Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ulva oysters, alongside cakes and coffee. There's no accommo-
dation, but with permission from the present owners of the
café, you might be able to camp rough overnight for free.
Easter-Sept Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, June-Aug also Sun.
1
Isle of Staffa and around
Five miles southwest of Ulva, Staffa is one of the most romantic and dramatic of
Scotland's many uninhabited islands. On its south side, the perpendicular rockface
features an imposing series of black basalt columns, known as the Colonnade, which
have been cut by the sea into cathedralesque caverns, most notably Fingal's Cave . he
Vikings knew about the island - the name derives from their word for “Island of
Pillars” - but it wasn't until 1772 that it was “discovered” by the world. Turner painted
it, Wordsworth explored it, but Mendelssohn's Die Fingalshöhle (the lovely “Hebrides
Overture”), inspired by the sounds of the sea-wracked caves he heard on a visit here in
1829, did most to popularize the place - after which Queen Victoria gave her blessing,
too. The polygonal basalt organ-pipes were created some sixty million years ago when a
huge mass of molten basalt burst forth onto land and, as it cooled, solidified into
hexaganol crystals. The same phenomenon produced the Giant's Causeway in
Northern Ireland, and Celtic folk tales often link the two with rival giants Fionn mac
Cumhail (Irish) and Fingal (Scottish) throwing rocks at each other across the Irish Sea.
Treshnish Isles
Northwest of Staffa lie the Treshnish Isles , an archipelago of uninhabited volcanic islets,
none more than a mile or two across. The most distinctive is Bac Mór , shaped like a
Puritan's hat and popularly dubbed the Dutchman's Cap. Lunga , the largest island, is a
summer nesting-place for hundreds of seabirds, in particular guillemots, razorbills and
puffins, as well as a breeding ground for seals. The two most northerly islands, Cairn na
Burgh More and Cairn na Burgh Beag , have the remains of ruined castles, the first of
which served as a lookout post for the Lords of the Isles and was last garrisoned in the
Civil War; Cairn na Burgh Beag hasn't been occupied since the 1715 Jacobite uprising.
TOURS
ISLE OF STAFFA AND AROUND
Boat tours From April to October several operators
offer boat trips to Staffa and the Treshnish sles.
Long-established Turus Mara, based in Penmore ( T 01688
400242, W turusmara.com), sets out from Ulva Ferry and is
WHALES AND DOLPHINS
Watching whales, dolphins and porpoises - collectively known as cetaceans - is a growing tourist
industry in Scotland. The Moray Firth (see p.208) is one of the best places in the UK to watch
bottlenose dolphins , but the waters around the Inner Hebrides have, if anything, a wider variety
of cetaceans on offer. Although there are several operators who offer whale-watching boat trips
from Oban and Tobermory (see p.76), it is quite possible to catch sight of marine mammals from
the shore, or from a ferry. The chief problem is trying to identify what you've seen.
The most common sightings are of harbour porpoises , the smallest of the marine
mammals, which are about the size of an adult human and have a fairly small dorsal fin.
Porpoises are easily confused with dolphins; however, if you see it leap out of the water,
then you can be sure it's a dolphin, as porpoises only break the surface with their backs and
fins. If you spot a whale, the likelihood is that it's a minke whale , which grows to about 30ft
in length, making it a mere tiddler in the whale world, but a good four or five times bigger
than a porpoise. Minkes are baleen whales, which is to say they have no teeth; instead, they
gulp huge quantities of water and sift their food through plates of whalebone. Whales do
several things dolphins and porpoises can't do, such as blowing water high into the air, and
breaching, which is when they launch themselves out of the water and belly-flop down. The
two other whale species regularly seen in Hebridean waters are the killer whale or orca,
distinguished by its very tall, pointed, dorsal fin, and the pilot whale , which is even smaller
than the minke, has no white on it, and no throat grooves.
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search