Always a welcome

The captain says we’re taking the scenic route, and he isn’t wrong. With views of the craggy summit of Goat Fell on Arran, the mystical outline of Ailsa Craig, the long Kintyre peninsula, and the hazy Ulster coast, rarely can a 25-minute flight offer such an array of landmarks.

Our destination is Islay's tiny coastal airport. Once landed, I pick up my hire car, only to realise that it is parked just yards from the entrance to my accommodation. But I won’t be staying in some noisy airport hotel.

From my room in the 18th Century Glenegedale House I watch the small, twin propeller airliner take off back to Glasgow, its gentle humming only momentarily distracting the sheep from their grass supper. I feel, blissfully, just a little more isolated.

Islay, Scotland's fifth largest island, is home to 3,000 people spread across an area of more than 200 square miles. I take advantage of the long hours of summer daylight and set out on an evening drive along quiet roads that cut through swathes of wilderness dotted with small farms. A heavy rain storm comes in straight off the Atlantic, but is chased close behind by one of the most dramatic sunsets I’ve witnessed. When darkness falls, my headlights pick out endless clouds of midges.

Next morning I'm off fishing. Duncan, my guide, seems to have as many flies in his fly box as are pasted to the front of my car. We head to The Oa, the wild south west corner of Islay, to the beautiful and tranquil Loch Kinnabus, one of a number of sites you can access with a 24-hour permit from the Port Ellen Angling Club. It's a sunny day with a light breeze. Conditions aren't perfect, Duncan tells me, but we may be lucky.

Decked in waders, I stand in the shallow water and work, very slowly, on improving my casting technique, and perhaps landing a trout into the bargain. I try, but in vain. No fish make a move for my black and red “Zulu” fly. Duncan says there’s always an excuse one can use, and on this occasion we can blame the sky for being too bright.

I drive across the island to the Rhinns, the western peninsula of Islay, which is home to a number of pretty coastal villages. This part of Islay is about as close to Ireland as it is mainland Scotland and, as if to demonstrate this, a text message from my network welcomes me to the Emerald Isle. There always seems to be a welcome on Islay.

At Port Charlotte I meet up with Jez Hastings, who runs tailor made expeditions on Islay, which can include anything from deer spotting to sleeping in a cave. On this occasion it's a leisurely cycling and bird watching trip.

His expert knowledge soon rubs off. With just a little patience, a pair of binoculars and a telescope, I soon realise that the things I thought were rocks are actually oystercatchers, curlew, ringed plover, eider duck and even seals. Inland there is more to see; a buzzard hovers majestically above the fields, trying to spot its next meal.

Jez tells me that on Islay, mañana is considered too soon. With that in mind, I wonder what the pace of life is like on the more sparsely populated neighbouring island of Jura.

Next morning I make the five-minute ferry crossing. For the most part, the island is barren moorland, dominated by three rounded peaks known as the Paps of Jura.

After dropping a hitchhiking couple at Craighouse, Jura's only settlement, I follow the single track road north up the island. After a surprisingly long journey of over an hour, the public road ends and progress is only possible on foot or by bike along a pot-holed track. There is complete silence. A sign reads seven miles to Corryvreckan, the location at the top of the island where you'll find the world's third largest whirlpool. Later, I talk to a Dutchman who is a fan of George Orwell and is heading the four miles to Barnhill, the secluded house where the author wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Back at the southern end of the island is Jura House Gardens, a haven of peace and quiet, if it wasn't already peaceful enough on Jura. After dropping my entry fee into the woodland honesty box, I discover a lush, flower-filled garden that contrasts much of the island's rugged landscape.

It was built as a kitchen garden for Jura House in the early 19th Century by local landowners the Campbell family. Sheltered behind high stone walls, influenced by the Gulf Stream and facing south, the garden hosts plant species from as far away as Australasia.

As well as exploring the gardens you can buy plants, seeds and bulbs, and visit the tea tent, which offers some splendid home-made cakes. Over tea I talk to some of the other visitors – in fact on Islay and Jura there's always time to stop and talk. Even the drivers wave to one another.

There have been communities here since the end of the last ice age, and both islands are dotted with standing stones, chambered cairns, crosses, and the sites of ruined chapels and long vanished castles - relics from 13,000 years of human habitation. One of the most fascinating places is Finlaggan, on Islay. Between the 14th and 16th Centuries the Lordship of the Isles governed much of the islands and coast of western Scotland. Their council met on two tiny islands among the reeds and lilypads on Loch Finlaggan. The ruins of their buildings are magical in the evening light.

On my final morning on Islay, I enjoy another great breakfast at Glenegedale House. Choices include smoked kippers and a fried breakfast complete with haggis. There's also porridge, which you eat with a spoon made from animal horn. Tradition has it that only a clan chief would eat porridge with a silver spoon.

I chat with Rachel Whyte, who along with husband Alasdair own and run the guesthouse. Rachel tells me more about what makes Islay special: “When people come here most of them are totally unaware of what the true Islay has to offer. Some are aware of the distilleries, or the history, but not the way the people live. Children are safe. Here you can let the kids go off and they come back when they're hungry.

“There's an innocence and a trust in one another, a wholesome goodness that's missing on the mainland. We try to promote that you come as a guest and leave as a friend. People feel akin to Islay.”

A Swede, who has brought his family to Glenegedale House, sums it up when he tells me: “I can't imagine not coming back.”

FURTHER INFORMATION:

WHISKY: There are eight distilleries on Islay and one on Jura. The distinct flavour of their whiskies is largely a result of the peat, cut from the islands' mosslands, which is used to dry the barley. Well known brands include Bowmore, Laphroaig and Ardbeg.

GEESE: Travel to Islay in the autumn and winter and your visit will coincide with that of 50,000 barnacle and white-fronted geese, which fly in from Greenland. Loch Gruinart, in the north of Islay, is a good place to see them.

CORRYVRECKAN: The Gulf of Corryvreckan is home to the world’s third largest whirlpool. You can get close to it on a boat trip, or view it from a safer distance by walking to the northern end of Jura. The maelstrom is at its strongest during a spring tide, when there is a westerly wind.

PAPS OF JURA: On a clear day the Paps of Jura offer great views of neighbouring islands including Mull, Islay, Colonsay, as well the Mull of Kintyre and Northern Ireland. The highest Pap, Beinn an Òir, stands at 2,575ft (785m).

LINKS

For further information on island breaks in Scotland log on to www.visitscotland.com/autumn

Glenegedale House, guest house and self catering (rated 5-star by VisitScotland), tel: 01496 300400, www.glenegedalehouse.co.uk

Jez Hastings, Islay Wilderness Guide: www.islaywildernessguide.co.uk

Jura House Gardens: www.jurahouseandgardens.co.uk/The_Garden.html