Old Age Travellers.

Sunday, 24 May 2026

Tiree Trip April 2026.

The main part of this years Spring Holiday was to visit Tiree an island in the Inner Hebrides. It lies to the west of Mull and southwest of the island of Coll which we visited last year. You catch the ferry for this journey from Oban to Scariness. We actually arrived three days late on the island due to the ferry being cancelled but I will come back to later.

Our first stop on the way to the ferry port was three night stopover at the Woods Caravan Park at Fish Cross, a site we had stopped at twice before. As previously this Caravan and Motorhome Clubs Affiliated Site had clean, modern and warm facilities. This popular site was upgraded in 2018 with a new reception area that stocks a good selection of basic goods. There’s a restaurant next door called the Woodman which serves very good food at a resolvable price. The land the site is now on was originally a brick works, and across the road was a mining area.

One side of the site is framed by the beautiful Ochil Hills, which we had explored previously when we camped just outside of Stirling.

Well worth another look was the rather strange Sauchie Tower. The original

building had six storeys, a courtyard and an outer wall on at least two sides. A turnpike stair provided access to all stories. the lower floors were used for storage and above was the Great Hall with 'bedchambers' on other floors. It was built around 1412 by Sir James Schaws whose son became Governor of Stirling Castle in 1460.

Not so tricky this year finding our way across the Alloa golf course the 7 mile return walk to the Gartmorn Dam was well worth while. Situated in Gartmorn Country Park and local nature reserve. The Dam is the oldest man-made reservoir still operating in Scotland which was built in 1713 by the Earl of Mar in an ambitious scheme to use water power to drive pumps in his coal mines. The country park which surround the reservoir incorporates facilities for picnicking, fishing, birdwatching and a wee coffee shop.

Also managed to fit in the 5.5 return walk to Stirling Mills which incorporates some lovely scenery. New to the Mills is a very modern ‘sit in’ Greggs which we obviously took advantage off.

From Fish Cross we travelled the 94 miles to Oban Club Site. But before arriving we called into the large Tesco in Oban where there is parking for Motorhomes.

Originally booked in for three nights, but thankfully allowed to extended to six because of problems with Caledonian MacBrayne cancelling our ferry. Although a very nice campsite, unfortunately there was a problem with the water temperature, which wasn’t resolved until our last day.

We took the bikes off the Motorhome and took advantage of cycle path 78 to the settlement of Creagan which is located on the northern shore of the beautiful Loch Creagan.

After spending the following morning trying to re-book the ferry we decided to go for a walk which started a little way from the site at Sutherland's Grove and took us up into the dramatic gorge of Gleann Dubh (the 'black glen'). We followed the rushing Abhainn Teithil river past lovely little waterfalls before climbing up to the peaceful Gleann Dubh Reservoir. As you gain height, you are treated to fantastic views opening up over Loch Creran and across to Appin, all well worth the steady climb.

Its an impounding reservoir located 9 kilometres north east of the Connel Bridge in Barcaldine Forest. The earthen dam is 23.4 metres high and was completed in 1984. The reservoir provides a supply of water for the hydroelectric scheme at the Marine Resource Centre in the village of Barcaldine.

Finally got a ferry rebooked but with a sailing time of 06:45 therefore having to check in closed at 06:00. This led to two problems firstly we would have to go back into Oban before departure date as we were getting low on supplies . Although we could have a Fish supper at George Street Fish Restaurant. The second problem was that the barrier to the campsite did not open until 07:00 which meant we had to move the motorhome and sleepover in the the sites lay-by without access to EHU.

Coll Ferry Port.

Finally on Friday morning, three days late, the ferry left Oban at 07:00 for Tiree via the normal stop at Coll. Originally we planned to stay on Tiree for ten nights but with the problems with CalMac it was reduced to nine nights, considering the delay - not to bad.

It is stated quite clearly that one has to book a site to stay on either a designated Croft Site or on the only camp site, so freeloaders who think they can park up any where are not welcome. Shame this was not the case on the Scottish main land.

We stayed at Balinoe Campsite which is located in the south-west of the Isle of Tiree seven miles from the main town and ferry port at Scariniss. The site enjoys views towards Mull and the Treshnish Isles and its location is conveniently located for exploring the the island. The campsite is also centrally located for accessing most of Tiree’s famous beaches with the nearest being around twenty minutes walk from the campsite. Current facilities include, tent pitches, hard standing with electric and water, pods, and a bothy as well as an indoor facilities block for campers with one indoor shower, also two outdoor porta shower cubicles along with two outside porta loos . The campsite is basic but provides a range of services that are useful for visiting campers who have not got their own facilities. Under normal circumstances the facilities are keeped very clean and are generally adequate but our last couple of days were a nightmare with between seventy and eighty people on site for the 10K and half marathon, the showers and toilets were obviously not adequate for this large input of campers, and long queues formed. But all in all a good base to explore the island which had (normally) quiet roads that encouraged the use of our bikes and safe for walking.

Like Coll the island is deceptively unspoilt and does have its own history:

Densely settled by the Bronze Age, Tiree was second only to Iona in the early christian world of Saint Colufor mba. Invaded by Vikings who created many of the farm names that are still in use today, the island became part of the lands of the Lords of the Isles on Islay, of the Duart Macleans on Mull and o the Campbells of Inveraray. The population soared to unsustainable levels during the kelp boom of the late 18th century. This was followed by mass emigration after the 1846 potato famine. (something it possibly has in common with Ireland) In 1949 RAF Tiree created three long runways and camps for two thousand servicemen and women.

The runways are still used for local traffic

The memorial commemorates the residents of Tiree who were killed or missing in World War One (65 names) and World War Two (20 names).

Scariniss Light House built by David A Stevenson in 1962 to replace the original 1909 Tower that had stood at the harbour. Owned and maintained by the Northern Lighthouse Board.

Soroby is probably the site of the Campus Luinge Batithenes monastery, set up in 565AD to deal with wayward monks.(Wonder what they got up to?) Nothing remains of it now, but a parish church existed here from 13th to the 19th centuries. The graveyard became the burial ground of the Clan McLean chiefs when they ruled Tiree (1390-1680)

At Balemartine a rusty davit salvaged from HMS Sturdy, a Royal Navy Destroyer that was wrecked off Sandaig in 1940, has been set set above the beach as a clothes pole.

Traigh Chornaig Beach.

Loch Bhasopol.

Disused Mill.

Tiree Parish Church.

The golfballs can be seen from all over the south west of the island as they sit on the highest point on Tiree - Carnan Mor at 462 feet. Its summit is marked by an Ordnance Survey primary trig point installed 1948-49 and a golfball-shaped radar-tracking station was also built here in the mid-1980s and is now operated by the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) which provides air traffic control services to the UKs airspace and over parts of the North Atlantic. Obviously its spying on something!

Isle of Tiree Distillery and Coffee Shop.

Traigh Bhi (Balephuil Bay)

Wecome to Hynish.

Skerryvore Lighthouse on a clear day.

Hynish on Tiree was the initial shore station and construction site of the Skerryvore Lighthouse. Located on the south west corner of Tiree, its proximity to Skerryvore Island and the resulting abundance of bounty from the wrecks, led to rentals being higher here and on the rest of the west coast than elsewhere on the island. Work on the new facilities began in 1837; granite blocks were quarried from Mull and brought to the village to be cut and shaped before being shipped out to the reef.

Skerryvore is a remote island that lies off the west coast of Scotland, 11 nautical miles (20 kilometres) southwest of Tiree. Skerryvore Lighthouse is located on these rocks, built with some difficulty between 1838 and 1844 by Alan Stevenson.

At a height of 156 feet (48 metres) it is the tallest lighthouse in Scotland The shore station was at Hynish. The remoteness of the location led to the keepers receiving additional payments in kind. The light shone without a break from 1844 until a fire in 1954 shut down operations for five years. The lighthouse was automated in 1994.

Several cottages for the keepers were built in 1844 from the same stone as the light house as well as a massive pier and a tall granite tower to enable signalling to and from Skerryvore itself. Stevenson remarked that the hive of activity there contrasted with the "desolation and misery" he imagined to be the lot of the surrounding population.