The Armin Grewe Homepage
Picture of a young woman standing in a kitchen Our first day on Islay, and what a brilliant day. After a good nights sleep we woke up to brilliant sunshine. While my sister finished unpacking our luggage and food I went for a morning run out at Kilchoman and at Machir Bay (We had agreed a deal, my responsibility was the driving, hers the household. She wasn't insured to drive my car, so we didn't have much choice).

Later in the morning we had a relaxed breakfast before we went over to Ian and Margaret at Kilchoman House. We had a cup of tea and a chat with them, discussing the latest news and our plans for the day.

Having decided to stay in Kilchoman for the day and explore the immediate surroundings of Kilchoman we returned to our cottage for a quick lunch. At around 13:00 we put on our walking boots and left for the afternoon.
Picture of a beautiful bay with a sandy beach, hills in the distance Picture of a young woman sitting on a bench outside a row of cottages
Picture of a large house, a row of cottages and the ruin of a church with a beach in the background Past the remains of the old water mill we walked out into the hills on a path I knew from the Kilchoman to Kilchiaran walk during WalkIslay 2005. We quickly gained height and soon had great views over Kilchoman from Cnoc nan Uan (86m). Machir Bay was stretching out in the distance with the beach bright in the sunshine. We waved to Ian and Margaret when they went for a short walk from Kilchoman House up the hill to the church.

Looking west you could almost forget we were on an island, the Paps of Jura in the distance towering over the gentle hills of Islay with cattle from Rockside farm grazing.

Descending from Cnoc nan Uan we had a nice view down the tiny glen between the crags with Kilchoman Military Cemetery in the distance. On to the crags...
Picture of a view over hills with cattle, large hills (The Paps of Jura) in the distance Picture of a small glen (valley) extending out into the open

Once we had arrived on the top of the crags we had an amazing view over Kilchoman and the whole area to the west and north. Almost no clouds in the brilliant blue sky, clear view over the whole coastline and even up to the Isle of Mull in the north. You can also view a Quicktime VR panorama of the view from the Kilchoman Crags over the west coast of Islay:

Picture of a panoramic view over a wide shoreline
Picture of a woman sitting on rocks high above a beach We continued along the crags for a while before I decided to quickly walk to the summit of Turnaichaidh (which I didn't know of at the time, I just wanted to get up a bit higher to the top of the hill to be honest). Imke prefered not to join me and sat down on some rocks for a rest. She watched me on my way up and waved back when I waved down to her.

As I climbed up the hill I noticed a trigpoint, which I decided was going to be my destination. Once I arrived at the top with the trigpoint I had reached my goal: Fantastic views all round. To the west the views were similar to the ones further down, but to the east and south new views opened up:

Looking south-east I had a great panoramic view over Laggan Bay with the Big Strand:
Picture of a panoramic view over a wide bay with a sandy beach

As it was a quite clear day I was able to see quite far. To the north the Isle of Mull was visible, to the east the hills of Kintyre were in view behind the eastern hills of Islay. But one of the best views was to the south, where Ireland was visible quite clearly, probably one of the best views of Ireland I have experienced during my visits. I've tried to capture the view in the Quicktime VR panorama of the view over the Mull of Oa, Northern Ireland and the Rinns of Islay:

Picture of a view down a sea loch to another coast flanked by the shores of Islay
Picture of Armin on the top of a hill, open sea with a peninsula in the background Using the trigpoint as an improvised tripod I took a quick self portrait of me in front of the Mull of Oa and Northern Ireland, then it was time to head down the hill again to pick up my sister to continue the walk.

A variety of insects was buzzing around among the grass and other plants. I don't know if this one is any special, but at least the butterfly below left sat down long enough for me to take a picture of it.

We continued our walk along the crags, slowly working our way down closer to the beach. Near Crosprig we dropped down to the machair with its carpet of flowers. I tried to capture it in a picture, but found it quite difficult. I hope the picture below gives at least an idea of it.
Picture of a butterfly in high grass Picture of a machair with lots of yellow and white flowers
Picture of a view down some dunes on to a beach Through the machair we reached the dunes above the southern end of the beach. From here we had a great view over the beach and the shoreline stretching out to the south.

For the final leg of our walk we dropped down to the beach. We walked along the golden sandy beach, enjoying the wide open space and the brilliant sunshine. I think we only saw 4 or 5 other people on the beach, I think that almost qualifies as busy.

Back at the cottage we relaxed a bit before we had another salmon dinner of the salmon we had bought on the way to Islay the previous day. We then spent the evening chatting and reading until it was time for some late evening entertainment...
Picture of a wide beach with golden sand at a wide bay, two people on the beach close to the water Picture of a woman walking along a beautiful beach
If you are interested in more information about Islay, Colonsay and Jura you might also be interested in my Isle of Islay pages. There you will find many more pictures and further information about Islay, Jura and Colonsay.

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