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Walking & exploring |
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Introduction
This walking / hiking tour gives three nights in Mid-Argyll, the 'cradle' of Scotland, and four on the Isle of Islay. The walks are both easier and shorter than those of our walking holidays.
Mid-Argyll - Cradle of Scotland
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Kilmartin, Temple Wood Stone Circle
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These early Scots (from the Roman tribal name Scotti) weren't all that secure in their Scottish colony. There were Picts to the north and north-east, Britons, who spoke a form of Welsh, in Strathclyde, to the east, and, beyond them, Northumbrian Angles in Lothian. Many fortifications remain from these turbulent iron age years - ruins of hill forts, duns and crannogs are everywhere in Argyll - and of these, the most important - probably the 'capital' of Scottish Dalriada - lies at Dunadd, in the heart of modern Mid-Argyll. No-one who visits this area should miss the short climb up Dunadd. From within its ruined walls, beside the traces of ceremonial rock carvings, you can, in your imagination, step back 1500 years to the times when curraghs were brought through the protective peat bogs, up the winding river Add, to the foot of the rock on which kings were crowned. It is quite likely that St. Columba visited here to talk matters through with the king of Scottish Dalriada before he established his settlement on Iona. The descendants of these kings, in the ninth century, were the first to unite a great part of modern Scotland under one crown, hence one justification for thinking of Mid-Argyll as the cradle of Scotland.
But Mid-Argyll has earlier links by far with Scotland's past. All through the Kilmartin Glen are prehistoric remains - the work of bronze and stone age peoples who can take us back as far as 4000 B.C. From the new stone age there are chambered burial cairns and traces of a wooden precursor of a stone circle. From the bronze age there are the stone circles themselves, also many roughly circular burial cairns holding stone chests or 'kists'. These kists once contained the bodies and ashes of the important families who must have held and farmed the fertile lands round the edge of the bogs. Through the centre of the glen runs a line of seven cairns, the exact significance of which is now lost, though they must surely, amongst other functions, have stood as an uncompromising statement of possession. As well as these major remains, there are, scattered throughout the glen, numerous standing stones, singly and in small groups. Natural rock surfaces are frequently marked with carvings, especially the enigmatic cup and ring marks which may be from the stone or bronze ages. The best group of these is at Achnabreck.
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Abandoned township: the legacy of the clearances
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As you can see, for anyone interested in Scotland's origins, Mid-Argyll is a 'must visit'. When we add to the prehistoric remains, a wealth of early historic and mediaeval sites and realise that there is also plenty worth seeing from more modern times, the pull is greater yet. From the simplest chapels of the celtic church to the earliest castles, from abandoned farming townships to the agricultural improvements of the nineteenth century (one elegant farm steading was once known by the name 'Experiment'), history is written in the landscape.
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Machir Bay, Isle of Islay |
Islay & Colonsay
Islay, once home of the MacDonald 'Lords of the Isles', is famous to-day for its malt whiskies and birdlife as well as for its farming, fishing and shooting. Hills, moors and machair* are edged around by an infinitely varied coast, with rocks, beaches and dunes, salt marshes and cliffs. Good walking country.
Colonsay, with neighbouring Oronsay, is perhaps the most peaceful and remote of all the inner Hebrides; the ruined but inspiring 14th century Oronsay Priory, with its 4 m tall 'high cross', is accessible from Colonsay across the tidal Strand. The American author, John MacPhee, wrote his excellent 'The Crofter and the Laird' about his return to Colonsay, the land of his forebears.
* Machair is fertile ground on wind-blown shell-sand; well-drained and not acid, it can support a lovely short green turf with flowers.
History
Now apparently peripheral to the mainstream of Scottish life, in the days when land transport was difficult and the seas the sensible way to get around (not to mention an accessible source of food) Islay and its neighbours were focal points of human activity. Oronsay has several shell mounds surviving from 6000 years or more ago, evidence of Scotland's very earliest inhabitants, and, from succeeding neolithic and bronze age times, Colonsay and Islay preserve a wealth of burial cairns, rock carvings and standing stones, including one incomplete stone circle.
Iron Age times may have brought intensified social and political conflict; the evidence is there in the remains of many fortifications - in all, around 80 on Islay alone. Two of the most spectacular are Dun Athad, in the Oa, and Dun Nosebridge, both of which we'll see . More peaceful activity is commemorated in the remains of several Early Christian chapels and crosses, of which Kildalton is the most outstanding.
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Islay, Mull of Oa |
Islay played its part in the evolution of a united Scotland and also in resisting it. The very name 'Scotland' derives from the Roman name for the iron age celtic people who, by the 6th century, occupied both Ulster and Argyll (Irish and Scottish Dalriada), perhaps colonising one from the other. From the ruling group of Scottish Dalriada, of which Islay would have been one of the richest parts, came the first king of a united nation in the 9th century. Later, though, especially from the 13th to the 15th centuries, the centralising Scottish state was very effectively resisted by the MacDonald, Lords of the Isles, by then ruling a virtually independent kingdom. Their power-base was at Finlaggan which thus has an historical significance that demands a visit. In between times, as elsewhere along the western seaboard, Islay underwent a series of viking raids. These were followed, as they were not over most of the mainland, by extensive norse settlement and a period (from 1098 to 1263) under the Norwegian crown. Evidence survives in numerous placenames of norse origin.
The southern clan MacDonald made periodic attempts to revive the Lordship of the Isles until well into the 16 th century, but, despite winning a last great clan battle against the MacLeans at Gruinart in 1598, their power in Islay slipped away, to be replaced, in the early 17th century, by Campbell domination, which continued, in more peaceful form, into the 19th century.
Modern Islay is a land of farms and of beautiful and distinctive planned villages whose whitewashed houses are a particularly attractive feature. These characteristics, differentiating the island from others in the Hebrides, are partly the result of its geology, topography and relative fertility, but also partly of the management policies of a succession of landowners. Chief among these was Walter Frederick Campbell, laird between 1816 and 1848, who did much to reorganise landholding patterns and to establish planned settlements. Where the Hebrides in general, following the clearance of the old communal farming townships, are a landscape of crofts* as well as farms, and a place where communities are scattered, Campbell bequeathed a landscape of farms and villages.
*Croft: a type of smallholding, with extensive shared grazing. They were very often established on poorer land while wealthier farming tenants got the best. A croft did not, in itself, provide sufficient income for a family.
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Day by day programme
A typical week, subject to variables such as the weather, abilities of the group and any alterations to take account of lambing, deer stalking, etc. could be as follows:
Saturday: Glasgow - Loch Lomond - Loch Fyne - Mid-Argyll
Meet in Glasgow (city centre, stations or airport) in the early afternoon. Arrival in Mid-Argyll late afternoon. We have 3 night's accommodation in Mid-Argyll - unmissable as being one of the first inhabited places in the west Highlands. Perhaps there will be time for a short introductory woodland walk. Or else you could just opt for a 'potter' around the village.
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Inveraray
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Inveraray castle, set in elegant planned grounds and beside the equally planned and equally elegant white-painted 18th century town, is well worth seeing and there are excellent walks in the estate. Perhaps the best of these takes in the riverside and some varied woodland on its way to the 700 feet high (220m) top of Duniquaich. The view from the watchtower here is, to my mind, the very best there is of Inveraray, the castle and Loch Fyne.
After lunch, we have various options. We can take a walk around the town, perhaps visiting the very good museum in the former jail and courthouse (accurate and interesting social history, not at all ghoulish tat). There is also an excellent museum at the old farming township of Auchindrain, a 15 minute drive away. There's nowhere better for gaining an insight into the life lived in the pre-clearance highland countryside.
Monday: Kilmartin Glen and Dunadd
Dunadd was the capital hill fort of the Scots - iron age celtic colonists from the Irish kingdom of Dalriada - from at least the 6th century to the 8th and probably longer. No visitor to this area with a feel for the history in a landscape should miss it, so we go there first thing this morning. A short walk and a little climb to the top of the hill rewards you with the opportunity to place your feet in the carved print where kings of Scots may well have placed theirs on being crowned.
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Innis Chonnel Castle, Loch Awe, Argyll
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Kilmartin House, our next stop, is a new museum with an enthusiastic staff and a fresh approach. It sets out the story of Kilmartin Glen down the ages with an inspired combination of imagination and clarity. Worth a couple of hours of anyone's time and not to be missed.
Our afternoon walk brings us along a good cross-section of Kilmartin's prehistoric and early historic monuments - a stone circle, burial cairns and iron age forts and sculpted stones.
Tuesday: Innis Chonnel Castle - Kennacraig (for the ferry) to Islay
In the morning we will take a boat across Loch Awe to the ruin of 13th century Innis Chonnel Castle. The castle has a special atmosphere lost to the better known and more visited ruins. It has not been ‘tidied’, but rises from its island as a living part of the rocks and the trees. It also has historical importance as the seat of clan Campbell power in mediaeval times.
Aferwards we head for the ferry to Islay which leaves from Kennacraig. This is a very scenic trip through the old planned town of Lochgilphead and on down the shores of Loch Fyne to the charming village of Tarbert. Here there may be time for a wander about to admire what must be one of Scotland’s prettiest villages and one of its best fish and chip shops!
Depending on our luck, we have seen a variety of seabirds (razorbills, guillemots, terns and kittiwakes) as well as porpoises, dolphins and even a right whale. The trip culminates in Islay with a well earned rest or even a short seaside stroll.
Accommodation for the remaining four nights is on Islay.
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Colonsay: Kiloran Bay
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Wednesday: Colonsay, and perhaps Oronsay
A ferry from Port Askaig gives us 6 hours on Colonsay. Remote from the other 'Inner' Hebrides (the next stop west is Labrador), Colonsay nevertheless has a diverse flora and fauna and varied scenery. It's the kind of place that draws people back again and again. Surprisingly for an island so far west, there are many sheltered corners and much more woodland than you might expect. Add to that some delightful sandy bays and a rich store of prehistoric remains and you have a place in which it's good just to wander quietly and at peace. Kiloran Bay via Colonsay House (6 miles of mostly easy going) is our favoured walk, though another, tide permitting, is to cross the sands to Oronsay, with its high cross and ruined priory. Oronsay preserves traces, in the form of turf-covered, shell middens, of Scotland's earliest hunter-gatherer inhabitants from 6000 years or more ago.
If you prefer just to mooch quietly around at your own pace, then why not do that? Colonsay has a shop, hotel, café and heritage centre. Don't forget to get back to the ferry in time as the next ferry back to Islay is next Wednesday.
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Kilnave Cross
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Thursday: Ardnave, Port Charlotte and Finlaggan
We begin at Ardnave, overlooking Loch Gruinart, and walk around the coast via Ardnave Point. Easy going over short, dry turf amongst sand dunes is followed by stretches of sandy beach interspersed with short stretches of (easy) rocky shore. This is spectacularly open country, with wide views east across bird-rich Loch Gruinart and north to Oronsay and Colonsay. Plenty of seals and sea birds, and we may also see otters. It's also worth popping in to the medieval chapel of Kilnave, with its high cross; a peaceful place now, but once scene of a bloody clan massacre.
In the afternoon we start gently with a visit to the nearby museum of Islay life, before driving north to Finlaggan. These ruins, on a - now accessible - island of Loch Finlaggan were once the home of the chiefs of clan MacDonald. The Macdonald 'Lords of the Isles' flourished in late medieval times, when the gaelic lordship was, in effect, an independent kingdom sufficiently powerful to rival the kings of neighbouring mainland Scotland.
Friday: The distillery, Kildalton and The Mull of Oa
The Old Church at Kildalton (often called the Kildalton Chapel) is the site of the Kildalton High Cross. This is the only surviving complete Celtic high cross in Scotland. It was carved about AD 800, probably by a sculptor from Iona. The biblical scene on the front include the Virgin and the Child and David and the Lion, while on the back are animals and carved bosses. After this must be as good a time as any to investigate the world-famous Islay whisky industry - if we haven't already been doing just that each evening through a glass or two. What better than a visit to one of the island's eight malt whisky distilleries.
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Islay: Ardbeg whisky distillery
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Saturday: Islay - Kennacraig - Inveraray - Loch Lomond - Glasgow
Depart a.m. for Kennacraig and Glasgow. Arrive Glasgow by 3.30 pm.
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Am I fit enough?
The emphasis of the week is on enjoyment, so no-one should worry too much: you aren't in a race. Daily distances will never exceed 6 miles (10 km) plus varying amounts of ascent, and we don't expect to walk for longer than 4 hours (maximum) on any day. We will almost always be on paths or tracks or quiet roads except where the countryside is extremely easy, when we do go off path. There will be some steep sections, but not consisting of hundreds of feet together. Age is not a problem if you are fit and used to country walking / hiking.
Accommodation
As with all About Argyll's holidays, this will be in carefully selected accommodation, either a B&B or a hotel, as you prefer. You can rely on the quality of the accommodation that we find for you - its comfort, its food and the welcoming nature of those who run it.
Details of where you will be staying will be sent to you well in advance of your holiday.
Clothing and equipment
You will need to bring boots with a good tread that provide adequate ankle support, warm clothing, waterproofs (top and over-trousers) and a rucksack big enough for your spare clothes, a packed lunch and whatever else you normally like to have with you (binoculars, a camera, etc.). Boots are especially important. They don't have to be particularly heavy, but wearing ultra lightweight ones may mean your feet get wet and trainers definitely aren't adequate nor, on some of the rougher and steeper going, however short it may be, are they safe. 'Trekking poles' (or even one) can be very useful, especially for anyone with knee problems.
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Argyll:
Inveraray and Loch Fyne |
The price includes:
- The services of our well-qualified, well-informed and welcoming guide.
- Small groups - usually between 4 and 8.
- An attractive, well-thought-out walking programme; never more than 6 miles or 4 hours in a day, and mostly on paths or tracks - though paths may be wet and/or rough in places so lightweight walking boots are needed.
- An equally attractive programme of visits to places of interest to complement the walks. Some of these visits may themselves involve a short walk from the nearest available parking.
- Carefully-selected B&B, guest house or hotel accommodation (double/twin room), B&B plus picnic lunches on walking days.
- Transport by minibus and ferries, as needed, throughout your holiday and from / to Glasgow / Glasgow airport, at its beginning and end.
- Entrance fee to museums, if visited.
- Short evening get-togethers to set the scene for the next day's walking.
and most especially
- Personal care and attention in all that we do for you.
For full details on booking and insurance, please click here.
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About Argyll Walking Holidays
Letters Lodge South, Strathlachlan, Argyll PA27 8BZ, Scotland (UK)
Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1369 860272 • Email: