Colonsay Island Web Site www.colonsay.org.uk

Colonsay is the epitome of an island haven – peaceful and undemanding with long stretches of beautiful sandy beaches inviting the brave to try the crystal clear water. The wild flowers of Colonsay are legendary for their beauty and diversity – and for a sweet assault on the senses that will stay with you long after you leave the island the fragrance and colours of these wildflowers in the summertime have to be experienced to be believed.

Around the island Colonsay's population lives in the three small villages, the largest of which is Scalasaig, the ferry port. The island's only hotel is here and there's also a restaurant, a post office/shop, a petrol pump and a heritage centre by the pier. A few miles north of the ferry, in the middle of the island, is Colonsay House, dating from 1772. The house was sold, along with the rest of the island, in 1904 to Lord Strathcona, who had made his fortune in Canada with the Hudson Bay Company and went on to found the Canadian Pacific Railway. The house is not open to the public but the lovely gardens and woods, full of rhododendrons, giant palms and exotic shrubs, are worth a stroll.

There are several standing stones, the best of which are Fingal's Limpet Hammers, at Kilchattan, southwest of Colonsay House. There are also Iron Age forts, such as Dun Eibhinn, next to the hotel in Scalasaig. Colonsay is also home to a wide variety of wildlife. You can see choughs, one of Britain's rarest birds, as well as corncrakes, buzzards, falcons, merlins and perhaps even the odd golden eagle or sea eagle. There are also otters, seals and wild goats (said to be descended from the survivors of the Spanish Armada ships wrecked in 1588).

The jewel in the island's crown, though, lies six miles north of Scalasaig, past Colonsay House, at Kiloran Bay. The beach here is described as the finest in the Hebrides, and who could argue. The magnificent half mile of golden sands, backed by tiers of grassy dunes, with massive breakers rolling in off the Atlantic, is worth the two-hour ferry crossing alone.

To the west lies the Atlantic, with only the Du Hirteach lighthouse standing between Colonsay and Canada. To the east the Paps of Jura and Islay, while on a clear day the coast of Donegal in Ireland can be seen.

Getting around There's a limited bus and postbus service around the island Mon-Sat, for those without their own transport. On Wed in the summer, a tour bus meets the ferry and takes visitors round the island. As the island is only 8 miles long by 3 miles wide, you might want to consider hiring a bicycle. Bike hire from A McConnel, Tel. 200355.

Island Trivia - In legend the McNeils of Colonsay are descended from a family that came across with their cattle from Barra in an open boat. McNeil's wife gave birth on the trip, one of the beasts being slaughetered and the mother and child placed inside the carcass for warmth and shelter.

Poetry

Storm-tossed traveller! on your way
Pass not lonely Colonsay.
There you will a welcome find
None more heartfelt, true or kind.
Though the scene looks cold and grey,
Hearts are warm in Colonsay.

Roaming happy, light, and gay
'Mang the heather on the brae;
There you'll find in woe or weal
Highland hearts as true as steel;
And remember many a day,
The kind folks of Colonsay!

Verses by "Phemie", collected by Frances Murray and published 1887

The Gruagach Stone - Clach na Gruagach at Balnahard is a particularly fine example. Grieve tells us that "The gruagach was attentive to the herds and kept them from the rocks. He frequented certain places in the fields where the cattle were. A gruagach was to be found in every gentleman's fold (buaile) and .. milk had to be set apart for him every evening in a hollow in some particular stone… Unless this was done, no milk was got at the next milking, or the cream would not rise to the surface of the milk." The gruagach is "a tall young man with long yellow hair, in the dress of a gentleman of a byegone period, having a little switch in his hand, with a white breast, as if he wore a frilled shirt." He used to play pranks and "he sometimes walked alongside of people, but was never known to speak".

Our own Gruagach stone is beside the milking fold on the slope below Dun Crom, and is described by Loder: "an irregular boulder, broader at the top than at the bottom, about 5 ft. high, and kept in position with stones round the base. There is a shallow [artificial] recess in the top. The story goes that the Grugach was once bound to [the stone]. Some thin ridges running round the stone are pointed out as weals made by the rope, so tightly was it tied."

There is a practical reason for putting the first milk from each quarter of the udder to one side, so that any contamination will not affect the rest of the milk; the necessity for this will have been brought home to the dairymaids with dire warnings of the consequences of any mistake.

Isle of Oronsay - Just off the southern tip of Colonsay is the island of Oronsay, two miles square with a population of six and one of the highlights of a visit to Colonsay. The name derives from the Norse for 'ebb-tide island', which is a fitting description as Oronsay can be reached on foot at low tide, across the mud flats known as 'The Strand'. It takes about an hour to walk from the south end of Colonsay to the ruins of a 14th-century Augustinian Priory. This was the home of some of the most highly skilled medieval craftsmen in the Western Highlands. A surviving example of their work is the impressive Oronsay Cross and the beautifully carved tombstones, on display in the Prior's House.

Legend has it that St Columba first landed here after leaving his native Ireland, but he could still see his homeland from the top of Ben Oronsay and so decided to continue north to Iona, where he founded the community that was to become the centre of Christianity in northern Britain.
Make sure you take wellies for the walk across The Strand and check on the tides. Tide tables are available at the hotel or shop. Spring tides (new and full moon) allow about three to four hours to walk across and back, which is just enough time to see the priory but little else. Fast walkers may also have time to pop into The Barn, Tel. 200344, for home cooking and crafts.

Choughs are part of the crow family. They have red beaks and legs, and make an excitable, high-pitched chi-ow call, from which they get their name.