Inhabited west coast Scottish islands - Ulva and Gometra

Ulva and Gometra are, most usually, described as lying off the west coast of Mull. I would argue that this is not totally true. As pointed out in my post about Mull, that island is so indented that it is not easy to find bits of it’s convoluted coast that line up with any of the four cardinal points of the compass - and that applies to the location of Ulva and Gometra. These two Islands are located in what I would call the northern side of Outer Loch na Keel (with Loch na Keel being a small section at the head of the loch). If, however, a line is drawn between Rudha nan Cearc (at the north western tip of the Ross Of Mull) and Rudh a Chaoil (at the western tip of the area known as Treshnish) then that line will run pretty much north to south - so the entrance to Loch na Keel does, I accept, look westward, but that is not the same as claiming that the coast contained within Outer Loch na Keel faces westward: some sections do - but some other sections face north and some face south and just about everything in between (and I did read one article which said that Ulva and Gometra lay off the south coast of Mull - so I am not alone in my view on this).
Ulva and Gometra, taken together, look a bit like a skinny Christmas tree in it’s tub, lying on it’s side, roughly east to west, with the top of the tree pointing east. Ulva is about seven and a half miles long and about one and a half wide (at it’s widest). The coastline of Mull closest to them is oriented in the same way (looking mainly south but a wee bit to the west). The area of water between Mull and Ulva/Gometra is called Loch Tuath. This is also not quite an accurate description as a sea loch is usually only open at one end - but Loch Tuath is open at both ends, allowing anyone with a boat to pass through from one end to the other. It’s probably been declared a loch as an arm of Mull, at Oskamull, reaches out towards Ulva and leaves a very narrow channel of water between them and, unless standing at this point, gives the wrong impression of being a normal sea loch open at the west but closed at the east. The private, on demand, Ulva ferry, understandably, uses these narrows to make it’s crossings between Ulva and Mull. This stretch of water, not much longer than it is wide, is called the Sound of Ulva and it separates Loch Tuath from Loch na Keel (which might be why Loch Tuath is considered a sea loch). In addition to that, another small and uninhabited island, Eilean Garbh, lies at the northern end of this sound and just about blocks the gap between Loch Tuath and the Sound of Ulva. This contributes to the impression that Loch Tuath is indeed a sea loch. The ‘tub’ that is Gometra, to the west of Ulva, is slightly more than a mile and a half square.

As already mentioned, Ulva is about seven and a half miles long and about a mile and a half wide. It is basically constructed from three hills of between 204 and 313 meters high (670 to 1026 feet) - although there are several other lower hills to the east of the island, all connected to the higher ones, forming what is basically a ridge running east to west. Ulva is, therefore, basically hilly and, on the whole, pretty rough and lacking anything but grass, heather and ferns etc. Having said that, the area on the east is a good deal flatter with only a couple of the lower hills providing any degree of elevation. This area also boasts several areas of woodland. In addition to that there are a couple of small areas of what appears to be trees (from the satellite view on my phone maps) along the north coast of the island. I did not spot those separated patches of trees as I headed west to Gometra - but that is probably because I was cycling at the time and keeping my eyes glued firmly to the track (see why below).
Another difference between this eastern area and the rest of the island is that it’s this area that contains the most number of buildings still standing (if needing renovation), along with the tracks connecting all of them. Outside of this area there is only one track on the rest of the island - which is the track that leads to the even more remote island of Gometra. Note that when I say ‘track’ I mean track - there are no roads on Ulva that you can drive on without a four wheel drive vehicle (of some sort) or a quad bike - and indeed there is no way for visitors to get a vehicle across to the island. This eastern end is also the only area inhabited at present - although that might well be changing. I visited in 2019 and at that time there was only one family, of about three or four people, living on Ulva. This family owned and ran the Boathouse Cafe and the ferry (which, more or less, delivers you to the front door of the cafe). Since then I’ve read that this family has sold (or let) the Boathouse and are heavily involved in a regeneration project seeking to make many of the uninhabited houses habitable again and encourage people to move to the island in the hope of helping it thrive once more. Note that the ferry is called by sliding a panel of wood on a shed on the jetty on Mull - so that a red painted panel is displayed rather than the white one. This is the sign to the ferry berthed on Ulva that it is wanted. Also note that in the past, Ulva was quite heavily populated, for a west coast island, with several crofting settlements scattered about the island. Given the (seeming) lack of tracks and paths leading to the south coast, I suspect all of those communities, except for the ones at the eastern end, were along the north coast where the current track to Gometra runs. There are, according to my maps, a scattering of standing stones on the south coast of Ulva - so that might indicate that while historic communities only inhabited the eastern section and the northern coast, more ancient peoples did live on the south coast (although those stones may have been erected to mark good landing spots or spots for ancient fishermen to avoid).  As I cycled, and then walked, to Gometra, I certainly passed many, many ruined highland cottages. The number of those ruins surprised me at the time - until I read the history of the island which was seriously depopulated during the Highland Clearances. It is well worth the effort to read about this sad period in the island’s history.
As mentioned above, the eastern end of Ulva is pretty low lying with a substantial amount of tree coverage (for a west coast island). These trees include a variety of species including scots pine, sitka spruce, juniper, larch, laburnum, witch elm and oak along with several others. Flowers and plants common to Ulva include; common bluebells, orchids, heather, sundews and a few others. The animal kingdom is represented by red deer, otters, stoats and hedgehogs with various birds also likely to be spotted. These include golden eagle. buzzard, woodcock, ravens, kittiwake and, along with a few others, shag. Although not thought to nest on Ulva, there’s a good chance of spotting a sea (or white tailed) eagle, given that there is now a large colony of them breeding on that side of Mull.  Around the coast there is also a good chance of spotting seals, dolphins, porpoises and maybe even minke and pilot whales. It seems that there are also a couple of very rare insects; the scotch burnet moth (also to be found only on Mull) and a rare, blue dragonfly. A more comprehensive list of all the flora and fauna to be found, or seen, on Ulva can be found online (including in Wikipedia - which is where I took much of the above on the flora and fauna from). There is one sandy beach located (I read) just to the east of the Boathouse. I did not visit it so I cannot say how nice a beach this is. I did not spot any other beaches along the north coast but there might be some along the south coast. If so then these are going to be very difficult to visit as doing so will require a hike over the hills without any paths to follow.
A visit to Ulva would seem to be worthwhile doing, especially given how easy it is to get to it from Mull. Exploring the eastern end might well provide for an enjoyable day and there is always the walk to Gometra to consider if you have the time. With more houses in occupation, some probably offering accommodation, then a visit will become a lot easier - and the same applies to Gometra.

Gometra, as will be clear from the above section, lies to the west of Ulva. It is separated from Ulva by a narrow channel running north to south. This channel is very narrow towards the northern end - and that, understandably, is where the bridge from Ulva is located. I did read, in one article, that it’s possible to walk across from Ulva to Gometra at low tide - but that was not the case when I visited, so I cannot confirm if that is true or not.
On crossing the bridge you are faced with a steep hillside, while the track turns south. This hill runs parallel to the channel between the two islands. Towards the south, the track eventually turns west and heads over a shoulder of the ridge (although Torr Mor, to the south of the track, is probably considered a separate hill). To the west of this ridge is another deep glen, also running north to south, which if much deeper might have split Gometra into two separate islands. Beyond that lies the bulk of Gometra which is mainly a hill, also called Gometra, and it’s satellite summits (of which it looks as if there are quite a few). More than that I can’t really say as circumstances only allowed me a brief visit over the bridge so that I could tick it off my bucket list.
Ferry schedules can always change so it is best to check as close to using one as is possible. At the time I went over to Ulva the ferry ran between 9 am and 5 pm. I had hoped to get along the Gometra track far enough to get to the top of the first ridge so that I could see into the glen to the west of this ridge and then further west towards Gometra (the hill). I also figured the track on Ulva was about eight miles long (given all the twists, turns, ups and downs) before it reached the bridge to Gometra. I decided that it might be pushing things a bit to manage all this on foot and get back to the Boathouse in time to catch the last ferry to Mull. In view of this I decided to take my bike (stored in the back of my van) over to Ulva and cycle to Gometra and then, hopefully, along the Gometra track to where it started to climb over the ridge (which, on the map, looked a bit too steep for me to cycle up). The plan, at this point, was to leave the bike and walk up the hill until I felt I’d gone as far as I’d hoped to. My plans went wrong from the start! A lot of the tracks around the Boathouse are marked - but either the one to Gometra wasn’t or I missed it. I ended up on the wrong track and then ended up carrying my bike up a steep slope and over very rough, uncultivated fields, and fences, before finding the Gometra track. That lost me a bit of time. I had seen a couple of photos of the Ulva track and thought it looked as if it would be fine for cycling on. Not so! There were bits that were fine but much of it was either lumpy (with slabs of rock sticking through) or littered with very small broken bits of stone which, especially going up a slope, was very difficult to cycle on - and there were frequent hilly bits - all of which regularly forced me off my bike. The going was so slow that I eventually abandoned my bike about halfway and walked the rest. This lost me even more time. It was, therefore, about noon by the time I reached the bridge to Gometra and I decided it was best just to cross the bridge and have lunch before heading back to the Boathouse. With no accommodation on the island (at that time, anyway), it was important to make the last ferry - or it would be a night spent outdoors for me! This meant I was able to tick Gometra off my bucket list - but without seeing more than a tiny wee bit of it. As it turned out I made it back to the Boathouse about 3 pm - so I’d actually had enough time to go a bit further into Gometra than I’d managed but I was too afraid to take that chance. I’d made it to Gometra so I settled for that. As a result of the above, I was forced to resort to the Internet for what I formation I have on Gometra. Note that a fitter, experienced off-road cyclist, with a proper off-road bike, might have managed to cycle the track to Gometra without any problems - but it was just too difficult for me.
Although seemingly lacking in much of the way of facilities (including electricity and gas), Gometra has a bothy which sleeps two (which also seems to be lacking in facilities normally expected, these days). The island also appears, these days, to offer more accommodation than was once the case. All of the houses are located on the south coast just east of Gometra House, which must be between two and three miles from the bridge. Being able to stay overnight, somewhere on either Ulva or Gometra, would certainly help in exploring both islands - especially Gometra given that it is even more remote than Ulva. At the same time I did read one Internet article which seemed to suggest that Gometra did not seem to be welcoming of visitors. This did not seem to be because of interactions with residents but more because of locked gates and signs which seemed to be trying to restrict access to certain areas. I suspect that this might be down to the current owners of the island not being aware of Scotland’s ‘right to roam’ laws. This, as far as I can understand, is a collection of Scottish laws which basically allow anyone to go wherever they want by foot or bike (but not by any motorised vehicle). The exceptions are, obviously, private accommodation, a clearly cultivated garden and areas clearly being used to grow crops. Many incomers are not from Scotland and are not aware that our trespass laws are not the same as elsewhere in the UK (or maybe they just don’t accept how these laws impact on what they see as their private property and set out to impose what they want rather than what the law demands?).
After the track drops down to the other side of the ridge, mentioned above, it continues along the south coast of the island until it reaches the collection of houses where all permanent inhabitants live. Up until not long ago there was only one permanent resident but the current owner seems to have had some of the abandoned houses renovated and either sold or let out (I don’t know which) to those wanting to give remote island life a try. A short distance further on is Gometra House, which the current owner of the whole island has also had renovated and lives in when on the island. From what I can see the track continues on to the western tip of the island - but I’ve no idea how good this track is. Is it clearly seen and able to be both walked or cycled on - or walked on only?
Gometra is your typical, hilly, wild, rugged and uncultivated west coast island. When I say uncultivated I mean ‘these days’. It seems the monks from Iona used it to grow and store grain to help support their lives on Iona. Given the rough topography of Gometra, I suspect that this cultivation was along the coastal strip west of where the houses are currently located and then up the west coast, as those areas appear to be lower lying than the rest of the island. These days, any cultivation seems to be restricted to private gardens belonging to the inhabitants, where vegetables are probably grown to help support their lives. A couple of the articles I read indicated some fine sandy beaches - but I was unable to find many photographs of these. I did find a photograph of one, which was immediately to the west of Tor Mor, near the houses - but it did not look all that fantastic (although that might be because it was not from an angle to show the beach at it’s best). There may be other good sandy beaches scattered around the island but I cannot state that for a fact. For once, the famous online encyclopedia did not list the flora or fauna to be found on Gometra but I did read in other articles that there were red deer, sheep, cattle (including Highland), pigs, horses and wild goats. I could find nothing about the flora to be found - so I suspect there is nothing unusual. The waters around Gometra will, as you’d expect, support the sea life also to be found around Ulva. The island is manly lacking in trees, as is common on these islands - but there do appear to be some small wooded areas around Gometra House and the other habitations. The satellite map view, and some photographs, indicated a mixture of native broadleaf and pine trees. There are also a couple of duns and a fort indicated on the map - but I can’t say if they are worth the effort visiting or not.
Gometra is very difficult to get to and I’m not sure if doing so is worth the effort as there does not appear to be anything special to see. Exceptions to this include seeking to tick another island off a bucket list or have a day (or a week or a year or more) off grid. However, as mentioned above, accommodation being available will make visiting Gometra less of a mission.

As always, this post ends with a selection of photographs taken during my visit.

 

The above photo was taken from the jetty on Mull looking across to Ulva and the Boathouse Cafe. I only included this shot to show the tree coverage and how low lying that part of Ulva is.

The above shot is of the Boathouse Cafe.

The photo above is of one of the many houses near the Boathouse. This house looks fine but I'm sure it was unoccupied and awaiting renovation when this picture was taken. The photo also shows the variety of trees to be found on Ulva.

The above shot was taken about half way along the track to Gometra. It gives some idea of the condition of the track (which was not too bad at this point). The track had also climbed a bit to reach this point and I hope the picture gives some idea of this. This is the spot where I decided to abandon my bike (in the centre of the picture) and continue on foot.

The above photo is one of the many ruined cottages along the track to Gometra.

The above photo is of the last house still standing (as far as I could see) on the way to Gometra. I'm pretty sure that this house was unoccupied at this time - and, given how far west of the Boathouse it is, will probably remain so for quite a time. I figure this was taken at Bearnus and if so then the hill rising up behind the cottage is Beinn Chreagach, the highest hill on Ulva at 313 meters.

The above shot is of the western end of Ulva (foreground) and the eastern end of Gometra with the bridge between them.

The above photo is also of Ulva (foreground) with Gometra to the right, along with what I beleieve is the remains of a previous bridge linking the two islands. I only include this shot to give an indication of the channel between the two islands to the south of the bridge.

The above photograph was taken on Gometra looking back at the western end of Ulva.

The above shot was taken on Ulva (foreground) looking across the northern end of the channel to the north eastern tip of Gometra. This photo shows how close to the northern end of the channel the bridge is (as it was taken very close to the bridge).

The above photo was taken on Gometra looking along the track running south, into Gometra. The photo also gives an idea of the steep hill to the west, which prevents easy access to the island.

The photo above was taken on Goemtra (at the bridge). It is looking across the channel towards the north western tip of Ulva with Mull beyond.

The above photograph was taken from Mull (near Kilninian on the north side of Loch Tuath). It is looking south, and a wee bit west, through the channel between Ulva (left) and Gometra (right).