Kerrera - The North End Ferry

When you are in Oban there's no better way to spend a day than a walk on the island of Kerrera. In Book 1 (chapter 22) I describe three walks on the island: the South Ring walk to Gylen Castle, the North Ring walk to the Hutcheson Monument, and the climb to Carn Breugach, the summit of the island: walks illustrated in this map from the book.

The walks in the book have one thing in common: they all start from the Kerrera island ferry that departs from Gallanach, south of Oban. While the walk to Gallanach is only two miles, due to the busy, narrow road, it can be an unpleasant walk. So unpleasant that, on several occasions, I forked out six pounds to take a taxi from Oban to the ferry.

The Gallanach to Kerrera Ferry

Another way to get to Kerrera is the Oban to Ardentrive Marina ferry. In the past it was only available to boaters berthed at the marina. But a few years ago it started to be available to day-trippers wanting to walk the north end of the island, or have a bite at the Waypoint Restaurant. If you are staying in Oban it is a convenient way to get to the island, and you can book a seat online. Last July I had a few hours to spare in Oban, so I decided to try out the ferry, and also make a walk on the island. Being mid-summer the conditions were not ideal - in other word the bracken was tall and thick - as were the midges. What follows are some photos from that day on Kerrera.

The Ardentrive Ferry approaching Oban's North Pier

On the approach to Kerrera

The Hutcheson Monument on the hill above the marina

Ardentrive Marina - WWII flying boat hanger at the right

The climb to the Hutcheson Monument

Looking back to the marina - late July meant thick bracken, and even thicker midges

The Mull ferry entering Oban Harbour

The most historic site on Kerrera is the 8th century Christian cashel at the extreme north tip of the island. In July is is completely covered in bracken, so nothing is visible.

The next photo shows the cashel in May, when the bracken is dead and dried up.

Just below the cashel is the beautiful beach of Port a' Bhearnaig.

As I made my way back to the Marina I saw the Calmac ferry heading back to Mull. At ten round-trips a day it must be the most lucrative route in the world. The next photo shows the ferry passing The Dog Stone, where it is said Fingal tied up Bran when he went hunting. (Though I would think Fingal would want his dog with him when hunting.) The photo after that shows the ferry approaching Dunollie Castle.

Always wanting to set foot on a new island, I wandered down to the tidal crossing to the islet of Rubha a' Cruidh (cattle point), from where they once swam cattle to the mainland. The tide was too high to cross over safely. And although there were stepping stones, they were slippy and spaced far apart. Even if I'd been able to cross over, a gate barred access to the track on the far side which leads to the grand mansion that was built on the islet several years ago.

Stepping stones to Rubha a' Cruidh

Looking across to Dunollie Castle from the tidal crossing

After a couple hours of walking I returned to the marina. I had a few minutes before the ferry left, so I took a look at the Waypoint Restaurant. Unfortunately I did not have time for a pint.

Along with a few other day-trippers, and several yotties, I boarded the boat for the return to Oban. The ferry service was excellent, and next time I hope to use it in combination with having a meal at the Waypoint Restaurant. Next time you are in Oban be sure to take this ferry for a short (or long) walk on Kerrera - it will be time well spent. 

Return to Oban

Aird Laimisiadair

I just saw the Call the Midwife episode that was filmed on Lewis.  The scenes filmed at the Gearranan blackhouse village reminded me of one of the best short walk on Lewis, one that most tourists never make: the clifftop walk around the Aird Laimishader headland. 

I described the one-way hike to Laimishader from Gearrannan in the June 26, 2015 post, which you can read here. That is the best way to see the area, but it does involve a two-mile road walk back to Gearrannan. The easiest way to see it is the out-and-back hike from Borghaston; a beautiful three-mile hike to the headland and back described in Chapter 18 of Book 2.

What follows are photos taken during several visits to Laimishader, and from a sail past it; photos that span a period of 22 years, from 1997 to 2019.

Route of the walk from Gearrannan

Route of walk from Borghaston described in Book 2, Chapter 18

The original headland beacon at Aird Laimishader in 1997

The headland beacon in 2015 (now an IKEA tower)

Inland from the headland is Loch na- h-Airde. Anyone familiar with the prologue of Alasdair Alpin MacGregor's The Haunted Isles knows of the stepping stones that cross the stream here.

Loch na h-Airde - stepping stones at lower right

Stepping Stones - 1997

Looking out to the isles of Loch Rog

Old settlement site at Laimisiadar

Laimisiadar - once a monastery

St Ciaran's Well at Laimisiadar

A last look back at the headland

The Scarp Hostel

One of my favourite Hebridean islands is Scarp. I well remember several visits to Harris in the 1990s, standing at the slipway at Hushinish looking over to Scarp. I had no idea then how to get there, and neither did anyone I asked. Over a decade later, in the spring of 2004, I finally set foot on the island during a cruise on Hjalmar Bjorge. Since then I have been fortunate to have visited Scarp a half dozen times. To date I've not had the chance to spend a night on the island, something I'd dearly like to do. 

But between 1965 and 1971 several hundred travellers managed to do just that. During those six years there was a Gatliff Trust hostel on Scarp, truly the most remote hostel in Britain, even more remote (in terms of accessibility) than the Trust's hostel at Renigidale. To date I have not been able to identify where the Scarp hostel was. I am guessing in the village near the shop and phone box, but that is pure speculation. Brian Harper, a spring/summer resident of Scarp for many years, has no idea where it was. And neither does John Humphries, who has been involved in the Gatliff Trust for a long time.

The only information I can find on the Scarp hostel are the reports on its status published in the Gatliff Trust's yearly reports (which you can find here.) Put together, these reports provide a bare-bones sketch of the hostel's six-year life. What follows are excerpts from those reports relating to Scarp between the years 1965 and 1972. Placed between each year's report are photos from a cross-island walk made over the top of Scarp in 2013: sights those visitors to the hostel would have seen, and remembered.

The 1965 Gatliffe Trust yearly report has this first mention of Scarp: There is good prospect of our having next summer the use of old thatched houses in the islands of Scarp and Berneray.

The 1966 report states: The Scarp hostel opens. 75 bednights recorded. Scarp is harder to get to than Renigidale as the mailboat only makes the crossing every other day, and the twice-weekly bus to Husinish does not run on those days. Those who went found it very well worthwhile; for Scarp is not only beautiful in a rugged way but probably the most 'apart' of all islands still inhabited in the Hebrides and gives a very special welcome to visitors.

The 1967 report states: 95 bednights recorded. Scarp is more difficult to reach, because the bus service is scanty, hitching not to be relied on and the sea crossing infrequent and sometimes difficult. But those who are prepared to sleep out for a night on the way, or in sufficient numbers to meet the expense of special transport or a boat, and have several days to spare, can find it an even more rewarding adventure. A boy of 17 wrote "No one is likely to forget the strange feeling of having suddenly been washed up on the shores of a Tristan da Cunha."  The hostel had last summer rather more use than we had ventured to hope. An American hosteller commented: "Most enjoyable stay anywhere made more so by the hospitality of the MacLennans and the people of Scarp."

The last entry in the 'house book' for 1976 is a suggestion to advertise the Scarp hostel more widely, and include it in the S.Y.R.A. handbook. Just following this comment, but in different handwriting, is: "No please don't. Let it be the wonderful surprise to others as it was to us."

The 1968 report states: 107 bednights recorded. The Maclennans have left Scarp and live at West Tarbert, but Norman Macinnes has taken charge of the hostel. He and others however are probably leaving before long, and it may be that the island must become a sheiling lived in only during the summer. 

The 1968 report states: 60 bednights recorded. Angus and Joan MacLennan have retired to the mainland, and, sad as it is to see old people leave their island homes, no doubt it's best they should go where life is easier. Norman McInnes, who took over, is still there and we are glad to hear he'll be for another summer at least. Fewer hostellers reach Scarp than Howmore or Rhenigidale, but those that do find it very rewarding. A visitor wrote "To stay in Scarp hostel is a great privilege; the house is a living page from the folk history of Scotland." It's strangely moving to find this written of the most primitive hostel in Britain. 

Scarp from all we hear will be lived-all-the-year-round-in for a little while yet, but as those who live there get older it may not be possible or indeed right that they should remain much longer. If not it may still be possible for some of them, and some of you who love the island, and such bodies as the Schools Hebridean Society to keep it lived in in summer, a live sheiling, including the hostel.

The 1970 report states: 146 bednights recorded. The news from Scarp was not so good. We heard in October that part of the roof had fallen in, and the house was no longer habitable. We were not clear which part, or whether it was due to Act of God (wind) or act of cow (grazing) - the hostel is believed to be the only inhabited house in Britain (except perhaps flats in the Barbican in the City of London) that has grazing grass on the roof. 

At Easter however Michael Gerrish and two friends went over with a lot of polythene, found it was only the barn end that had fallen in, probably by act of sheep, not cow, and made the hostel part weatherproof for at any rate another summer, though perhaps after that the walls will fall in or out. Whilst more people are leaving the island, one or two are likely to remain all the year round, at any rate for some years. We are considering whether we should try to get the use of some other building.

The 1971 report states: 139 bednights recorded. In the Autumn of 1969 we heard that one end of the building had fallen in and was really no longer suitable for use. However, Myke Gerrish and friends going over in the Spring found it was the byre end, and did considerable first-aid. This survived for a while and the hostel was just usable. But the wind damaged the first-aid and, more important, the roof over the other end, the dormitory, began to collapse. We reluctantly had to recognize that the building could not be kept habitable and must be abandoned. However for 6 years it had provided something unique in Britain.

The 1972 report states: Scarp, as we said in our last letter, had to be abandoned, and we were unable to find any replacement there; indeed, the island is no longer inhabited all the year round. 

* * *

The last year-round residents of Scarp left in 1971. Today it is only occupied for several months in the spring and summer. If you ever get a chance to visit Scarp, do it. It is a large island with some challenging terrain; an island that takes several visits to completely see, and those are the best kind.