Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Ross Fraser about his favorite little bit of Scotland. Ross lives in Edinburgh and runs a travel blog about traveling around Europe.
Mention the words “Mull of Kintyre†and you will be forgiven for immediately thinking about that once highly popular but also in my opinion slightly cringe worthy song by Paul McCartney.
Whilst I personally wasn’t too fond of the song one thing Paul McCartney got right though was singing about the Mull of Kintyre in the first place. Having spent the best part of 15 years of my childhood visiting the Mull it now has a very special place in my heart, which I want to share with you.
For anyone who can’t quite pin-point the Mull of Kintyre on a map of the UK don’t worry! The Mull is a peninsula off the west coast of Scotland around 40 miles long and could almost be classes as a ‘mainland island’. It is around 130 miles from Glasgow and on a good day takes about 3-4 hours to get to from Glasgow, but there is so much wonderful scenery to see on the way there that it could take you a good while longer, if you keep stopping to take pictures.
The Mull’s largest town Campeltown, is located at the bottom of Kintyre. The town was built around a bay and the bay is protected by Davaar Island. Davaar island is connected to the mainland by a causeway which you can access at lowtide. The north of the island includes a lighthouse while the south of the island has a cave with a famous painting of Jesus on the cross, which is worth a look at. But make sure you visit the tourist information centre first to get the tide times or you could end up spending the night on the island!
Campbeltown’s two main exports have to be Mull of Kintyre cheddar, quite a delicious mature cheddar that is made using milk from the region and processed in the creamery in the town. Make sure you visit the creamery shop where you can buy the cheese than the supermarket sells it for. Campbeltown’s other export is Springbank whisky www.springbankwhisky.com/ At one point Campbeltown boasted 34 distilleries but fortunes changed and Springbank of only one of a couple left in this once thriving town.
Leaving Campbeltown and traveling up the B842 you make your way through a number of must see places. From childhood I must have traveled this road many hundreds of times, but still to this day never quite get bored of it.
Saddle – this small collection of houses on the B842 contains a ruined abbey which is certainly worth a visit as there is an exhibition of carved medieval grave slabs. Saddle also had an outstanding beach, which you can walk to and this is where Wings filmed that famous song!
Further up the coast you reach Torrisdale bay. There is an old estate which has Torrisdale Castle in it. You can walk around the grounds and if you go in the autumn it is an excellent place to collect conkers. Torrisdale bay also has some really interesting rock pools which I remember spending many a happy childhood day exploring for sea creatures.
Between saddle and Torrisdale, there is a spot in the road that you can stop and if you look out to see you can see where a family of seals live and breed. I don’t know if this is still the case, it certainly was 15 years ago, but as this area of the country is popular with seals there is a good chance you will spot some if you keep your eyes.
Drive beyond Torrisdale and you reach the village of Carradale. This is where my Gran and Grandpa lived and holds so many special, vivid childhood memories for me. It was once a popular summer holiday destinations – but package holiday abroad meant it has become a far quieter affair than during my years spent there.
There is an amazing beach called the silver sands, which also has a campsite.
There is a pier which is home to a number of working fishing boats, and to the left of the pier is the ‘shore walk’ which you can walk along for about ¾ of a mile.
On a good day you can see clearly to Arran. Carradale has a pub and a couple of hotels and there is also a golf course, which I used to play at with my dad when I was growing up. There is also a small jewellery factory and shop in the village.
Leaving Carradale you have two options you can either drive back to Campbeltown and take the Atlantic road back to Tarbert, or you can drive the extremely windy B road back to Tarbert. If you are not experienced with the B road I would recommend driving back through Campbeltown.
The Mull of Kintyre has a number of other interesting stories to tell. It used to be home to a Nato base and as you drive around the mull you will notice some rather odd shaped hills and a huge runway at Machrihanish. I remember playing in the garden at my Grandparents and you would hear Harrier jump jets screeching over your head from time to time, which is all very exciting as a child.
Machrihanish to the west of the Mull is home to a popular golf course and if you drive past it you come to Southend which is unbelievably only 13 miles from Ireland. To me Southend is famous for 2 things:
The etchings into a rock of St Columba who first brought Christianity from Ireland to Scotland and the remains of the art deco Keil hotel which I remember being in when I was a child, but now lies derelict in a sad state.
Traveling back up the Atlantic road towards Tarbert you will come to the island of Giagh on your left hand side. This hebridian island is 7 miles long and is completely community owned. You can visit the island by taking the ferry from Tayinloan. It is worth a visit there is a lovely hotel on the island and some gardens you can walk around (Achamore gardens) It is also home to Giagh cheese (the waxy fruit shaped cheeses).
Once you have driven back to Tarbert you have now left the Mull of Kintyre behind you.
I have mentioned only a few places that evoke really special memories for me and I would say to anyone looking to experience a slice of hidden Scotland that is not too difficult to get to then this part of the British isles is definitely worth a visit.
You can learn more about the Mull of Kintyre by visiting the websites I have linked to in the article.
Ross Fraser lives in Edinburgh and runs a travel blog about traveling around Europe.
About Guest Writer
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Anglotopia was founded by Jonathan and Jackie Thomas for people who love Britain - whether it's British TV, Culture, History or Travel - we cover it all. Anglotopia was started to get us back to the UK for a trip and it did that in 2009. Now, the goal is for Anglotopia to make our dreams of traveling to the UK whenever we want a reality.
its sad, as scots are 1 of top ccultures every lived helped shape the world as much as another power in all ways yet never tried to conuer another. smart people. except 1 thing global warmiing.
i just came back from hawaii 1/2 a scot they were spoiled brats, as im 1/2 a scot no one has gone through what the scots gone through in medevil times, the hawaiins got takcen over but given captilsm. a lot of programs her e given to them by scots as top collge thier has only 2 libaries hamilton and sincalir scotosh and wierd my 2 scotish grandparents last names. even wierder top private school and hosptil until 5 years ago got baught out was claeed franics my last name.
but i conculed hawaiins are spoiled lazy brats deserve nothing. if god is god shuld creat global waming turn hawaii into a desert which is happeiong anyway and sink thier land, at the same time turn scotland into new hawaii as beaches just as awsome actaully has green everywhere and make scotland 90 degree tempatures. but the scots are 1 of leading countires against glodbal wamriing. its sad all rich scots want to go to hot clmates and bring thier money with them when scots helped make the world as awsome as it is