Walking on Islay Sunshine
Friday, April 20 2007
The Islay Walkweek is entering the last day today and from what I have seen they must have had a wonderful week with some fabulous weather and sunshine and the occasional odd shower. I have been reading Armin's Blog every day and he gives a very detailed impression of the walks they did and what you can expect on the trips they made.
They started off on Saturday with the Lossit Walk, guided by Donald James MacPhee, which took them to Loch Ballygrant, Loch Allan and the Lily Loch and even managed to spot otters, buzzards and seals.
On Sunday the Giur-Bheinn (318m) was the challenge of the day and 40 walkers set of to tackle this steep climb in the north-east of Islay. The walk was guided by Lindy MacLellan and Bryony MacFarlane. Armin made a nice picture from an adder and they spotted some deer along the way.
Monday started off with glorious sunshine and excellent conditions for the Killinallan Walk, which took them from Killinallan to Gortantoid Point which is on the north-east side of Loch Gruinart and on the other side of the Giur-Bheinn which they climbed the day before. From what I read they had a great time. This part of Islay and the beaches are stunning and specially on a sunny day it's just magic to walk there.
The Loch to Loch walk (name invented by Armin) on Tuesday took the walkers back to the north-east of Islay where they passed Loch Leithen and Loch Drolsay to finally end up near Eallabus. According to Armin they had a very enjoyable walk with fantastic views.
Wednesday and Thursday the walkers crossed the Sound of Islay to discover the Isle of Jura. The Wednesday walk was originally planned to take them to Colonsay but due to the delays of the reconstruction works at Port Askaig the ferry wasn't able to enter Port Askaig. The Wednesday walk took them along the shores of the Sound of Islay offering nice views of Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain distillery on the other side of the Sound. The Thursday walk on the Isle of Jura started off with rain but soon turned out to become a very nice day. The group enjoyed their lunch in sunny weather surrounded by the Paps of Jura with stunning views towards the Kintyre peninsula on the east and the islands of Colonsay and Mull in the west.
At the time of writing the Friday walk still has to take place and will take them on the final trip in the woods around Bridgend and the Woollen Mill. The weather looks a bit more greyish on the webcam but I think they were very lucky to experience such excellent weather during the whole week. Thanks to Armin who was kind enough to update his blog during the week to keep us up to date of their whereabouts. He will probably have a lot to blog about when he returns home.
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