Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 22 on 10/08/2005.

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Time traveller

A journey to Gigha is like a journey to the past. Serena Allott reports

It takes just three hours to travel from Glasgow to the Isle of Gigha, but once on board the Tayinloan ferry, chugging across the icy waters of Gigha Sound, you will journey back in time.

Originally named Gudey ‘the Good Isle’ by the Norse King Hakon, this is the southern most of the Hebridean islands; its climate is warmer than that of its neighbours and its bays are famously beautiful.

When, after a 20 minute ride, the ferry deposits you at Gigha’s only village, Ardminish, you will be no more than three miles from anything the island has to offer which makes it the perfect place for those passing through.

You can safely cycle the island in a day (bikes for hire from the post office) as just one grey ribbon road bisects it and this is not over-troubled with traffic: you would have to go 70 miles to Oban to see a traffic light.

Or, with or without a guide, you could take one of the 12 off-road walks designed to interlink and lead you from the twin beaches at the north of the island to the spouting vane‚ a natural blowhole at Gigha’s southern most point. On the way you will cover terrain ranging from woodland to pasture to bracken and bramble, you will scale the island’s highest hill, Creag Bahn, which stands 100 metres high and affords views over the sea to the mountains of Ireland's Donegal to the south and the Hebridean islands Isla and Jura to the north.

All this you could do in a day, but Gigha's savage beauty is seductive: its tangle of rusty heather spiked with hea.....

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By Serena Allott

Section : Scottish Journeys

Page number : 28