The infamous Corryvreckan whirlpool is brew whipped up between the isles of Jura and Scarba, where the westward stream running through the Gulf of Corryvreckan into the Atlantic meets the eastward-running eddy over rough ground. In rough weather it is deadly, in calm weather merely...
One travel writer displayed typical Scottish pride, if not ingenuity, by writing that Ailsa Craig was from a certain angle a perfect pyramid, ‘with this advantage over the pyramids of Egypt, but twice their height’. Ailsa Craig, the fairy rock, Paddy’s Milestone (so called because...
Not, as the name might suggest, situated in the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, but in Knapdale, Loch Stornoway is barely deserving of the title of loch at all. It is little more than a sandy bay on the west of the tongue...
Situated above the bay from it which it takes its name, Culzean Castle (pronounced Cull-ain) was built for the Earl of Cassillis by Robert Adam, the greatest architect Scotland has produced, between 1777 and the year of his death, 1792. Culzean is a castle built...
‘It’s a far cry to Loch Awe!’ The exact meaning of the old shout is in dispute, but it was probably a confident boast of the inaccessibility of Campbell territory, which includes this 23-mile-long loch. Loch Awe is studded with ancient timber dwellings, called crannogs, and...
A mere three miles long by one and a half wide – composed of Torridonian sandstone, curiously unrelated geologically to neighbouring Mull – Iona is richer in Christian association than any other Scottish Island. In 563AD St Columba left Ireland with 12 companions to come...
The island of Islay’s prosperity derives from whisky: roughly 4 million gallons proof are produced here each year, and distilling employs about 200 people. At one time the islanders were rewarded with duty free Scotch themselves, with unfortunate results. Drunk with due care and attention, however, Islay malts are...
Speculation continues concerning the derivation of the name Gigha (pronounced ‘gee-a’, with a hard ‘g’), but one suggestion is that it comes from old Norse and means ‘Island of God’. To discover for yourself if this is appropriate means taking the ferry from the Kintyre mainland across the Sound...
Cutting through the long tongue on the west coast which comprises Knapdale and Kintyre, the Crinan Canal links the Sound of Jura with Loch Fyne. It enabled ships to reach the Western Isles considerably sooner, and with less threat from the weather, than before: the...
The modern fame of this “ancient city by an ancient sea” is a holiday resort on the Firth of Clyde. Come the height of summer, the sprinkling of bathers seen here braving the waters will be augmented by families on the fortnights holiday and also...