Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and distinction. Guests are also free to
ava
il themselves of
the panelled dining room and parlour.
£80
Royal Hotel
Main Street
T
0800 151 3701,
W
machrihanishdunes.com.
New, high-end hotel that
sits well with the recent redevelopment of the
harbour-front area, and injects a big dollop of colour into
this otherwise dull street. The supremely comfortable
rooms are mostly furnished in bold tartan colour schemes,
with deep armchairs, big beds with thick
duvet
s and fluffy
pillows, and a host of other neat touches.
£130
EATING AND DRINKING
Black Sheep Pub
Main Street
T
0800 151 3701.
The
Royal Hotel
's pub is by far the most enjoyable watering hole
in town, with seating arranged around a shiny, semi-
circular bar, in addition to some outdoor tables overlooking
the harbour. The eponymous Black Sheep cask ale trumps
all other ales here.
Daily noon-1am.
Café Bluebell
6 Hall Street
T
01586 552800.
Simple-
looking but warm and welcoming café near the tourist
o
ce offering a terrific selection of light snacks (soups,
sandwiches, sausage rolls), as well as a gut-busting all day
breakfast
6
(£7.50).
Tues-Sat
9am-4.30pm,
Sun
11am-4pm.
Southend and around
he bulbous, hilly end of Kintyre, south of Campbeltown, features some of the
peninsula's most spectacular scenery, interspersed with large swathes of Lowland-style
farmland.
SOUTHEND
itself, a bleak, blustery spot, comes as something of a
disappointment, though it does have a golden sandy beach. Below the cliffs to the west
of the beach, a ruined thirteenth-century chapel marks the alleged arrival point of St
Columba prior to his trip to Iona, and on a rocky knoll nearby a pair of footprints
carved into the rock are known as
Columba's footprints
, though only one is actually of
ancient origin. Southend also marks the end (or start) of the 89-mile long Kintyre Way.
Sanda Island
A couple of miles out to sea from Southend lies
Sanda Island
, which contains the remains of
an ancient Celtic chapel, two crosses, a holy well, an unusual lighthouse comprised of three
sandstone towers and lots of seabirds, including Manx shearwaters, storm petrels and pu
ns.
Mull of Kintyre
Most people venture south of Campbeltown to make a pilgrimage to the
Mull of Kintyre
,
made famous by the mawkish number-one hit by sometime local resident Paul
McCartney, with the help of the Campbeltown Pipe Band. It's also infamous as the site of
the RAF's worst peacetime accident when, on June 2, 1994, a Chinook helicopter on its
way from Belfast to Inverness crashed, killing all 29 on board. A small memorial can be
found on the hillside, not far from the
Gap
(1150ft) - after which no vehicles are allowed.
he Mull is the nearest Britain gets to Ireland, just twelve miles away, and the Irish
coastline appears remarkably close on fine days. here's nothing specifically to see, but the
trek down to the lighthouse, itself 300ft above the ocean waves, is challengingly tortuous.
Isle of Islay
he fertile, largely treeless island of
ISLAY
(pronounced “eye-la”) is famous for one thing -
single-malt
whisky
. he smoky, peaty, pungent quality of Islay whisky is unique,
recognizable even to the untutored palate, and all eight of the island's distilleries will
happily take visitors on a guided tour, ending with the customary complimentary
tipple. Yet, despite the fame of its whiskies, Islay still remains relatively undiscovered,
especially when compared with Arran, Mull or Skye. Part of the reason may be the
expense of the two-hour ferry journey from Kennacraig on Kintyre. If you do make the
effort, however, you'll be rewarded with a genuinely friendly welcome from islanders
proud of their history, landscape and Gaelic culture.
