Port Charlotte

Monday 17th April 2017

After the rain that I had endured the day before this walk, it was a little frustrating to wake up to clear weather on a day that I was going to spend the greater part travelling to the Isle of Islay. The first bus from Inveraray, where I had spent the weekend, wasn’t until eleven a.m. so I wandered around the town while the weather gradually improved until by the time the bus left Inveraray the sun had finally come out revealing a gorgeous day’s weather. This was rather annoying when I was stuck on a bus and later on a ferry, but if you plan a holiday, in Britain, months in advance, you are gambling on the weather being good on the days you want. This time I was unlucky. When I arrived at the Kennacraig Ferry Terminal, the boat was waiting for me and I immediately had that thrill of going overseas even if it was only on a two hour ferry journey. It reminded me of going to the Outer Hebrides two years ago and made me want to return to that wind-swept chain of islands.

On arriving at Port Askaig on the Isle of Islay I caught the bus across the island to the far side of Loch Indaal arriving at the Port Charlotte Youth Hostel at four o’clock. With an hour to kill before the hostel opened I took advantage of the good weather and wandered north up the coast of Loch Indaal. It was great hopping around on the rocks beside the sea in the bright sunshine while across the bay the town of Bowmore could be seen in front of the low hills of east Islay, but the hills that were dominating the view were not on Islay. The Paps of Jura, on the neighbouring island, towered over everything on Islay and were constantly drawing my eye and tempting the foot to climb, beckoning to me. Slowly I made my way up the coast and around the lighthouse on Rubh’ an Dùin until eventually I decided that it would be foolhardy to attempt to walk all the way up the coast to Bruichladdich.

Climbing up to the road I returned to Port Charlotte where I visited the village store to get something for dinner before going back to the youth hostel where I could sign in. Since the weather was so good I came back out of the hostel to try to make the most of it and to attempt to follow a walk in a leaflet produced by Footprint. This describes eight walks on the Isles of Islay, Jura & Colonsay, and one of them is entitled ‘Port Charlotte, Islay’. Starting from the hostel I set off back along the road to the point where I had joined it after walking up the coast earlier, beside the house, Tigh na-Greine. Turning inland I headed up a lane that was delightfully lined with celandines and primroses until just after a house marked on the Footprint map as Lorgbaw I turned left off the lane.

The views behind me over Loch Indaal continued to be spectacular, but my mind was now drawn to the confusing map that didn’t seem to match what I was seeing on the ground. The directions mention the remains of Lorgbaw, but the house I had just passed did not look ruined and the hill that it wanted me to cross was a ploughed field. Following the field boundary, rather than walking across the field, I came to the point where there should have been a stile, ‘at a fence/wall junction’. As I made my way beside the fence looking for the right point to cross, I wished that I’d put my gaiters on as the ground was very boggy underfoot. Eventually I crossed at a gate into an undeveloped field that was even boggier than the previous field as I slowly made my way uphill towards the top of Octomore Hill.

I couldn’t say that I was enjoying this walk so far as the ground was horrendously boggy, there was no path anywhere and the stiles that were marked on the map were nowhere to be found. It is possible that there have been some changes in this area since this guidebook was printed, but I had no confidence in its quality. At the top of Octomore Hill the views over Port Charlotte and across Loch Indaal were just as good, if not better and certainly more extensive, than they had been from the shore. As I made my way slowly down the southern slopes the ground became even boggier so that by the time I reached the Abhuinn (sic) Gearach the bottom half of my trousers were soaked. It was a relief to finally reach the Kilchiaran road where an easy descent brought me back into Port Charlotte.

It was frustrating that the best weather of the whole week should be when I was unable to make the most of it, but once I did eventually reach Port Charlotte I did try to enjoy the weather as much as I could even though the walk that I did was horribly wet underfoot. The highlight of this day was the views that I had of the Paps of Jura, firstly from the ferry and then from Port Charlotte, much further away. The views were stunning and extensive as I could not only see across the whole of Islay and towards Jura, but southwards the coast of County Antrim in Northern Ireland could also be seen. Despite this good weather being very short-lived, it was great to experience it on this magical island that I had only just arrived on and where I would now spend the next three days. I could hardly wait.