Jura

I went to Jura in April and I really liked the place a lot, especially the staff at the Jura Hotel who are incredibly friendly and helpful. This hotel is opposite the Jura distillery and so it’s not that far to go for a tour, although visitors should try to book ahead.

Visitors need a guide to go to the Corryvreckan lookout – I went with Grant Rozga and can recommend him highly as he knows the way to go, is immensely knowledgeable about the island and its history, and is full of entertaining stories.

We left the car about 7 miles from the lookout and headed north, making a quick detour to Barnhill (a private residence do not enter) where George Orwell completed the first draft of 1984. It seems as though George had plenty of entertaining interactions with the locals. The last two miles of the walk are across undulating boggy ground and it’s easy to take a wrong step and sink down to your knees – I know this because I did. Don’t worry the Jura Hotel has a very good drying room – turn left at the top of the stairs and it’s the first door on the left.

Grant also guided me up one of the Paps of Jura, the lowest one called Beinn A’Chaolais. It stands at 733 metres above sea level, and with over 300 metres of relative height is therefore a Graham. Now this might not sound very much, but it is tough going as the terrain is steep and variable, some grassy tussocks, some rocks, and some scree. There are no steps and no discernible path. It’s a slog but coming down is even harder as you have to go from side to side on the loose rock.

The ways to get to Jura are via the Feolin ferry from Port Askaig (where the main Cal-Mac ferry calls in on it’s way to and from Oban / Colonsay) with the bus meeting the ferry at Feolin. There’s also a passenger ferry from Craighouse to the mainland at Tayvallich where there are onward bus connections to Glasgow.