Argyll - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 115

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Ì Bowmore House Shore St T 01496 810324, W the
bowmorehouse.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
luxu ry to iletries. There's a complimentary laundry service
too. £130
Harbour Inn The Square T 01496 810330, W harbour
-inn.com. Smartly appointed and fairly expensive
maritime-themed restaurant serving sumptuous dishes

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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.
Lambeth Guesthouse Jamieson St T 01496 810597,
E [e-mail]. 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 the tiny
filling station, the door being around to the side. £94

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
You can see Islay geese just about anywhere on the island (see box, p.117) - 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 , which is an RSPB nature reserve . The nearby farm of Aoradh
(pronounced “oorig”) is run by the RSPB, and one of its outbuildings contains a visitor
centre , housing an observation point with 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. From the hide, you're more likely to see reed bunting, redshank, lapwing,
pintail, wigeon, teal and other waterfowl rather than geese.
The road along the western shores of Loch Gruinart to Ardnave is a good place to
spot choughs , members of the crow family, distinguished by their curved red beaks and
matching legs. Halfway along the road, there's a path of to the ruins of Kilnave Chapel ,
whose working graveyard contains a very weathered, eighth-century Celtic cross. The
road ends at Ardnave Loch, beyond which lie numerous sand dunes, where seals often
sun themselves, and otters sometimes fish offshore. Anyone interested in birding or
bushcraft should get in touch with the Islay Natural History Trust in Port Charlotte
(see opposite), who organize all sorts of adventures and activities.

Machir Bay
Without doubt the best sandy beaches on Islay are to be found on the isolated
northwest coast, in particular, the lovely golden beach of Machir Bay , which is
backed by great white-sand dunes. The 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).

Kilchoman
At the settlement of Kilchoman , set back from Machir Bay, beneath low rocky cliffs,
where fulmars nest inland, the church is in a sorry state of disrepair. Its churchyard,
however, contains a beautiful fifteenth-century cross, decorated with interlacing on
one side and the Crucifixion on the other; at its base there's a wishing stone that
should be turned sunwise when wishing. Across a nearby field towards the bay lies
the sailors' cemetery , containing just 75 graves of the 400 or so who were drowned
when the armed merchant cruiser SS Otranto collided with another ship in its
convoy in a storm in October 1918. The ship was carrying 1000 army personnel