Inhabited, west coast Scottish islands - progress report.

Back in May I posted my (very brief) report on Rona. I most likely won't be posting any more reports until after October. That's because I still have a few islands close to the Scottish west coast to visit before I move on to the Outer Hebrides. Various factors have prevented me from completing my visits: COVID, transport problems and health issues (including cataract operations). I could, at this point, move straight on to the Outer Hebrides but I’d rather complete the Inner and coastal islands first.

Which of these islands on my list remain unvisited? Well, I discovered recently that a small island, in Loch Linnhe just north of where I live, was bought and the owner has built (or renovated) a house on it and now lives there with his wife (maybe they bought it together?). I'm not sure how I'll get over to it but from enquiries I made, at Linnhe Marina, the owner does not seem to be too protective of his privacy and might well not object to me paying a brief visit to his island (if I can persuade, or pay, someone with a boat to take me over to it). The name of this island is Balnagowan.

Further up the west coast we have the very small Dry Island (otherwise known as Eilean Tioram). It sits on the south side of Gair Loch. From what I understand it's also private but it offers B&B and also has a small bunkhouse. It's also connected to the mainland by a kind of short floating bridge, so visiting this one should not be too difficult to arrange.

Moving still further north to Loch Ewe, we have the Isle of Ewe. This one will present more of a difficulty. From what I understand it is farmed by a single family but there is no ferry service which suggests they have their own boat or boats. I will need to get to Aultbea and make enquiries around the pier to see if it will be possible to get across to the Isle of Ewe for even just as very brief visit.

The last one to visit is Tanera Mòr in the Summer Isles - and it may not even be inhabited as I write this. From investigations it seems to be inhabited for a while and then abandoned to holiday accommodation a few years later. From what I understand, it is currently uninhabited apart from holiday makers (and there seems to be holiday accommodation development work in progress at the moment). However, given the regular change of it's habitation status, I will try to pay it a visit before the end of October 2025. There are tours from Ullapool and the Achiltibuie area which run trips out to the Summer Isles and I believe some of them actually land on Tanera Mòr (although I’ll need to check that).

Once those four have been visited then my bucket list tour of inhabited, west coast Scottish islands will be completed - apart from double checking that the ones I've skipped are indeed uninhabited apart from holiday makers. My checks to date have all confirmed that is the case - but there are a couple I'd like to double check on.

After that it's out to the Outer Hebrides. Although I've been to the Outer Hebrides many times, I realised, at the start of all this, that there were a few I’d not actually set foot on - so back in 2019 I took a trip out and made a point of making a brief visit to all of them (from Vatersay to Lewis and all between). However, just a few weeks ago I spotted that I might have missed one. After a bit of searching through my photographs and examining my maps, I concluded that I had actually visited this island without realising I had - and had, as a result, not taken any photographs of it. If I can find the money I may have to take another trip out to the Outer Hebrides just to correct that omission (any old excuse to go back out would be welcomed).

I'm also seriously thinking of splitting the Outer Hebrides into three or four sections rather than one post for each island. This is because there are many similarities with some of the islands such that there is not much difference between the geography, appearance and wildlife, so grouping them in this way will both simply save time and make sense.

 

P.S. Only a few hours after initally posting the above, I discovered that I might have missed another coastal island. This one is called Eilean dà Mhèinn and it is situated near the mouth of Loch Crinan, not far from where the Crinan Canal meets open water. From what I read, Eilean dà Mhèinn is similar to Balnagowan (mentioned above) in so far as it was until recent times uninhabited before someone bought it and decided to go and live on it. I will need to investigate this further by taking a drive down to Crinan and makeing enquiries. I'm already planning a circumnavigation of Loch Awe so it won't be too much bother to detour from Ford to Crinan before returning to Ford to complete my trip.