16. Glenbatrick Bay
After visiting Corran Sands, the rain is holding off and if anything it’s looking brighter. My original plan was to attempt the challenging Evans Walk across the island to remote Glenbatrick Bay but at this point I still haven’t decided whether to chance it. I drive a little further up the road that hugs the east coast of Jura. I spot a short coastal walk on the map so I decide to check it out. I nod to a farmer as I walk along his track, parallel to the shoreline. Some cows are in the field but at the bottom of an incline so I don’t pay much attention. I soon decide to abandon this walk because it’s definitely brightening up and I am getting keen on the idea of doing the Evans Walk. However, as I return through the field I see the once-distant cows sprinting (sort of) up the hill towards me. They look determined, and are gaining fast, so I start running towards the gate in the corner off the field. I’m calculating the distance v speed, to see who’s going to win the race. Fortunately, I arrive first, slide through the gate and spot the same farmer sitting on his tractor wondering what the fuss is about. The cows are just coming up for their feed (not me as it turns out). He smiles knowingly.
The ‘Evans Walk’ is a six-mile track across the wild central section of the island to the remote Glenbatrick Bay on the west coast. The walk is named after the one-legged landowner Harry Evans, who created the route to travel between the coasts on horseback. However, with the poor forecast, I have left Islay with few provisions and am not adequately prepared for a challenging 12-mile hike. I haven’t even had breakfast. It’s a dilemma. I drive to the tiny parking area next to the ‘Evans Walk’ sign along the main road, where two women (mother and daughter I think) are locking their bikes to a fence and preparing to do the very same walk. Well if they’re doing it, I’m doing it I decide! So I set off with a small bottle of water and a biscuit from the B&B tea tray.
The outward walk across the island is difficult at first because of the lack of a path for the first half a mile (the two ladies and I choose slightly different routes, me guided by my GPS), and because of overgrown summer bracken covering the tracks in the last half a mile, but the five miles in between are on a well-worn path amid beautiful scenery, including a series of lochs flanked by the famous ‘Paps of Jura’ mountains. Fighting through the bracken is hard work, but on the other side, the scene that awaits is picture-postcard perfect. Glenbatrick Bay is stunning, with the turquoise water of Loch Tarbert and white shell sand forming an arc around the bay. Bizarrely, despite its remoteness – only accessible via the six mile walk or by boat – the beach is home to a large villa, Glenbatrick Lodge, owned by the wealthy Astor family and converted at considerable expense from a crofter’s lodge to a many-bedroomed habitable home once favoured as a holiday retreat by former Prime Minister David Cameron and his family. The lodge is shuttered up but I can see kitchen appliances and furniture still in place through the windows, so I assume it’s still a going concern. Almost out of water I take a sip from the outdoor tap and fill my water bottle in the hope that (despite the peaty brown hue) it isn’t going to kill me. Sitting on the dunes at the back of the beach is the perfect spot to relax and contemplate the long walk back, which turns out to be tough going at first. I fall flat on my face a dozen times in the long bracken before hooking up with the track. I cross paths with my two fellow walkers a few times during the day and again in Craighouse later in the evening, when (starving) I stop off at Jura’s tiny bistro to find roast chicken on the menu. I can’t tell you how this makes me feel and I inhale my Sunday dinner in the company of a large family gathering taking place on the other tables. Now full, I head down to the south of the island to pick up the last ferry to Islay … and only then do the heavens open. What a day.
