A walk near Saligo, Scotland Summer 2003


	I went for a very nice walk here during the Islay Walking Week over Easter 2003, so I decided to retrace the walk, this time with my mother. The walk starts at Saligo Bay and then follows the coast towards Dùn Bheolain. I don't remember exactly where, I think somewhere near Port Bàn we found an old grave. As far as I can make it out it reads "DEC AD 1818". Was it a fisherman who had died here? Or may be a crofter? Probably long forgotten. We continued our walk and soon reached the hill overlooking Dùn Bheolain. The view was fantastic and the sun came out for a few minutes. If you have a fast connection (or enough time) you can download a QuickTime VR 180° panorama of the view over Dùn Bheolain (note: 4MB download)
Our walk continued towards Eilean Mór and Tràigh Bhàn. If you have a fast connection (or enough time) you can download a QuickTime VR 180° panorama of a view over Eilean Mór and Tràigh Bhàn (note: 1.5MB download)
	At the end of Tràigh Bhàn is a memorial for the dead of the Exmouth tragedy. On the 28th of April 1847 the Exmouth, a two masted brig carrying emigrants from Ireland to America, was shipwrecked on the cliffs near Ghille Mhóire (about half a mile north). Only three seamen survived, more than 240 emigrants and the rest of the crew including Captain Booth drowned. 108 bodies were recovered and are buried here in the soft turf above Tràigh Bhàn. We continued a little bit further north of Eilean Mór towards Ghille Mhóire, the picture below gives an impression how the cliffs in the area look (this is looking south towards Eilean Mór and Dùn Bheolain in the distance).

	By now it was afternoon and we turned south again. Through Gleann Deas we walked towards Loch Córr. We didn't walk down to the loch though, instead we continued through Gleann na Muchdalaich towards Smaull. We saw some deer, unfortunately they were too quick for me to take any pictures. From Smaull we returned to Saligo after a very nice walking day. With that our visit to Islay was almost over, as we would return to the mainland to travel further north the next morning.
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