WalkIslay 2005: Evening walk at Portnahaven

Walk 13 Description: Evening walk at Portnahaven Walk leader: John Armitage Distance: approx 4 miles Weather: mild evening sun Participants: approx 20 Quite fittingly for the last walk we went for an evening walk from Portnahaven. We met at the An Tigh Seinnse pub on Shore Street, some had a pre-walk pint already. After a wee dram and some chocolate John Armitage led the way out towards Claddach. First along the shore, then past the small beach at Port Mias-sgeire we walked to the Wave Turbine at Claddach.

The Wavegen Wave Turbine is a quite interesting project: Waves flow into larges tubes and by doing that push out the air from these tubes. This in turn powers wind turbines which generate the electricity. In theory a very good idea, although in practice not without problems. The air being pushed through the turbines can create a lot of noise, quite disturbing for anyone living near the station. We also heard that the power grid on Islay isn't good enough to transport the electricity generated by station to other parts of Islay apart from Portnahaven.
We continued north west towards Rubha na Faing, from where we had some nice views of the sunset over Frenchman's Rocks. There were also nice views over to Lossit Point and Lossit Bay, glowing in the mild evening sun. Past Ballymeanach we returned to Portnahaven for a well earned pint (as well as something to eat) at An Tigh Seinnse after all the walking. I was given a nice bottle of Very Young Ardbeg as a birthday present, thank you very much to everyone involved! After a very nice evening Ian took me back to Port Charlotte, where I sat down at the bar for a few more drinks and nice chats with a few people. One of the best birthdays ever.

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