Ardnave - Islay Walking Week April 2006

	Time was flying, suddenly it was Thursday already and the walking week almost over. Nevertheless I took the morning off from walking and did some Islay shopping at Islay House Square (e.g. Islay Ales) and in Bowmore. At lunchtime I drove over to the RSPB reserve to join the other walkers for the afternoon walk, where Iain MacPherson was going to take us around Ardnave. We shared cars to drive out to Tayovullin, starting point for the walk. First it was time for a bit of history: The old cottage (now used as nesting for birds) is the last building of a fairly large herring station which once existed here. Iain showed us a picture of a large number of buildings just behind the small bay which housed the herring station. It only existed for 10 years or so, then the herring moved on and it became obsolete.

	We continued along the beach from where we had good views over to Killinallan, Gortantaoid and Bholsa. See from here where we had walked two days earlier during our walk to Bholsa and Rhuvaal made the walk look even longer. It won't be there any more now, but when then came over another attraction for the walk: A large and impressive sandcastle with walls, towers, moats and everything else a castle needs. The sun breaking through the clouds provided nice and dramatic views over the beach, dunes and water.

	After while we rested on a grassy dune not far from the shore, enjoying views over Loch Gruinart, to Gortantaoid Point and to Nave Island. Refreshed we continued north until we reached Ardnave Point, from where we had a good view of Nave Island, the tiny island just north of Ardnave. It's less than a mile from Ardnave Point and can be seen very well from Islay. On Nave Island you can see the remains of a chapel with a special feature, a large chimney. The chimney is a much later addition though, it was added after the chapel was abandonded and was used for a facility to burn kelp.

	Now heading south west we had a nice view along the coastline towards Sanaigmore until we turned south inland. After stopping at an old lonely grave we started making our way back to Ardnave over the top of the dunes. After just over two hours we arrived back at the cars, having earned another two points for a WalkIslay mug on this walk. Later in the evening I attended a very informative illustrated talk by Dr Malcolm Ogilvie about 'Wild Islay' at the Islay Wildlife Information Centre in Port Charlotte. As I had some left before it started I took a few pictures of the view over the Port Charlotte Lighthouse in the beautiful warm evening sun with the Paps of Jura in the background. A good omen for the last day of WalkIslay 2006 the next day?

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