Islay - Rubh-a-mhail

About trip

• There and back walk: 8.37 miles
• what3words address for parking: 
• ///recording.sampling.tower

There’s a car park just to the left before the entrance to the Bunnahabhain distillery overlooking the sea. This is also a good spot for bird watching and you may even be lucky enough to see otters; we weren’t.

The path from here (originally from walkhighlands.co.uk) follows the cliffs to the Rubh-a-Mhail lighthouse. It was surprisingly arduous when we walked this despite being pretty well level all the way, largely because the path (such as it is) is very boggy, anything but a straight line and, by the time we got back to the car, the water had soaked up well above my knees: my fault – I wasn’t adequately equipped. Don’t let my complacence put you off – it’s a gorgeous walk to a remote and beautiful place.

The gpx file takes you down to the lighthouse pier, but if you head for the lighthouse a track leads down a gully beside it to a small beach; we could have stayed there for a long time but we just rested a while and ate our lunch before tackling the return. Terrific views in both directions.