the stream which runs between Reef and Baugh, which he dispensed in a small brown glass bottle.
We keep following the road which passes Tiree Airport, formerly a large RAF station built during World War 2, before we reach Crossapol. From here we continue past Hynish Bay and Traigh Bhaigh on our left before passing Loch an Eilean on our right. The house, Island House, at Loch an Eilean used to be on an island in the loch but is now on a peninsula. It has been suggested that the island was originally a crannog and in the 15th century there was a fortified castle on it. The current house was built in 1748 by the Earl of Argyll and is now owned by the Duke of Argyll.
At the next junction we turn left and in the distance in front of us we can see the radar station on the top of Carnan Mor, the highest part of Ben Hynish, which we will be visiting later.
Before we reach the village of Balemartine we pass Soroby Graveyard. This is one of the sites thought to be where Mag Luinge, St Columba’s monastery, might have been founded in 565AD; the other possible site is at Kirkapol which we visit later. Nothing remains of this or the Parish Church which existed here between the 13th and the 19th centuries. The graveyard became the burial ground of the Clan MacLean chiefs when they ruled Tiree between 1390 and 1680. In the graveyard there is an ancient cross with a large stone boss which is known as MacLean’s Cross.
We walk through Balemartine and then carry on until we reach Hynish. This village was built starting in 1837 and consisted of a dock, workshops and places to stay for those involved in the building of the Skerryvore Lighthouse. This lighthouse is Scotland’s tallest, at 46 metres, and was built on a remote reef about 20 kilometres south west of Tiree. The architect was Alan Stevenson, uncle of the author, Robert Louis Stevenson. Over 80 stonemasons worked in Hynish shaping precisely the 4300 blocks used in the building of the lighthouse. It was completed in 1842 and the following year the pier was extended at Hynish to allow the lighthouse vessel to berth. The dock tended to fill up with sand and Stevenson designed a flushing system, using water from a reservoir up the hill, to try to keep it open. After the lighthouse was built Hynish became the shore station for the lighthouse keepers and their families, who lived in the Upper Square and were provided with walled gardens to grow their own produce.
When the lighthouse was automated the buildings gradually became derelict and in the 1980s were acquired by the Hebridean Trust. The buildings were restored and converted and now consist of social housing, 2 museums and a study centre. The Signal Tower, which was originally used to signal the Skerryvore Lighthouse has been converted into a museum telling the story of the building of the lighthouse. In another building is the Treshnish Isles Centre where we can learn more about the Treshnish Isles which are visible from Tiree and their seabird colonies, including puffins, razorbills, and guillemots.
From Hynish the road changes to a track and we follow this down to the shore. We pass to the right of a rocky headland where there was a prehistoric fort, Dun na Cleite which lay at the southern end of the ridge in the strongest, naturally defensive site on Tiree. Beyond this is ‘Happy Valley’ which was named by RAF personnel in World War 2. This green valley extends 300 metres to the sea, ending in a shingle beach called Traigh Balbhaig.
We continue west along the coast before passing a gravel quarry and then some houses at West Hynish before we turn right to climb Ben Hynish using the service road up to the golf-ball-like radar station on Carnan Mor, the highest point of Ben Hynish at 142 metres. At the saddle we turn right and walk to the top at 126 metres with great views to the south and then walk to the radar station. Although the summit buildings are pretty ugly, the views to the west across Balefuil Bay and its beach, Traigh Bhi, to Ceann a’Mhara (also called Kenavara) and to the north across the majority of Tiree are magnificent. Leaving the summit, we return down the service road to the junction near West Hynish and turn right.
We soon reach Balephuil with its white washed cottages before we turn left to head towards Loch a’Phuill. This is the largest of the lochs on Tiree and is the fresh water supply for the island. It is a coastal eutrophic loch meaning that it is rich in mineral and organic nutrients which is probably why it can support a diverse range of aquatic plants. It is also very alkaline, probably due to the shells from the beach being blown into it in winter storms. It is worth us visiting the bird hides to see the bird life living on the loch and its surroundings.
Past these we walk across the machair to the sands of Traigh Bhi, a magnificent beach in Balephuil Bay, that we saw from the top of Ben Hynish. We walk across the beach to the far end to reach the Ceann a’ Mhara headland with its rugged and dramatic coastal scenery, a marked contrast to the rest of Tiree. On this headland are the remains of Patrick’s Chapel, which dates as far back as the 7th century, with 2 old stones carved with crosses inside the ruins. As well as this on the headland there is an ancient well, which is said to have healing properties, and 2 ancient forts. This headland is also where Tiree’s main seabird colonies are found, which include colonies of fulmars, gulls, kittiwakes and guillemots.
Continuing round the coast we keep above the rocky inlets and reach a cairn on the western summit of Ceann a’ Mhara with views northwards of Traigh nan Gilean and Ben Hough.
Carrying along the cliffs we then climb up the higher eastern summit of Beinn Ceann a’ Mhara, Mullach Mor, the third highest hill on Tiree.
Leaving the top of the hill we descend northwards until we reach a track which takes us around the bay of Port Bharrapol with its good surfing beach, Traigh nan Gillean. Further along this west coast we reach the village of Sandaig. There used to be a museum here within a row of thatched cottages, but these are now in private ownership. They have since been rethatched which enables us to see what these traditional cottages would have looked like in the past. These cottages were built with thick stone walls, often over a metre thick, usually 2 layers with the cavity in between filled with sand. They also had deep-set small windows and a thatched roof traditionally made from marram grass. The houses were built like this so that they would be able to withstand the harshest weather.
Some of the thatched cottages on Tiree have had their roofs replaced and are called ‘Blacktop’ houses. It became popular to cover thatched roofs with tarpaulins and tar as this was more waterproof than thatch. This evolved to be tar-covered felt, with the thatch omitted completely, however the shape was retained giving the Tiree Blacktop house its distinctive appearance.
Nearby in Middleton there was a factory which opened in 1864 called the Glassary which extracted iodine from kelp. Tiree has the fourth largest kelp forest in Scottish waters and this abundance fuelled the seaweed industry on the island which produced alkali for soap and glass manufacture and for bleaching linen. It was undercut by cheap imports and there was a slump in the industry from the 1830s until the 1860s. In 1864 a young chemist, Edward Curtis-Stanford, arrived in Tiree and supervised the building of the factory at Middleton. This factory extracted iodine and then sold the residual charcoal as fertiliser and used the gas, produced by the process, to light the buildings. It closed in 1901 and the factory was demolished in 1941 to provide the foundations for the runway built at the RAF station.
From Sandaig we continue north, passing another white sandy beach, Traigh Throdhrasdail, which has more recently started to be called The Maze. This name has been given to the beach by windsurfers and may be because of the winding track leading down to it. Soon we reach Kilkenneth where there are the ruins of a chapel. This chapel probably dates from the late Middle Ages although as it is dedicated to St Kenneth, who lived on Tiree in the late 6th century; it may have replaced an earlier structure.
As we continue north with Beinn Hough, the second highest point on Tiree, in front of us, we reach a track off to our left which is signposted ‘Footpath to Shore’ which we turn down. This grassy track takes us across the machair to the grassy headland of Rubha Hanais where there is the site of an ancient fort, Dun Hanais, with fantastic views across The Maze to the south. We continue along the grassy coastline around the back of Port Hanais Bay to reach Rubha Chraiginis, the most westerly point on Tiree. There used to be a township here before it was inundated with sand and nothing can be seen of it now.
Still heading north, we reach the next beach, Traigh Hough, which we walk along until reaching a track where we turn inland to climb Beinn Hough. We aim for the saddle between the north and south summits and pass the small loch, Loch Earblaig, on the way. At the saddle we turn north to climb to the summit of Beinn Hough which is 119 metres high. On the summit is an old radar station which was used in the early development of radar during World War 2. From here there are views across Tiree which show how flat the island is, only broken by the summit of Ben Hynish and the Ceann a’Mhara headland.
We then turn south to climb to the top of the southern summit, Bheinn Mhurstat, where there is a small transmitter. There are also great views from this summit with a view to the west of Rubha Chraiginis, the most westerly point on Tiree.
From the transmitter there is a track which winds down the hill leading us back down to the road where we turn left towards Balevullin. Balevullin comes from the Gaelic, Bail a’Mhuilinn, meaning ‘township of the mill’. There was a horizontal water mill here at one time but there is no sign of it now. It is another place where there is a beautiful beach great for surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing and is where Blackhouse Watersports is based. This is the perfect place to try a first surf lesson.
Turning east we head towards Loch Bhasapoll, another place to try your hand at watersports especially if you don’t want to go in the sea and it is also a good place to fish. It is the second largest loch in Tiree and it is thought that the 2 small islands may have been crannogs. Just to the north of the loch, towards the coast, there is believed to have been a battle between the men of Tiree and Norse Invaders called the ‘Battle of the Sheaves’. The invaders lost and are said to have never returned.
After we leave Loch Bhasapoll, we pass an old mill at Cornaig. It was commissioned in 1771 by the 5th Duke of Argyll to grind the corn for the whole island, replacing the existing horizontal mills and hand mills. Work began in 1802 with a mill lade constructed from Loch Bhasapoll to the mill, with a sluice at the loch end raising the level of the water in the loch to provide a flow of water. The mill was completed in 1803 and worked until 1945. After this the mill was allowed to decay until the wheel was rescued and restored in 2006. The wheel can now be seen in action most afternoons during the summer.
Continuing east we reach the coast again at Balephetrish Bay and, as we walk east, we will see Balephetrish Hill in front of us. Although it is only 36 metres high because the rest of the land around it is flat it still appears significant. A small quarry was worked at the base of the hill between 1791 and 1794, as a seam of red-green Tiree marble was found. The Duke of Argyll used this marble for the chimney pieces of the Billiard Room in Inveraray Castle.
At the hill we turn left to walk further along the north coast of Tiree. Although there isn’t really a path along this part of the coast it is possible to walk across the machair keeping the sea on our left. We soon reach the Ringing Stone near the shoreline. This prominent boulder is a granite glacial erratic, brought by ice from the Island of Rhum. It has cup-marked indentations which are thought to have been carved by the Beaker people up to 4500 years ago. If we strike it gently with a small stone the boulder makes a metallic ringing noise, hence its name.
Following the coastline eastwards again we walk about 1.5 kilometres to reach the broch of Dun Mor on a rocky knoll above the sea, dating back to the Iron Age. It is worth climbing up to as we will be able to see that it is a circular stone building with internal galleries and stairs. It is well preserved up to a height of about 2 metres and there are also traces of surrounding buildings which appear to be outer defences.
Not far away along the coast we find Dun Beag, a fort which is roughly oval in shape due to the shape of the rocky knoll on which it stands. This fort is thought to be older than the nearby broch but not much of it remains although the views from it are superb. From the fort we head southeast along the coast of Vaul Bay, crossing over a rocky section before reaching a grassy path. After reaching a minor road we turn left and head east behind Traigh Bhalla and then Traigh Chrogain across Tiree’s only golf course where the greens are fenced to stop the sheep from grazing on them.
At Salum we pass to the left of a white farmhouse before arriving back at the shore with views to the tidal islet of Fadamull before we arrive at the farmhouse at Miodar. The track leads to a road which we follow until we reach a track which takes us to a beach overlooking Gunna Sound on the north east coast of Tiree, where we can see Gunna Island and Coll. We walk south-east along the beach before returning to the road which we turn left along before heading down a road signed to Milton. We follow this for about 1 kilometre until we pass the front of a white house and follow the track to Milton jetty. Above Milton is another broch, Dun Mor Caolas, which is over 2000 years old but is much more ruinous than the one we passed previously.
From Milton we follow a track until we reach a road taking us through Ruaig where we turn left and walk along the sands of Traigh Mhor in Gott Bay. This beach is the home of the Tiree Wave Classic, Britain’s most prestigious wind-surfing event, which is held each October and is the world’s longest standing professional windsurfing competition. Gott Bay, and its beach, stretches from Ruaig and the island of Soa in the east to Gott Pier in the west, where we arrived on the ferry, and is over 6 kilometres in length. The beach faces southeast and has good views across to Ben More on Mull.
We walk along the beach westwards to Kirkapol where there are 4 former churches. First, we pass Kirkapol House, which is a converted Victorian church, before we find 2 ancient chapels behind the Tiree Lodge Hotel. The larger of the ruins date to the 14th century and was the former parish church dedicated to St Columba. It stands in its own graveyard and there are many ancient burial stones still visible. The smaller ruin dates to the 13th century and was also dedicated to St Columba. Further to the west we pass Kirkapol Parish Church which was built in 1842 and where the last service was held in 2014.
At the western end of the bay there is a bare rock called the Rock of Mallachdaig which is said to have been cursed by St Columba. Legend says that he tied his boat to seaweed on the rock but when he returned his boat was adrift. St Columba then cursed the rock saying that nothing should ever grow on it again and it has been bare ever since.
From the end of the beach, we head back to Scarinish and take the ferry across to Coll which takes just under an hour to the pier at Arinagour, Coll.
Comments
Post a Comment