Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
BOWMORE
By bus
Buses stop on the main square, which, strangely
enough, is called The Square.
Destinations
Port Askaig (Mon-Sat 6-8 daily, 4 on Sun;
25min); Port Charlotte (Mon-Sat 5-6 daily, 3 on Sun; 25min);
Port Ellen (Mon-Sat 10 daily, 4 on Sun; 20-30min);
Portnahaven (Mon-Sat 6 daily, 3 on Sun; 50min).
GETTING AROUND AND INFORMATION
Bike rental
Bike rental is available from the post o
ce at
the top of Main Street (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat
9am-12.30pm; £10/day;
T
01496 850232).
Tourist o
ce
The Square, Main Street (April-Oct
Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm, Sun noon-3pm; Nov-March
Mon-Fri 10am-3pm;
T
01496 810254). The staff here can
help you find accommodation anywhere on the island and
also on Jura.
6
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Ì
Bowmore House
Shore Street
T
01496 810324,
W
thebowmorehouse.co.uk.
Run by an amiable couple,
this grand-looking house, positioned on the main road
entering the village, accommodates five fabulous rooms
exquisitely furnished in different styles, but all with plush
carpets and plump beds, as well as sparkling bathrooms
replete with luxur
y toil
etries. There's a complimentary
laundry service too.
£130
Lambeth Guesthouse
Jamieson Street
T
01496
810597,
E
lambethguesthouse@tiscali.co.uk.
Just off
Main Street, this is a jovially run guesthouse with six,
modestly sized but impeccably prepared en-suite rooms. A
little tricky to find as there's no sign, but it's next t
o th
e tiny
filling station, the door being around to the side.
£94
Harbour Inn
The Square
T
01496 810330,
W
harbour-inn.com.
Smartly appointed and fairly
expensive maritime-themed restaurant serving
sumptuous plates of food like halibut, salmon and cod
poached in a fish bouillon with saffron potatoes
(
£
21.50). Alternatively, you can warm yourself by a peat
fire in the adjoining pub, where they also do lunchtime
bar snacks.
Daily noon-2pm & 6-10pm.
Loch Gruinart
Aoradh visitor centre
Seven miles north of Bridgend on the B8017
•
Daily 10am-5pm • Free •
T
01496 850505,
W
rspb.org.uk/lochgruinart
Between mid-September and the third week of April, it's impossible to miss the
island's staggeringly large wintering population of
Greenland
barnacle
and
Greater
White-fronted geese
. You can see the geese just about anywhere on the island
- there are an estimated 15,000 white-fronted and 40,000 barnacles here (and
rising) - though they are usually at their most concentrated in the fields between
Bridgend and Ballygrant. In the evening, they tend to congregate in the tidal mud
flats and fields around
Loch Gruinart
. he nearby farm of Aoradh (pronounced
“oorig”) is run by the RSPB, and contains a
visitor centre
, with an observation point
that has telescopes and a CCTV link with the mud flats; there's also a hide across
the road looking north over the salt flats at the head of the loch, though you're more
likely to see ducks than geese.
Kilchoman
Without doubt the best sandy beaches on Islay are to be found on the isolated
northwest coast near the village of
KILCHOMAN
, in particular, the lovely golden beach
of
Machir Bay
, which is backed by great white-sand dunes. he sea here has dangerous
undercurrents, however, and is not safe to swim in (the same goes for the much smaller
Saligo Bay, to the north), but the beaches are still lovely to walk across.
Port Charlotte
Founded in 1828 by Walter Frederick Campbell, and named after his mother,
PORT
CHARLOTTE
was originally set up to provide housing facilities for the workers of the
former Lochindaal distillery, which eventually closed in 1929. It's generally agreed to
be Islay's prettiest village, its immaculate whitewashed cottages clustered round a sandy
cove overlooking Loch Indaal.
