In the last of our series on Scottish islands, John Hannavy turns to the Hebridean Isle of Harris
I know Lewis and Harris are really two parts of the same island, and now know that the isthmus [a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land masses, bordered on two sides by water] at Tarbert is not the dividing line between the two that I always assumed it was. But they are so different in cha...
By John Hannavy
from Issue 35 published on 15/11/2007
John Hannavy captures the beauty of the Lewis, the northern part of the largest Hebridean Island
Despite have travelled extensively throughout Scotland with my camera for more than 40 years, there are still countless places I want to visit before I check out. One of those, until recently, was Callanish, Scotland’s most famous and stunning group of standing stones. A visit to Lewis and Harris in...
By John Hannavy
from Issue 34 published on 30/08/2007
Colonsay and Oronsay are two bleak but beautiful islands just south of Mull on Scotland’s west coast. John Hannavy reports
It was an oasis of light against the darkening night sky – Caledonian MacBrayne’s ferry making an evening departure from Scalasaig Pier on the Hebridean island of Colonsay. Generating more electric light than all the houses on the island put together, the bright shape of the departing ship could sti...
By John Hannavy
from Issue 33 published on 22/06/2007
The Isle of Mull in Scotland's Inner Hebrides is more than just a coach ride to Iona. John Hannavy reports
Iona is the day-trip centre of the Hebrides. The CalMac ferry MV Isle of Mull leaves Oban mid-morning, every morning, packed with visitors bound for the tiny island. They arrive at Craignure on Mull and are met by a fleet of coaches which snake their way down the single track roads to the south west...
By John Hannavy
from Issue 32 published on 13/04/2007
John Hannavy visits Ulva, a tiny island off the west coast of Mull
My title this time comes from a line in a traditional Scottish poem by Thomas Campbell entitled Lord Ullin’s Daughter, a story of forbidden love, and the tragic efforts of the girl’s father to part the young couple.
A Chieftain to the Highlands bound Cries ‘boatman, do not tarry!
And I’ll give the...
By John Hannavy
from Issue 31 published on 16/02/2007
John Hannavy visits the beautiful island of Skye
To many people, the opening of the Skye Bridge a decade ago did something irreparable to Skye’s island status. Before 1995, there were only three ways of getting there – and they all required getting on a boat and sailing across a stretch of water.
Arriving on Skye across the bridge, it is almost p...
By John Hannavy
from Issue 30 published on 01/12/2006
Fiona Russell travels to the Hebridean island of Tiree to find out what makes it so special
Standing at the highest point on the Isle of Tiree it is difficult to believe I’m still in Scotland.
The tiny hill of Ben Hynish, at just 141 metres above sea level, stands in stark contrast to the mainland. From this viewpoint, however, I can see almost the entire island. I survey acre upon acre o...
By Fiona Russell
from Issue 30 published on 01/12/2006
John Hannavy visits the west coast islands of Islay and Jura
Islay and Jura are more directly reached from the mainland by the short sailing from Kennacraig on Kintyre, but they came into our itinerary as part of a round trip island-hopping voyage from Oban via Colonsay.
It was a relatively short sail south from Scalasaig on Colonsay to Port Askaig on Islay ...
By John Hannavy
from Issue 29 published on 25/10/2006
In the latest of island features by John Hannavy, we look at the Orkney Islands
A long drive to Scrabster prefaced our crossing of the Pentland Firth to Stromness, our port of entry into the Orkney Islands.
We sailed past Hoy, with its amazing rock stacks, which draw so many intrepid climbers to the islands, and in to the harbour at Stromness on the west of Orkney’s largest is...
By John Hannavy
from Issue 28 published on 20/09/2006
In the latest in his series on lesser known islands, John Hannavy visits Lismore
My first sight of the island of Lismore was from Duart Castle on Mull in early summer 1991 – a blue grey pencil of land just visible in the distance, and lying quietly beneath a spectacular low rainbow on Loch Linnhe.
Less than a week later, back in Oban, my young son and I were boarding the little...
By John Hannavy
from Issue 27 published on 09/06/2006
In the first of a new series tracing Sir Walter Scott’s relationship with the Scottish islands, Ian Mitchell looks at Shetland
In 1814 Scott accepted an invitation from the engineer Robert Stevenson to accompany him aboard a ship of the Northern Lighthouse Commissioners, on a tour circumnavigating Scotland and inspecting the condition of maritime safety installations.
An unforeseen outcome of the voyage was the appearance ...
By Ian Mitchell
from Issue 27 published on 09/06/2006
The first in a new series of island features. Written and photographed by John Hannavy
Across the ‘Atlantic Bridge’ over Clachan Sound to Seil Island, 10 minutes in what was probably the only traffic jam the island had ever experienced as water mains were replaced, and a short journey on the twisting B844 brought us down to the hamlet and harbour at Ellenabeich – itself once an island...
By John Hannavy
from Issue 26 published on 21/04/2006
In the latest of our series Ian Mitchell visits visits St Magnus Cathedral on Orkney
Sailing into Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, one building dominates the skyline, soaring above the medieval town centre, with its close, narrow streets and steeply–pitched roofs: St Magnus Cathedral.
St Magnus is one of the largest ecclesiastical buildings in Scotland, and also one of the oldest. ...
By Ian Mitchell
from Issue 26 published on 21/04/2006
In the latest in our series Ian Mitchell visits st Clement's Church, at Rodel, Harris
The turf around the grandest medieval building in the Western Isles is green and springy, but inside the great structure, the stone is grey, cold and very different from, say, the warm sandstone of Iona Cathedral.
Partly this is due to the grey, cold hardness of the rock beneath the turf, but partl...
By Ian Mitchell
from Issue 25 published on 17/02/2006
In the first of a new series on Scottish holy buildings Ian Mitchell visits Iona
The best time to see Iona Cathedral, or Abbey, is at sundown on a summer evening, when the wind of the day has died and the roar or rustle of the sea – depending on the strength and direction of the wind – has calmed down to a breathy whisper, if that.
The Abbey church might be empty, or it might h...
By Ian Mitchell
from Issue 24 published on 05/01/2006
The Inches are islands in the Forth close to Edinburgh. David McVey visited Inchcolm and found it soaked in history
You sometimes get the impression that all of Scotland’s offshore islands are found in Orkney and Shetland and off the West Coast. Certainly, most of them are.
Yet not only does the East Coast have islands of its own, but it can offer up a few genuine gems. Some of the best of them are found around ...
By David McVey
from Issue 21 published on 10/07/2005