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---The End of the Line---I settled down in a seat on the busy train, one of those sideways seats at the end of a carriage; "please give up this seat for someone who needs it". I hate sitting in those seats, even if no one needs it, what happens if a middle age chap gets on the train? I offer him the seat, he gets offended that I think he needs it...? Anyway, for the time being, no one needed it. Except me.
Less than 12 hours earlier, I had been looking at a map of Scotland. I wanted to do something fun with my Sunday, and I thought that might mean going somewhere fun. To an island. After half an hour of looking at train times (and prices), ferry times and weather forecasts I settled on Colonsay, for no good reason other than the train would get me to Oban in time to catch the ferry, and it wasn't too expensive.
And so now I was sitting on my sideways seat in the train, headed for Edinburgh. There a quick dash across to Glasgow on a second train allowed me 20 mins to grab some lunch. It was now, only once I boarded my third train of the day that the fun would begin. Destination: Oban. End of the line. Without wanting to be too disparaging to Oban (I had at this stage never visited it properly), it is a poor choice of destination. Yet thousands of people flock there each year, this coastal highland town. There they can sample the reputedly excellent food, take a photo of a non-descript mountain, and then go home to tell everyone what a great West Coast/Highland experience they've had. Admittedly, my first ever trip to the Highlands (about 14 years ago!) was more or less just this, except we went to Mallaig, which is just like Oban, except without the nice food... Or the nice anything, for that matter.
But these places, Oban, Mallaig, while the end of the line for many, are the beginning of greater adventures beyond. They are the gateways to the islands.
The journey to Oban took me up the shores of Loch Long (a sea Loch) and Loch Lommond (a non-sea loch). A good window seat is a must for this journey. Better still, two good window seats, so you can see out of both sides. After safely completing its journey along the precariously steep slopes above the lochs, the track snaked its way up to Crialarich. Then, the train split in half. Roughly. Call it 30:70... One "half" was headed for Fort William and Mallaig. My half, and I did a rather good job of being on the correct half, was headed for Oban.
The Cobbler and Ben Narain - a good climb another day!Ben Lui hidden in clouds, but with considerably less snow on it than when I was up there!Loch AweFrom the train, I spotted a couple of mountains I had climbed, bringing back memories of pulled-beef sandwiches on a frozen mountain side. But today was sunny and warm. Oban was soon reached. I quickly bought my ferry ticket and within 20 mins, I was aboard. "Hoist the mainsail!"... Or whatever it is you do on a boat... I care not, I'd spotted the bar. It was time to start the journey.
Sunny Oban!---At World's End---I like boats. I don't know how to sail, and rowing is basically just manual labour, but I like proper boats, they're just better than most other forms of transport. There are no traffic jams, and since we've worked out that throwing lemons at scurvy clears it right up, there are fewer diseases than other forms of public transport. Today's ferry was a 2 hour sailing, in beautiful conditions.
I quickly found the bar and bought a beer, a "Colonsay IPA". My first taste of the island, a local beer. It was very inoffensive, and pleasantly light. This, coupled with the warm sunny weather made for a lovely voyage. Out on deck, watching the islands drift past. To the North, Mull, mountainous, and a bit too big to appeal much to me, somehow. To the South East, Jura slipped past, definitely one to visit, with its pretty hills and overabundance of deer. Finally Islay lay to the South, a whisky Mecca... So close... But not this time. But we were sailing beyond all these, out into the blue. After half an hour or so, Colonsay's low profile became visible, and as gulls and gannets excitedly followed the boats wake, my own excitement grew (aided by another beer or two). We were nearly there.
A lovely day for sailing.Mull's wild south coast.More pretty scenery.Mull drifts further away.Company.The pretty, cloud-topped outline of JuraAnd again.Finally, arriving on Colonsay!I am still not convinced that Colonsay is a real place. A few scattered houses lay among the greenery. This was Scalasaig, the ferry terminal and Colonsay's largest erm... Collection of houses. Measuring about 8 miles from top to bottom, and 3 miles wide at its widest, Colonsay is not a big place. Only 140 people live there. I got off the ferry, ignored the major road heading to the airport (yup, 2 flights a week! Take that Heathrow!), and turned North.
Leaving the busy ferry port behind!Off North we go!I was staying in a B&B at the North end of the island, a walk of some 3-4 miles. Colonsay seems a good place to walk around, I could confidently stride right down the middle of the road, knowing that I was unlikely to meet more than one car per mile. Nonetheless, I decided to go rogue. I'd looked at the map, and reasoned I could cut a big corner if I went across country, instead of following the road. After all, sheep were roaming where they pleased, so why shouldn't I. Almost immediately I wandered into a bog. And then, after I'd managed to cross it, and kept my feet more or less dry, I immediately wandered into another one. This was not going well. I summoned up my Dunkirk spirit, and retreated, back to the safety of the road. After that, following only roads and well-marked paths, the route was easy, and before long I reached the North coast.
It was by now approaching 8 pm, and the sun was starting to get low and rather pretty. Ahead of me lay Kiloran beach. I wasn't really sure how far it was from here to the B&B, but I'll be damned if I'm going to risk missing an opportunity for a sunset swim and some nice photos. I decided to detour onto the beach. And what a beach. A half mile long stretch of golden sand and blue sea, backed by pretty rocks and hills. This was a beach to put most Mediterranean ones to shame. In fact, in one crucial was it was better than any Mediterranean beach, the company was infinitely better. There were no Germans claiming the best spots and marching around in their sandals, no noisy Italians, the Spanish, of course, would have been absent either way, napping probably, and best of all, there were no Brits being rowdy and generally obnoxious. Well, except for me of course, but my fellow beach goers, a couple of cows wandering around at the far end, didn't seem to mind, much to their credit.
I immediately went for a swim, and was pleasantly surprised by the water temperature, by no means was it hot, this is Scotland, after all, but it was not cold. I could comfortably stay in for 20-30 mins. I had a lovely time, swimming, floating, watching the sunset, and generally being a nuisance to the fish. Because I am a well organised traveller, I hadn't brought a towel with me. No matter, half an hour of post-swim photography left my top half dry enough to throw a t-shirt on. I didn't bother changing out of my trunks. And so, still rather wet, I threw on my flip flops and wandered up the road, towards a warm shower and a warm bed.
Always time for a swim!It's even sunny under water!Time for a bit of a sunset.A calm sea.The cows didn;t quite join me on the beach this time.A few birds of some sort!Ok, enough of that - you get the idea!---I would walk 500 miles... We're rounding up, right?---I am not the world's healthiest person. I eat far too much and exercise far too little. The problem is that food is delicious, and exercise is a bit too much like hard work. Running is very boring, yoga is just showing off for flexible people, racket sports are not bad, but competitive exercise inevitably results in a celebratory or commiseratory beer, making it not that beneficial, and going to the gym is just a waste of your life, yes, you might live 2 years longer, but you'll have spent those two years in the gym, net gain: 0. Having said that. Today I had a remarkably healthy day.
Before going to bed the previous night, I had spent a lot of time looking at various weather forecasts, searching for one I liked the look of. The BBC was forecasting rain, as always, with just the suggestion of some flooding, the Met Office's website was incomprehensible. An American website I tried was convinced that Colonsay didn't exist. In the end, a Norwegian website had a forecast I liked the look of: Sunny from 9:00 till 1:00, then cloudy, maybe a shower at 3 pm. I decided to pick this forecast (that's how the weather works, right?)
Firmly believing that I was in for a lovely morning, I decided to head to the far North East of the island. After breakfast, it was indeed sunny (well played Norway!), and the walk was very pleasant. I wandered across Kiloran Bay (the cows had left, but there were now a few sheep, presumably building sand castles). My first port of call was Cornan Eoin, the highest point on the island. I have now visited 3 Scottish islands, and made it to the highest point on all of them, even if Cornan Eoin is only 143 meters high. The sun beat down and the route, entirely lacking a path, was steep and rocky. Extensive views across the entire island, and back towards the nearest neighbouring islands greeted me.
The lovely golden sand of Kiloran BayLooking back down on the beach.And from a bit higher up!The summit!From my lofty vantage point, I could get a good lay of the land. I wanted to head further North East, to the beach at Balnahard. There was a track of sorts leading the 2 miles or so there, but re-joining it immediately would require me to back track. Instead, I decided to go for the more intrepid, and somewhat more foolish straight line approach, again, taking me across boggy country, as well as a couple of worryingly steep rock sides! After an hour or so of navigating the terrain, I finally came out on a machir, a meadow of wildflowers, found on sandy soil near the coast. The beach must be near.
Lovely heather.Camouflaged as a rock?A goat!All my statements of how nice Kiloran Bay had been were thrown out of the window. Pah! Kiloran Bay had been ugly! That nasty yellow sand, that murky blue water, that forced backdrop. Balnahard was something else. Pristine white sand, turquoise water as the sun glinted off it. This was a beach up there with the very best in the world. And I had it all to myself. A closer inspection of the sand revealed plenty of footprints. Not so remote after all? Of course, these footprints all belonged to birds (and I think a couple of goat prints, I had spotted some wild goats on my way here). I suppose I am willing to share this spot with some birds.
I went for a lovely swim, played around with the abundant fish and generally enjoyed this amazing spot. The sun dried me out and warmed me up quickly, as I had a beautifully peaceful wander up and down the beach. After about an hour of being there, 2 other people showed up at the far end of the beach, having walked in, I presume, on a less intrepid route. Obviously the beach was now too busy for my liking, so I decided to leave.
Beautiful Balnahard Bay.Lovely, warm water in the shallow bay.Someone else has been here!Someone else is here!Lovely spot.Departing.Again, I didn't follow the marked track, favouring instead the rough ground past sheep and cows, all of who stared at me, clearly questioning my dubious route selection. I was headed for Scalasaig. All day I had not yet had a drink, and I was thirsty. A tiring 8 miles later, I made it to Scalasaig. I instantly downed the litre and a half of water I bought, and then went back into the shop, apologised to the owner for not chatting before, explaining that I had been really quite thirsty. My apology went down well enough to allow me to make another purchase, so I wandered out of the shop for the second time, carrying a couple of rolls and some cheese and ham.
Plesant, rugged countryside.Some cows... that completes the big 3... sheep, goat, cow!As I ate the sandwiches on the pier, the clouds gathered. It was just before 3 pm when a few drops of rain started to fall (again, well done those Norwegian meteorologists!). Fortunately, this was well timed. The brewery and the bookshop (the only other two shops on the island) opened from 3 - 5 pm. I went and had a poke round the brewery. A tiny 2 mash operation, which employs 10% of the island's working population: Bob and Jake. Obviously, I bought a couple of beers for the evening, stashed them in my bag and went next door to the bookshop. The bookshop specialised in local art, culture and history, so I went on and read for a while, leaving as the rain, which had never advanced beyond a light drizzle, stopped. The skies were still heavy and the threat of rain remained. Knowing I had 2 beers in my bag, I decided they would suffice for dinner and headed back towards the B&B. The 4 mile walk went well, except for one somewhat nervous moment where I had to navigate a herd of cows which were stubbornly blocking the road. A couple of hours of reading and generally catching up on the internet preceded an evening swim, facilitated by a break in the clouds, which even brought a few rays of sun.
Typical major road to the airport.All the roads were busy!Evening light back on Kiloran BayThat evening in bed, my feet tired and blistered, I reflected on a lovely day. 24 miles walked, according to my phone. And I'd happily do it again, if it was somewhere this pretty.
---Farewell, Colonsay---Bad news! If you’re reading this, chances are you’re not a person currently on Colonsay. This means that you’re probably somewhere in the real world, which means you now have to suffer my presence back in the afore mentioned real world. I’m going to miss the tiny island world. Today was the last day of my whistle-stop trip, back to reality.
My ferry was at 11:40. I reasoned that I should leave the North end of the island at about 10 to be on the safe side, allowing an hour for walking and 40 mins for any unexpected hiccups! Plenty of time for a morning swim then. The sun was still obscured behind clouds which were reluctant to allow me one last sun-lit swim. The wind had whipped up a bit and was doing its best to shift the clouds, but for now failing. The side effect of this wind were some rather fun waves to play in today. I had a lovely swim beyond the waves, and then messed around in the breakers for a bit, before heading back to the B&B for a quick shower and to pick up my bag.
Even sticking to the roads gives good walking on a little island like this.Horses. Colonsay has all of the animals. All of them.By the time I got to the ferry, at about 11 am, the sun was beating down relentlessly, it was going to be a sweltering day. The ferry had not yet arrived from the mainland, but already there was a sense of excitement on the island. The arrival of a ferry was a big deal here. 40-50 people seemed to be crowded on or near the small pier, a few tourists, like me, looking to head off, but many locals. Some here to head to the mainland for one reason or another, some to meet and greet friends who would be arriving, and others simply there for a good chat with neighbours. The sense of occasion was remarkable. Even today with phones, TVs and internet all over the island, the physical arrival of a boat brining supplies, friends and relatives was the social occasion of the day! In days gone by when the boat must have brought news too, it must have been quite remarkable!
I wasn;t the only one waiting for the ferry.The ferry’s stay was brief, leaving barely 20 minutes after it arrived. Out on deck I sat back in the sunshine, sipped my beer and watched Colonsay slip into the distance. What a lovely trip. What a beautiful island. I look forward to my next island adventure, wherever that many be.