Argyll - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 114

SS Tuscania , carrying over two thousand American army personnel, was torpedoed by
a German U-boat seven miles offshore in February 1918. As the lifeboats were being
lowered, several ropes broke and threw the occupants into the sea, drowning 266 of
those on board. The monument also commemorates those who drowned when the
HMS Otranto was shipwrecked of Kilchoman (see p.118) in October of the same year.
The memorial is inscribed with the unusual sustained metaphor: “On Fame's eternal
camping ground, their silent tents are spread, while glory keeps with solemn round, the
bivouac of the dead.”
If you're driving, you can park in a car park, just before Upper Killeyan farm,
and follow the duckboards across the soggy peat. En route, look out for choughs,
golden eagles and other birds of prey, not to mention feral goats and, down on
the shore, basking seals; for a longer walk, follow the coast five miles round to or
from Kintra.

1

Bowmore
On the other side of the monotonous peat bog of Duich Moss, on the southern
shores of the tidal Loch Indaal, lies Bowmore , Islay's administrative capital, with
a population of around eight hundred. It was founded in 1768 to replace the
village of Kilarrow, which was deemed by the local laird to be too close to his own
residence. It's a striking place, laid out in a grid plan rather like Inveraray, with
the whitewashed terraces of Main Street climbing up the hill in a straight line from
the pier on Loch Indaal.

The Round Church
High St • Daily 9am-6pm • W theroundchurch.org.uk
Built in 1767 by Daniel Campbell, then owner of the island, the town's crowning
landmark is the Round Church , whose central tower looks uncannily like a lighthouse.
Built in the round, so that the devil would have no corners in which to hide, it's well
worth a look for its wood-panelled interior, lovely tiered balcony and big, central,
mushroom pillar.

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, Sun 4 daily;

25min); Port Charlotte (Mon-Sat 5-6 daily, Sun 3 daily;
25min); Port Ellen (Mon-Sat 10 daily, Sun 4 daily; 20-30min);
Portnahaven (Mon-Sat 6 daily, Sun 3 daily; 50min).

GETTING AROUND AND INFORMATION
Bike rental Bike rental is available from the post o ce at
the top of Main St (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat 9am-
12.30pm; £10/day; T 01496 850232).
Tourist o ce The Square, Main St (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.

ISLAY GEESE
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 . During this period, the geese dominate the landscape, feeding incessantly
off the rich pasture, strolling by the shores, and flying in formation across the winter skies.
In the spring, the geese hang around just long enough to snap up the first shoots of new
grass, in order to give themselves enough energy to make the 2000-mile journey to
Greenland, where they breed in the summer. Understandably, many local farmers are
not exactly happy about the geese feeding off their land, and some receive compensation
for the inconvenience.