Islay and Jura
A day full of numbers and times – Glasgow to Jura and back
The Scottish Tourist Information Office guide, Christina, said it couldn’t be done – thought it would be tough, and then said it was possible after looking through ferry and bus timetables for us.
Back when George Orwell was writing his classic, ‘1984’, he said Jura (Island of Deer) was ‘un-get-ata-able’ one of the least inhabited, remote islands of Scotland’s West coast. He got there in 1948 to write his famous novel. We went there and got lots of memories of the beautiful island, visiting her southerly neighbour, Islay on the way.
The numbers – Jura is only 30 miles by 7, home to 200 people, and between 5 and 6,000 red deer. It is said to be home to one pair of otters for every three miles of its long coastline, and has hundreds of lochs – one for every day of the fishing year.
The times – the first ferry from Kennacraig to Port Ellen on Islay sails at 7.0am, and takes two and a half hours, the drive from Glasgow to the ferry at Kennacraig near the Mull of Kintyre took us 2hours 50 minutes, and the same back.
Islay is one of the largest islands in the Hebrides, with a history to match any: it was from Islay that the Lords of the Isles ruled much of Argyle and the islands; Robert The Bruce’s grand daughter is buried here, and at Kildaton Cross, close to Port Ellen, stands the oldest, unbroken, Celtic cross in existence.
More relevant to today’s visitors, Islay boasts a number of attractions: the famous golf links at Machrie tempt the golfer and his widow, at Bowmore, the MacTaggart Centre provides facilities for sports enthusiasts and for everyone on wet days – there is a swimming pool, a sauna and a fitness gym. Islay boasts no less than 8 distilleries, which export their produce to all corners of the world.
However, it was Jura we were aiming for, and so a 45 minute drive brought us to Port Askaig and the small ferry to Jura. The large island is one of the last wilderness areas in Europe, and has just a single track road from the ferry to the largest collection of houses at Craighouse.
Orwell lived and worked at Barnhill in the wilder, north of the island. It is a tribute to the power of Orwell’s creativity and drive that here, in this most isolated of places, uninhabited but for himself, he wrote the definitive dystopian novel, ‘1984’ which famously deals with a society constantly under surveillance and control.
To get there by ferry, contact Caledonian MacBrayne at www. calmac.co.uk or by air from Glasgow to Islay, go to http://www.ba.com/ Can it be done in one day? Yes, but one day, of course, does not do the place justice - we took several and we'll definitely go back for more. Islay and Jura are well worth the effort.
Robert L. Fielding
The Scottish Tourist Information Office guide, Christina, said it couldn’t be done – thought it would be tough, and then said it was possible after looking through ferry and bus timetables for us.
Back when George Orwell was writing his classic, ‘1984’, he said Jura (Island of Deer) was ‘un-get-ata-able’ one of the least inhabited, remote islands of Scotland’s West coast. He got there in 1948 to write his famous novel. We went there and got lots of memories of the beautiful island, visiting her southerly neighbour, Islay on the way.
The numbers – Jura is only 30 miles by 7, home to 200 people, and between 5 and 6,000 red deer. It is said to be home to one pair of otters for every three miles of its long coastline, and has hundreds of lochs – one for every day of the fishing year.
The times – the first ferry from Kennacraig to Port Ellen on Islay sails at 7.0am, and takes two and a half hours, the drive from Glasgow to the ferry at Kennacraig near the Mull of Kintyre took us 2hours 50 minutes, and the same back.
Islay is one of the largest islands in the Hebrides, with a history to match any: it was from Islay that the Lords of the Isles ruled much of Argyle and the islands; Robert The Bruce’s grand daughter is buried here, and at Kildaton Cross, close to Port Ellen, stands the oldest, unbroken, Celtic cross in existence.
More relevant to today’s visitors, Islay boasts a number of attractions: the famous golf links at Machrie tempt the golfer and his widow, at Bowmore, the MacTaggart Centre provides facilities for sports enthusiasts and for everyone on wet days – there is a swimming pool, a sauna and a fitness gym. Islay boasts no less than 8 distilleries, which export their produce to all corners of the world.
However, it was Jura we were aiming for, and so a 45 minute drive brought us to Port Askaig and the small ferry to Jura. The large island is one of the last wilderness areas in Europe, and has just a single track road from the ferry to the largest collection of houses at Craighouse.
Orwell lived and worked at Barnhill in the wilder, north of the island. It is a tribute to the power of Orwell’s creativity and drive that here, in this most isolated of places, uninhabited but for himself, he wrote the definitive dystopian novel, ‘1984’ which famously deals with a society constantly under surveillance and control.
To get there by ferry, contact Caledonian MacBrayne at www. calmac.co.uk or by air from Glasgow to Islay, go to http://www.ba.com/ Can it be done in one day? Yes, but one day, of course, does not do the place justice - we took several and we'll definitely go back for more. Islay and Jura are well worth the effort.
Robert L. Fielding
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