Hidden Gem in Argyll And Bute

The Corrievreckan Whirlpool in the Gulf of Corryvreckan between the islands of Jura and Scarba is the third largest whirlpool in the world and one of the most spectacular natural phenomena on the Scottish coast, a permanent whirlpool created by the interaction of the tidal streams of the North Atlantic with the irregular seabed topography of the narrow gulf in a turbulence of standing waves, overfalls and rotating water that can be heard several kilometres away in strong conditions and is considered unnavigable even for experienced seamen. The whirlpool is generated by the interaction of the strong tidal streams flowing between the Atlantic and the Firth of Lorne with a submerged pinnacle of rock approximately 29 metres below the surface in the centre of the gulf, around which the water rotates in a vortex of considerable force. At its most active, during spring tides with westerly gales, the surface disturbance can extend across the full width of the gulf and the roar of the water can be heard at considerable distance. The name Corryvreckan derives from the Gaelic Coire Bhreacain, meaning cauldron of the plaid. George Orwell nearly drowned in the Corryvreckan in 1947 while he was writing Nineteen Eighty-Four on Jura, his small boat being overturned in the whirlpool before he and his companions were rescued. The whirlpool can be viewed from the northern coast of Jura and boat trips from various points on the mainland and islands approach the gulf at safe distances.

Glen Etive is one of the most beautiful and most remote of the Highland glens accessible by road, a narrow valley extending fifteen kilometres south from the head of Glencoe to the head of Loch Etive, a sea loch that penetrates deep into the Argyll highlands. The glen is surrounded on both sides by the great mountains of the Black Mount and the peaks above Glencoe, the river flowing through a succession of waterfalls, pools and open moorland sections in a landscape that combines the dramatic scale of the Highland mountains with an intimate, sheltered valley character quite different from the exposed high ground above. The road through Glen Etive is a single-track road with passing places that follows the river for most of its length before ending at the remote settlement of Invercharnan above the head of Loch Etive, from which point the glen continues on foot only. The drive down the glen is one of the finest in the Scottish Highlands, the mountains visible at the glen head growing larger and more dramatic as the road descends, and the river pools and waterfalls passed along the way inviting stops for swimming, picnicking and photography. Glen Etive achieved international exposure as a filming location for the James Bond film Skyfall, in which scenes set on the fictional Silva island were filmed in the glen. The beautiful pool where Daniel Craig's Bond character pauses during the drive through the Highlands was filmed here, and the combination of film association and existing natural beauty has brought visitors who might not otherwise have discovered this relatively little-known glen. The walking available from the glen road provides access to the surrounding mountains including the great pyramid of Buachaille Etive Mòr at the glen's northern end, one of the most photographed mountains in Scotland and one of the finest days walking in the Highlands.

Colonsay is one of the most remote and most completely satisfying of the Inner Hebrides islands, a small island of approximately 20 square kilometres accessible by ferry from Oban and Kennacraig whose combination of the remarkable Kiloran Bay beach, the wooded gardens of Colonsay House, the standing stones of Fingal's Limpet Hammers and the authentic Hebridean island community creates one of the most complete small island experiences available in Scotland. The island has a permanent population of approximately 120 people and the character of a genuinely inhabited community distinguishes it from the uninhabited or day-trip islands of the Hebrides. Kiloran Bay on the north side of Colonsay is one of the finest beaches in the Inner Hebrides, a broad sweep of Atlantic-facing sand of the brilliant white and turquoise quality characteristic of the best Hebridean beaches but very rare in the more accessible southern Hebrides. The bay faces northwest and receives the Atlantic swell that provides consistent wave action on a beach of considerable size, and the combination of the beach quality and the completely unspoiled setting makes Kiloran one of the finest beaches in Scotland. The Colonsay Garden, created around Colonsay House in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and benefiting from the mild Atlantic climate of the island, contains remarkable collections of rhododendrons and other acid-loving shrubs and provides an extraordinary horticultural contrast to the wild island landscape surrounding it. The Garden is one of the most northerly in Scotland to maintain such a collection of tender shrubs.

Jura is one of the most remote and most wild of the accessible Scottish islands, a large island in the Inner Hebrides accessible by ferry from Islay whose combination of the three distinctive quartzite peaks of the Paps of Jura, the extraordinary remoteness of most of the island's interior, the famous Corrievreckan whirlpool at its northern tip and the distillery at Craighouse create one of the most authentic and most rewarding Scottish island experiences available within reasonable reach of the mainland. The island has a population of approximately 200 and one road. George Orwell retreated to the farmhouse of Barnhill in the remote north of Jura in 1946 to write Nineteen Eighty-Four, working in the isolation that the island's remoteness provided while his health deteriorated. Orwell's time on Jura, during which he completed his most celebrated and most prescient novel while nearly dying in the Corrievreckan whirlpool and succumbing to the tuberculosis that would kill him in 1950, provides one of the most dramatic examples of literary creation in extreme circumstances in modern British literature. The walking on Jura is exceptional, from the ascent of the Paps with their quartzite scree slopes and commanding views of the Sound of Jura and the surrounding islands to the coastal walks along the largely roadless eastern shore where red deer and golden eagles provide the principal wildlife interest. The Jura distillery at Craighouse produces whisky of distinctive character that reflects the island's wild and remote personality.

Staffa is an uninhabited island in the Inner Hebrides whose hexagonal basalt columns and the celebrated Fingal's Cave have made it one of the most remarkable natural wonders in the British Isles. The cave is approximately twenty metres high and sixty metres deep, its walls composed of regular basalt columns broken by wave action into the stepped, organ-pipe forms characteristic of this kind of basalt coastline. The sound of the sea within the cave inspired Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture of 1830, one of the most direct examples of a natural place inspiring a major musical composition. The island was visited by Turner, Wordsworth, Queen Victoria, Keats and Jules Verne among many others who found in Staffa the combination of sublime natural form and romantic remoteness that defined the Romantic aesthetic. Access to Staffa is by boat from Oban, Mull and Iona, with landings dependent on sea conditions. The island is entirely in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, and the combination of the geological spectacle, the musical association and the Inner Hebrides setting makes a visit one of the most memorable available on the Scottish island coast.