Argyll - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 83

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also hire tents and sleeping bags. £6.50 /person
Iona Hostel Lagandorain T 01681 700781, W iona
hostel.co.uk. Terrific hostel located to the north of the
island, with impeccable green credentials, rooms with
bunks sleeping two to six people, and a main living space
filled with lovely wooden furniture, a wood-burning stove
and with views out to the Treshnish Isles. To reach it, follow

the road past the abbey for half a mile. Dorms £19.50
Martyr's Bay Restaurant T 01681 700382. A self-
service canteen by day, a fully fledged restaurant come
evening; either way, the tourist hordes invariably pack
this place out for steaks and seafood. Lunch dishes like
haddock and chips (£9.95) and baked potato with haggis
are worth a punt. Daily 11am-11pm.

Isle of Coll
Roughly thirteen miles long and three miles wide, the fish-shaped rocky island of COLL ,
with a population of around a hundred, lies less than seven miles of the coast of Mull.
For the most part, this remote island is low lying, treeless and exceptionally windy, with
white sandy beaches and the highest sunshine records in Scotland.
Like most of the Hebrides, Coll was once ruled by Vikings, and didn't pass into
Scottish hands until the thirteenth century. In the 1830s, the island's population
peaked at 1440, but was badly affected by the Clearances, which virtually halved its
population in a generation. Coll was fortunate to be in the hands of the enlightened
MacLeans, but they were forced to sell in 1856 to the Stewart family, who raised the
rents, forcing the island's population to move wholesale from the more fertile southeast
to the northwest coast. However, overcrowding led to widespread emigration; a few of
the old crofts in Bousd and Sorisdale, at Coll's northernmost tip, have more recently
been restored. From here, there's an impressive view over to the headland, the Small
Isles and the Skye Cuillin beyond. The majority of visitors to Coll stay for a week in
self-catering accommodation, though there are hotels and B&Bs on the islands, which
should be booked in advance - as should the ferries.

Arinagour
The ferry docks at Coll's only real village, Arinagour , whose whitewashed cottages line
the western shore of Loch Eatharna, a popular safe anchorage for boats. Half the
island's population lives in the village, and it's here you'll find the island's hotel and
pub, post office, churches and a couple of shops; two miles northwest along the
Arnabost road, there's even a golf course. The island's petrol pump is also in Arinagour,
and is run on a volunteer basis - it's basically open when the ferry arrives.

The Breachacha castles
On the southwest coast there are two edifices, both confusingly known as Breachacha
Castle , and both built by the MacLeans. The older, at the head of Loch Breachacha,
is a fifteenth-century tower house with an additional curtain wall, now used by
Project Trust overseas-aid volunteers. The less attractive “new castle”, to the
northwest, is made up of a central block built around 1750 and two side-pavilions
added a century later, now converted into holiday cottages. It was here that
Dr Johnson and Boswell stayed in 1773 after a storm forced them to take refuge en
route to Mull. Much of the surrounding area is now owned by the RSPB, in the hope
of protecting the island's corncrakes.

Ben Hogh
For an overview of the whole island, and a fantastic Hebridean panorama, you can
follow in Johnson's and Boswell's footsteps and take a wander up Ben Hogh - at 339ft,
Coll's highest point - two miles west of Arinagour, close to the shore. On the summit
is a giant boulder known as an “erratic”, perilously perched on three small boulders.