Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ferry and with wonderful views over to the Paps of Jura,
though there's no doubt that this warm and welcoming hotel
could do with a lick of paint here and there. Both the
restaurant and bar are busy, convivial places any night of the
week, popular with local fishermen and tourists alike. The
restaurant serves a quality menu of seafood, while the snug,
low-ceilinged
Port Bar
(allegedly dating back to the sixteenth
century) is about as relaxing a place as you could wish for.
Restaurant: daily
noon-
2.30pm & 6.30-10.30pm; Bar:
daily 11am-11pm.
£125
Isle of Jura
Twenty-eight miles long and eight miles wide, the long whale-shaped island of
JURA
is
one of the wildest and most mountainous of the Inner Hebrides, its entire west coast
uninhabited and inaccessible except to the dedicated walker. he distinctive
Paps of
Jura
, so called because of their smooth breast-like shape, seem to dominate every view
off the west coast of Argyll, their glacial rounded tops covered in a light dusting of
quartzite scree. he island's name is commonly thought to derive from the Norse
dyr-oe
(deer island) and, appropriately enough, the current deer population of 6000
outnumbers the 180 humans 33 to 1; other wildlife to look out for include mountain
hares and eagles. With just one road, which sticks to the more sheltered eastern coast of
the island, and only one hotel, a couple of B&Bs and some self-catering cottages, Jura
is an ideal place to go for peace and quiet and some great walking.
6
Jura House
Five miles south of the ferry terminal • Daily 9am-5pm; tea tent June-Aug Mon-Fri • £2.50
Five miles south of the ferry terminal are the lovely wooded grounds of
Jura House
,
originally built by the Campbells in the early nineteenth century. Pick up a booklet
about the house at the entrance to the grounds and follow the path that takes you
down to the sandy shore, a perfect picnic spot in fine weather. Closer to the house
itself, there's an idyllic
walled garden
, divided in two by a natural rushing burn that
tumbles down in steps. he garden specializes in antipodean plants, which flourish in
the frost-free climate; in season, you can buy some of the garden's organic produce or
take tea in the
tea tent
.
Craighouse
Anything that happens on Jura happens in the island's only real village,
CRAIGHOUSE
,
eight miles up the road from Feolin Ferry. he village enjoys a sheltered setting,
overlooking Knapdale on the mainland - so sheltered, in fact, that there are even a few
palm trees thriving on the seafront. here's a shop/post o
ce, the island hotel and a
tearoom, plus the tiny
Isle of Jura distillery
, which is very welcoming to visitors and
offers free guided tours.
Jura distillery
Opposite the Jura Hotel • Guided tours Mon-Fri 11am & 2pm • Free •
T
01496 820601,
W
jurawhisky.com
Established in 1810 by the Campbells, the
Isle of Jura distillery
has endured a somewhat
chequered history. It went out of business in the early 1900s, before reopening in 1963 on
the premises of the then derelict distillery. It now produces five distinctive single malts,
with two notable success stories, the ten-year-old “Origin”, and the sixteen-year-old
“Diurachs” - you'll get to sample one or both of these on one of the free guided tours.
Corryvreckan Whirlpool
Between the islands of Scarba and Jura is the raging
Corryvreckan Whirlpool
(
W
whirlpool-scotland.co.uk), one of the world's most spectacular whirlpools, thought
to be caused by a rocky pinnacle some 100ft below the sea. Exactly how the whirlpool
