The Oa with the American Monument - Islay Walking Week April 2004

All too soon it was time for the last walk of the Islay Walking Week 2004. We met in Port Ellen from where we drove out to Kinnabus, starting point for our walk on The Oa. Gus Keys was our walk leader for this walk. Having parked our cars near Loch Kinnabus we made our way past Kinnabus Farm into the hills.

	We saw an old well and the remains of a lime kiln on our way to the cliffs on the shore. As we were on an RSPB reserve and had Gus as a guide we also saw lots of birds, choughs and even an eagle to name a few. Unfortunately visibility was quite low, so we weren't able to see Ireland or Kintyre when we arrived at the cliffs overlooking the south shore.
Along the cliffs we continued west towards the American Monument, which we were soon able to make out in the distance. After a while we arrived at the monument, where it was time for a well earned lunch break (You can read more about the background for the monument and its history on my American Monument page). Refreshed we continued along the impressive cliffs on the west of the Oa, unfortunately visibility remained poor, but the cliffs were impressive nevertheless. Once we were at Lower Killeyan we turned away from the coast to return to our cars at Kinnabus. A very nice walk and a very nice walking week was over.