Lochgilphead to Port Askaig via Colonsay

An early start gave a good ride to Tarbert, with not too much traffic on the A83. One Fyne Deli (opposite the Coop), which Dirk had recommended for coffee, served fine food and had a pleasing atmosphere.

Tarbert is a good place to linger, and has interesting places to visit according to these signs:

My usual return is to Claonaig, passing the port of Kennacraig for ferries to Islay. This time I wanted to ask about options, with Islay being on my bucket list. I saw a ferry about to leave and, in this spell of perfect weather, decided this was meant to be if I was not too late. There was just time to buy a ticket to Port Askaig from the office. On the two hour ferry trip fellow travellers were chatty as usual and persuaded me to continue on the same ferry to the island of Colonsay for a five hour exploration and then catch the same ferry back to Port Askaig after it had returned from Oban. It is not always easy to spend a convenient amount of time on Colonsay and Wednesday was my lucky day. This beach on Colonsay was a must.

On the ferry to Colonsay the fish and chips were cooked to perfection and evidently the standard of CalMac cooking is generally very high. There is a seafood restaurant at the port on my bucket-list. An exhibition of local art was impressive, a substantial number of the 100+ residents being creative.

It was on this trip that fellow traveller Duncan, on seeing my Cafe Tioram teeshirt, showed me the best photo by far that I had seen of Castle Tioram (inspiration for the Acharacle cafe’s name and teeshirt design). As promised, he sent me the photo, which you can see on the description of Day 5.

Wild camping up on a hill near Port Askaig was not difficult in the superb weather, but the following morning I found better wild campsites near the distilleries.