Around Port Askaig

Introduction to Ballygrant

The A846 runs east from Bridgend out to Port Askaig passing through a couple of interesting sights on the way. A mile and a half beyond Bridgend is the Islay Woollen Mill, which was established in 1883 on the site of a 17th-century mill. The mill contains some unique historicl equipment including the only extant version of a Slubbing Billy. The road then passes through Ballygrant, just to the south of Loch Finlaggan. Here, on two crannogs (artificial islands), were the headquarters of the Lords of the Isles, the ancestors of Clan Donald. The MacDonalds ruled from Islay for nearly 350 years, over a vast area covering all of the island off the west coast and almost the whole of the western seaboard from Cape Wrath to the Mull of Kintyre.

There's a new visitor centre to the northeast of the loch, where you can learn more about the history of the site and see some of the archaeological remains. Info -May-Sep Sun-Fri 1400-1700, Easter-Oct Tue, Thu and Sun 1400-1630. £2.

You can walk across the fen to Eilean Mor, where there's a collection of carved gravestones near the ruins of a medieval chapel. A smaller island, Eilean na Comhairle ('The Council of the Isle'), is where the Lords of the Isles met to decide policy.

Port Askaig

Port Askaig is Islay's other ferry port, with connections to the mainland and to the islands of Jura and Colonsay. It's little more than a dock, a car park and a few buildings huddled at the foot of a steep, wooded hillside. If you're arriving by the late ferry, there's accommodation at Port Askaig Hotel, Tel. 840245. A short walk north along the coast is the Caol Ila distillery, and a couple of miles further north, at the end of the road which branches left before you enter Port Askaig, is the beautifully situated Bunnahabhain Distillery.