I’m on a mission to visit all of Scotland’s islands (eventually), especially now that I live on the west coast and they’re all so close. Before this year, I had only visited Orkney but this spring/summer I’ve managed to tick off another three; Arran, Islay and Cumbrae. It’s been a lot of fun and the islands make such a nice day trip on my quieter weekends.

Back in March, I went to Arran for the first time with the lovely Helen. We went there and back in one day and didn’t have a car so were limited to what we could do on foot before catching the last ferry back to the mainland. We hiked through the stunning Glen Rosa valley to take a very chilly dip in the Blue Pool before heading back to Brodick to take in as much of the ‘foodie island’ as we could. We had lunch at the Brodick Brasserie, and picked up some chocolate treats from James of Arran, an Arran ice cream (salted caramel) and some Arran cheese, before hopping on the ferry to go home. It was such a lovely day, even if we did see all four seasons, and I’m glad I got to share it with Helen. I definitely want to go back to Arran in the future with a car and more time.

My next adventure was a weekend in Islay with my mum. She was coming down to visit me and fancied doing something different, rather than just staying in Glasgow. It’s a wee bit of a trek from Glasgow to the ferry terminal in Kennacraig but it was a lovely but windy drive through the valleys and around lochs.
On the first day, we explored Bowmore and enjoyed browsing the wee shops – especially The Celtic House book and gift shop. We went to Port Ellen and did about a third of the Three Distilleries walk before turning back – shockingly as Islay tourists, we had absolutely no interest in the whisky. But we were keen to see a lot so next we did the circular walk around the Mull of Oa (roughly 8km) to check out the American Monument while being blasted by the wind. We still found ourselves with time to kill, so went to see Carraig Fhada lighthouse and I took my obligatory cold water dip in the sea, although unfortunately, it was a bit too wavy for me to do any sort of swim. Then we checked in to our lovely wee Airbnb and got dinner at The Islay Hotel.
On the second day, we took our time waking up and then headed over to Machir Bay in the morning to read our books, which is a lovely beach and the sun came out to greet us. Our main activity for the day was visiting Bruichladdich distillery (we had to do one!) but for their Botanist Gin tasting which was a lot of fun, but left me (not the driver that day) feeling rather wavey so we then got a much-needed lunch at the Port Charlotte Hotel. For the rest of the day, we wandered and drove around, checking out Portnahaven and enjoying the views before heading back to the ferry. Again, I’m going to have to go back so that I can find the time to visit Jura next door and maybe take a boat out to see the Corryvreckan Whirlpool…

And finally, I took myself on a solo trip to my closest island: Cumbrae. It was a lovely wee day and so easy to get around. I rented a bike and cycled round the whole island (a wee bit over 10 miles) which was pretty easygoing and a lovely way to see the views of the neighbouring islands. Took a wee pit stop at Fintry Bay café which has lovely outdoor seating and hammocks before heading back to Millport. After a wander round the wee shops I stopped in at the Ritz Café for lunch and picked up some home-made chocolates from Brewbaker and headed back to Glasgow.

So, aye, it’s been a fun wee time. I have quite a few more to go in the future but am already looking forward to my next island adventure. That said, I’m not sure if we’ve got much more summer weather left, but you never know with Scotland.

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Update: I managed to squeeze in one more island adventure this year to round off September. As I’m moving away from Glasgow, I wanted to make sure I had completed all the islands that were easiest to travel to from Glasgow by public transport. So Helen and I jumped on another rail and sail adventure, this time to the lovely Bute.

It was a dreich wee day but we still had a great time. We wandered about, checked out a nice wee antique jewellery shop and grabbed some lentil soup and delicious cake from Helmi’s patisserie for lunch. Then we hopped on the bus and went along the coast to Mount Stuart. I can’t explain enough how much Mount Stuart surprised me – it was so cool! The history was really interesting and had so many wide-reaching connections to other parts of history I knew of, the house was beautiful and had so many nice details including kilted tapestries, horoscope stain glass windows and the most stunning ceilings, and stunning gardens you can wander through from forest to the sea. We loved it and I highly recommend a visit. After that the weather was threatening to soak us so we headed back home, very satisfied.