Stepping ashore on Iona off the tiny ferry from Mull I can see why St Columba chose it as Scotland’s holy isle — this is Caledonian paradise. The medieval abbey rises from soft greenery beneath a vast sky. Children skip on a white sand cove lapped by a crystal-clear turquoise sea. Birdsong fills the early evening with twitter trending for the soul.
On the map, Iona is barely a dot — 3.5 miles long, and 1.5 wide — dropped amid the Hebrides. But the remoteness of these gorgeous island outposts is physical not logistical even for a non-driver like me. For proof, look no further than a new trip that weaves together three of the Hebrides’ most distinctive places into a straightforward chain of lovely journeys by train, bus and boat. So what if a local bus only runs three times a day when they’re waiting to meet your boat?
Our first day shows off the streamlined joy of travelling car-free to the edge of Britain. Hopping on the 8.21am train from Glasgow to Oban, we clack along the Firth of Clyde, then north up the majestic Gairloch and on to Loch Lomond, curving high above cars twisting around its legendary bonnie banks. The tea trolley arrives as we pass Kilchurn Castle’s 15th-century ruins, rising above the inky waters of Loch Awe. Snow-capped mountains crowd in, then ease back as a rushing river guides us onto a coastal plain pierced by sea lochs.
We could hop straight on the CalMac ferry from Oban to Mull but decide to potter in Scotland’s self-proclaimed seafood capital, fuelled by scallops sizzled up at a quayside stall. Along the harbour, boats offer hour-long forays to nearby seal colonies, the 18th century distillery has liquid Oban gold, and the little War and Peace Museum explains the port’s key role in the Battle of the Atlantic as a Second World War flying-boat base.
It’s only later that we glide across to Mull to catch a bus waiting on the quay for a breathtaking hour-long traverse of the second-largest isle of the Inner Hebrides. We barrel by mussel-filled lochs, through mountain passes strewn with boulders like giant stone confetti, past soaring sea-cliffs. But we’re not stopping here just now — we get off at Fionnphort as the Iona ferry chugs in.
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Ensconced in the Argyll Hotel, we feel as blessed as any Iona pilgrim — sea views, a cosy fire crackling, dinners worthy of any London hotspot — roast Jerusalem artichoke with chestnut, sorrel and toasted spelt, Isle of Gigha halibut with creamed celeriac and rhubarb. After dinner, I fix on heaven in a star-spangled sky.
History marks out Iona from its sister islands. Eight centuries worth are enshrined within the abbey stones, while the adjacent St Oran’s Chapel is older still, encircled by the now-unmarked graves of almost 50 kings — including Macbeth, a revered ruler rather than Shakespeare’s villain. We walk to the White Strand of the Monks, named for holy men slain by Viking raiders with no eye for a stunning setting, then banish dark thoughts over by the Bay At The Back Of The Ocean, its white shores facing an ocean unbroken until Canada. Cradled amid its dune backdrop is Britain’s most idiosyncratic golf course, where August’s Iona Open sees old pros and young locals vying to play hazards such as John McInnes’s prize bull on the tricky 13th.
Heading back to Mull, we have time to explore and find that Tobermory offers a sharp contrast to Iona’s serenity. Its population is only about 700 but this 18th-century fishing port combines a wonderful setting with a dash of sophistication. Swish vessels — a spruced-up classic steamer one day, a gorgeous three-master the next — breeze into the hill-backed harbour to deposit passengers on to a quay lined with upmarket shops hawking Celtic jewellery and handmade chocolate. Café Fish provides quality as the 2012 Good Food Guide’s choice as Britain’s Fish Restaurant of the Year, and we work our way through a fine meal served up with harbour views.
Tobermory has culture too. Up a steep brae, An Tobar is a pleasing hub of visuals, music and literature, while we’ve just missed a modern-dance version of The Tempest at the town’s modern theatre. Back by the harbour, a tiny museum displays Peruvian silver coins – the legendary pieces of eight — retrieved from a Spanish Armada galleon that sank here in 1588. We reach Skye with a loop back to the mainland, our train jaunt from Oban to Mallaig broken with an overnight stay at the cosy Old Pines hotel in Spean Bridge, with views to the Great Glen.
Only on Skye do we wonder about the benefits of a car. The largest of the Inner Hebrides spreads its wild grandeur across a canvas so vast that you could drop Iona anywhere on it and no-one would even hear the thud. And arriving by ferry from Mallaig to Armadale we’re in the gentler south, quite a distance from the big ticket geo-drama of ranges like the Cuillin and the Quaraig. Not that we’re unhappy as we lounge at the Isle Ornsay Hotel by a breathtaking bay. We mull possibilities on a lovely walk to the Point of Sleat, looking over Skye’s little sister isles Rum and Eigg.
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The next morning, we decide to go solo with a bus trip to Sligachan. It turns out to be a cinch — within an hour we’re standing near the Sligachan Hotel gawping at a vista of loch, glen and the jagged outlines of the Black Cuillin, the majestic peaks that have made the hotel a climbers’ bolthole since Victorian times. It’s also the start of a hill race each July, inspired by a challenge set to a visiting Gurkha in 1899 to run up the nearby slopes of Glamaig and back again. Even today, few beat his time of 55 minutes.
The view alone leaves us breathless, and we retreat to the hotel’s Seumas bar for lunch washed down with ale from the Cuillin Brewery and chasers from an array of more than 200 whiskies. Back at Isle Ornsay, we debate further Skye temptations: lobster or wood pigeon, venison or crayfish risotto?
The West Highland Line back to Glasgow from Mallaig provides an unforgettable coda. Atlantic rollers bowl in on the sands of Morar, while we tick off both Britain’s deepest loch — Loch Morar, complete with mythical monster — and highest mountain, Ben Nevis. Rannoch Moor is a peaty panorama studded with lochans and lonely trees, crossed only by the railway’s silver thread.
Plus there’s the Glenfinnan Viaduct, soaring above the tip of Loch Shiel. Crossed famously by the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter blockbusters, this is a link between the mundane world and places of magic. Thankfully, that’s true in reality too.
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Norman Miller was a guest of Easyjet (easyjet.com), which has returns from Gatwick to Glasgow from about £59, and of McKinlay Kidd (0844 804 0020, seescotlanddifferently.co.uk) which has a car-free island-hopping trip from £825pp including seven nights’ B&B, one dinner plus rail/ferry connections from Glasgow.
Transport on the islands Mull buses: Craignure-Fionnphort £12 return, Craignure-Tobermory £9 return with Bowman’s (01680 812 313, bowmanstours.co.uk). Skye buses: One-day Skyerider £7 with Stagecoach Highlands (01463 233371, stagecoach.com)