Summer timetable: the ferry
from Mallaig goes to various combinations of the 4 islands every day except Sunday between
mid-April and mid-October. The winter timetable may have slightly less sailings.
These ferries are operated by Caledonian MacBrayne - Tel: 01475 650 100 / fax: 01475 637
607.
In the summer, boats from
Mallaig and Arisaig go on regular day cruises to the Small Isles.
Day cruises to Rum, Eigg,
and Canna
Please note that no vehicles
are carried on any of these boats.
Caledonian MacBrayne
runs a
ferry from Mallaig to the Small Isles six days a week. Cycles can be carried for a charge
of 2 pounds. If you will be travelling in a party of 12 or over, please contact CalMac in
advance (Tel: 01687 462403) - it is not a big boat you know!
The 1999 summer timetable (from 2 April to 16 October) allows the following cruises:
On Saturdays you can see all
four islands. It takes 7 hours and you will be on the boat all the time (no time allowed
onshore) so make sure it's a nice day. I saw a whale the day that I went. Cost: 12 pounds.
It leaves at 12.30pm.
On Mondays you can see Eigg,
Rum and Canna on another non-landing cruise which leaves Mallaig at 10.30am and returns at
5.30pm. Cost 12 pounds.
If you want to visit Eigg, you
can have 2 hours there on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Cost: 7.80 pounds. Leave Mallaig at
10.30am.
On Wednesdays you can spend 3
and a half hours on Rum (cost: 11.70 pounds) or 1 hour on Canna (13 pounds). Leave Mallaig
at 10.30am.
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Rum
(sometimes - wrongly - called Rhum)
Bought by the Nature
Conservancy Council (now called Scottish Natural Heritage) in 1957, Rum is a sort of
outdoor laboratory for the study of rocks, plants, birds and animals, and as such is
well-protected from tourists by strict access rules. Visitors need to apply for permission
(contact the Nature Reserve Office - telephone 01687 462 026 / fax: 01687 462 805) to camp
and climb here on what has long been known as The Forbidden Isle.
Accommodation is limited to a
hostel with restaurant and 4 bothies which sleep between 6 and 12 people each. A night in
one of the bothies will cost you about 4.50 pounds. The island would be virtually
uninhabited but for the SNH employees and volunteer conservationists. The island has a
population of around 23 but SNH hopes to see this expand to about 50 over the next 10
years. There is a general store/post office.
If you do manage to get to
Rum, you will be rewarded by sightings of deer, goats and eagles. Over 100,000 Manx
shearwaters nest in the hills. Be warned though, the island is said to have the highest
rainfall in the Inner Hebrides thanks to its 2000 foot high mountains which catch all the
clouds coming in from the Atlantic. And the midges are huge apparently!
Deposits of platinum and other
minerals have been found on the island by scientists from Essex University in England -
alas not enough to start mining!
Overlooking Loch Scresort, a
sheltered bay halfway up the east coast where the ferry arrives, sits the reddish form of
Kinloch Castle, an extravagant Edwardian dream, built by wealthy industrialist George
Bullough in 1901. Apparently Edward VII stayed here and had an affair with the mistress of
the house. The castle used to be a hotel (up until 1996). Guided tours are now given
daily. Kinloch means 'at the head of the loch'. The Bullough family mausoleum can also be
visited if you want to walk over to it.
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Eigg
Eigg is the second largest in
the Small Isles group. Its distinctive outline is provided by a sloping ridge of lava
known as the Sgurr which runs down the island like the backbone of some prehistoric
creature. In fact the name Eigg comes from the Gaelic word meaning 'notch'.
If you walk along the road
from the pier through the moors, you will reach Laig Bay. About a mile to the north are
the Singing Sands of white quartz. There are also a few historic ruins on the island
including Iron Age forts, a 6th century Christian church and Viking burial mounds.
The island has been bought and
sold several times over the last 10 years. Not all of the owners have been particularly
liked by the 60 or so inhabitants whose supplies are transported on the ferry from
Mallaig. After many empty promises, the present owner - a German who bought it in 1995 -
put the island up for sale. In August 1996, the islanders launched a public appeal to
raise money so that Eigg could be properly managed by the islanders themselves in
partnership with the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Highland Council. In April 1997 their
offer of 1.5 million pounds was finally accepted and they happily took possession on 12
June 1997. In June 1998 a new pier side
complex was opened with tea room and
restaurant, craft shop and information centre.
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Canna
The furthest of the Small
Isles from the mainland. From afar, it appears small and whale-shaped, with a solitary
stack rising out of the sea near the east coast. Currently in the care of the National
Trust for Scotland, Canna is the only island in the group where the ferry can actually
land. The harbour cliffs are daubed with decades of graffiti from seafarers happy to find
a safe haven and leave their ship's name for posterity. There is now a gift shop on the
pier. Pony-trekking is also available - telephone Hebridean Trekking Holidays on 01687
462829. The island's church was built in the 1890s for the Roman Catholic congregation.
Looking out over to Skye sits Compass Hill, so called because the iron in its basaltic
rock affects compasses up to three miles away.
Connected to Canna by a wooden
bridge is the tidal island of Sanday which has a population of 18. St. Edward's Chapel and
Point House have been granted half a million pounds of lottery money to turn the chapel
into a study centre according to news reports dated February 1997.
