The walk started at Gortantaoid, where we were taken by four wheel drive vehicles as the track isn't really suitable for normal cars. I was in the car of Jeremy Hastings of Islay Birding, who gave us some interesting information about wildlife and bushcraft while driving us to the drop off point.

After an introduction and some guidance by Jack we left, initially following a track towards the coast. A short rain shower hit us early in the walk, a good or a bad sign? As it turned out a good sign, we had great weather for the rest of the day.

The walking was quite varied: Long flat straights over wide open spaces, rocky cliffs with large numbers of caves and arches on the shore or deep cuts from the burns running off the hills.

A number of burns had to be crossed, although none brought any difficulties. The ground was drier than most had expected and as it was early in the year the vegetation was still quite low, allowing us to make good progress.

Half an hour later we were on our way again, turning east after having walked in a north easterly direction during the first section of the walk. The walk now followed the raised beaches until we reached Port a' Chotain, where we dropped down to the shore.

Now it was time for lunch, in bad weather we probably would have sheltered in the cave, but in the warm sunshine we prefered to stay outside. Jack produced a bottle of Islay Single Malt from a secret hiding place and most of us had a wee dram to 'celebrate' reaching another milestone of this walk.

After leaving our lunch place and climbing up to the raised beach again we had a nice view over the raised beaches, the cave and all the way to Bholsa. You can also view a QuickTime VR panorama of the view over Bholsa and Port a' Chotain:

After a group photo of all the walkers we descended to the lighthouse. Jack spoke with the 'lighthouse keeper' (no, they are not really lighthouse keepers, the lighthouse is fully automated), who came out and showed us a bit of the area including a cave/ tunnel just below the lighthouse before guiding us on to the quickest and driest way south.

After 14 miles and just under eight hours (incl breaks) we had earned another three points for a 'walkislay mug', as well as a wee dram of Bunnahabhain presented by the distillery manager.

This walk was certainly one of the highlights of the Islay Walking Week 2006, visiting areas far off the beaten track not easily reached.