Islay's Claggain Bay - A sheltered little Paradise

Claggain Bay on Islay is not a place where lots of tourists go to. The most tourists come as far as Ardbeg Distillery and some of them continue to visit Kildalton Cross and Chapel and only a few keep driving on towards Ardtalla Farm. And to be honest, the road isnt built for a lot of tourists but this part of Islay is particularly beautiful and quiet. Deer are spotted easily when you drive from Kildalton to Ardtalla, and Ardtalla itself offers a wonderful walk along Rubha Liath towards Proaig offering wonderful views over the Sound of Islay towards Kintyre and Jura.

On our first trip during our honeymoon I made this picture from Claggain Bay and when I showed it to collegues at work they couldn't imagine it was in Scotland. It is the picture I have added here and indeed it looks tropical. The weather was amazing, blue skies and a good 22 celsius made it perfect. The beach at Claggain Bay is wonderful, this must be the place where they invented the word tranquility. The sand on the beach is white and on the higher part covered with the most beautiful pebbles. They say that when you take a pebble with you, you will come back to Islay. So we did and up till now it worked for us.