Scenic Place in Argyll And Bute

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.

The Isle of Mull is the second largest of the Inner Hebrides, lying off the west coast of Scotland and separated from the mainland by the Sound of Mull. Covering nearly 900 square kilometres of mountains, sea lochs, moorland and ancient woodland, Mull offers one of the richest and most varied wildlife experiences in Britain alongside a landscape of dramatic beauty that has been drawing visitors for generations. The island is exceptional for wildlife. White-tailed eagles, the largest birds of prey in Britain with wingspans reaching up to 2.4 metres, soar over the moorland in increasing numbers since their successful reintroduction to Scotland. Golden eagles are also present, along with hen harriers, peregrines and a host of other raptors that make Mull genuinely one of the best places in Britain for birds of prey watching. Otters are seen regularly along the seaweed-fringed coastlines, hunting in the kelp beds at low tide. The surrounding waters support common porpoise, bottlenose dolphins and, seasonally, minke whales and basking sharks, making boat trips from the island's harbours a worthwhile investment. Tobermory, the island's main town, is instantly recognisable from its row of brightly painted waterfront buildings reflected in the sheltered harbour waters. The town developed as a planned settlement in 1788 and has retained its compact, characterful character. It serves as a natural base for exploring the island and has a good selection of accommodation, restaurants and shops. Local boat operators offer wildlife cruises from the harbour throughout the summer season. The island holds strong historical connections. The ruined Duart Castle, seat of the Maclean clan, stands on a headland at the entrance to the Sound of Mull and is one of the most atmospheric castle settings in Scotland. A short drive south brings visitors to Loch Buie, where a Bronze Age stone circle stands in one of the most serene and beautiful settings imaginable. The Carsaig Arches on the southern coast, accessible only on foot, are spectacular basalt sea arches carved by the Atlantic. Mull is also the jumping-off point for two of Scotland's most significant island destinations. The tiny island of Iona, a twenty-minute ferry crossing from Fionnphort, was the site of Saint Columba's sixth-century monastery and remains a place of profound spiritual significance visited by thousands of pilgrims and tourists each year. The dramatic uninhabited island of Staffa, with its famous Fingal's Cave, a vast basalt sea cave whose hexagonal columns inspired Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, can be reached by boat from several points on Mull during the summer season.

The Isle of Staffa is a small, uninhabited island in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland whose extraordinary geological formations and the celebrated Fingal's Cave have made it one of the most visited natural wonders in Britain despite its remoteness and the difficulty of landing in anything but calm weather. The island is composed entirely of basalt lava columns identical in form to those of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, both having been produced by the same great volcanic episode sixty million years ago, and the columns at Staffa create cliff faces and cave roofs of geometric precision that seem more like deliberate architecture than geological process. Fingal's Cave is the principal feature, a sea cave approximately twenty metres high and sixty metres deep whose walls, floor and vaulted ceiling are formed entirely from the regular basalt columns of the island's geology. The sound of the sea within the cave, amplified and modulated by the columnar walls into something resembling music, is one of the most remarkable acoustic experiences available in the British Isles, and it was this quality that gave the cave its Gaelic name An Uamh Binn, the melodious cave. Felix Mendelssohn visited in 1829 and the experience directly inspired his Hebrides Overture, also known as Fingal's Cave, one of the most celebrated pieces of Romantic orchestral music. The island was visited by numerous other nineteenth-century figures including Queen Victoria, Sir Walter Scott, Keats, Wordsworth and Jules Verne, all drawn by the combination of the extraordinary geology and the wild Hebridean setting. J M W Turner painted the cave and its setting, adding to the already substantial artistic and literary heritage associated with this small piece of volcanic rock. Boat trips to Staffa operate from Oban, Mull and Iona during the summer months and landings are possible when sea conditions allow.

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.

Tobermory is the main town of the Isle of Mull and its harbour front is instantly recognisable as one of the most distinctive and charming townscapes in Scotland, a terrace of brightly painted buildings in red, yellow, blue, green and pink that wraps around the sheltered bay and is reflected in the still waters of the Sound of Mull. The town was planned in 1788 by the British Fisheries Society as one of a series of model settlements intended to develop the fishing industry in the Scottish Highlands, and its planned origins explain the regularity and neatness of the main street layout compared to the organic settlements typical of island communities. The harbour has an interesting historical footnote connected to the Spanish Armada: one of the fleet's ships, the San Juan de Sicilia, was anchored in Tobermory Bay in 1588 while taking on supplies and was subsequently destroyed by an explosion, possibly sabotage by a local clan, killing most of the crew. The wreck site has been the subject of intermittent salvage attempts over four centuries, with occasional artefacts recovered from the silted seabed, and the Tobermory Galleon remains one of Scotland's most persistently discussed marine archaeological mysteries. Today the harbour serves as the base for the Mull fishing fleet and numerous pleasure craft, and the waterfront buildings house restaurants, shops, galleries and businesses serving both residents and the substantial tourist trade that Mull attracts throughout the summer. Boat trips from the harbour to observe whales, dolphins and basking sharks operate during the summer months, taking advantage of the exceptional wildlife-watching opportunities available in the surrounding Hebridean waters. Tobermory provides excellent access to the broader pleasures of Mull. Distilleries, wildlife watching hides, the walks to Glengorm Castle, trips to Iona and Staffa, and the extraordinary geological features of the island's interior and coastline all make Tobermory a natural base for exploring one of Scotland's finest islands.