Islay, Colonsay and Jura

Strong tides, white sands, vast raised cobble beaches, water-colour sunsets, perfect camps, and not a midge in sight – such are my memories of a three-day trip from Islay, out around Colonsay before crossing to Jura and then back to the ferry on Islay.

A brief stop on Islay before crossing to Colonsay.

One of many white shell sand beaches off the south coast of Colonsay. 

Playful conditions on Colonsay’s west coast.

A sheltered channel, the Paps of Jura behind.

Colonsay sunset.

Looking down on our camp on Jura, and across to the Paps.

The vast raised beaches – a photo simply doesn’t capture the scale of these incredible features of Jura.

An early start to catch the tide and then the ferry – we covered 17km in just over an hour, which shows the strength of the tides here, normal paddling speed being around 6km pr hr.