Tiree & Coll, both part of the Inner Hebrides and famed for their beautiful beaches, can be reached by taking the CalMac ferry from Oban on the Scottish mainland. The timetable isn’t always great, as there are some very early sailings. Fortunately we chose to go in summer when there were a few more sailings to choose from. We didn’t want to be having to check in before 6.30am, so we selected to sail out to Tiree first, on a Saturday in July on the 3.20pm ferry (arriving at 6.40pm with plenty of daylight hours left to get the tent put up).
We chose to stay on Tiree for 5 nights and Coll for 3 nights, heading over to Coll on the Thursday on the 11.20am sailing (arriving at 12.15, a nice short hop) which pretty much gave us that whole day to start exploring. Our ferry back to Oban was on Sunday at 12.30pm, arriving back in Oban at 3.10pm, so all good timings and no early starts!
On Tiree we stayed at the Sunset Tiree Campsite, which was very new at the time (2023), had good facilities and was very close to the beach at Balevullin (the most popular beach for surfers). On Coll we stayed in the established Garden House Campsite, surrounded by an RSPB Reserve and set within a walled garden, therefore offering some shelter from the wind. The facilities again were fine as it was very quiet, though we may have struggled a bit had it been busy (there are only two toilets and one shower). However, that is how it is on the islands, and prior to there being campsites, the only choice was croft camping where you paid the landowner a token fee to camp on their land with no (or extremely limited) facilities. Both owners of the campsites were helpful & friendly and worked hard to keep everything spotless.
TIREE
Both islands are around about the same size, but Coll is less populated and feels more remote (around 150 residents versus around 650 on Tiree). Coll has one single track main road; whilst Tiree, on the other hand, has quite a network of roads criss-crossing the island and we were surprised just how many miles we had clocked up in the few days that we were there.
On the Saturday when we set off, the weather was relatively fine, although the winds that were forecast for overnight and well into Sunday were somewhat worrying us. We weren’t worried about the heavy rain, it is Scotland after all, but we were slightly concerned as to whether our newest tent (a Robens Double Dreamer) would hold up to 30-40 mph winds.
Anyway, we were lucky enough to get pitched up before the winds kicked up and the rain came. Paul put a windbreak up and also positioned the car to help break the wind. Just as well! Overnight and late into Sunday was wild, and just a little bit scary… we weren’t 100% confident that the tent would hold up, but it did us proud.
It was into the afternoon before we felt confident enough to leave the tent – the pegs were holding, but the windbreak had been re-pegged a couple of times, and of course by taking the car we would also be removing one of our windbreaks. However, we felt the need to do something with the day. A fellow fitness instructor that I know (Lynsey) is from Tiree and she happened to be over visiting her family that weekend, so we drove over to pick her up and then headed out to the Gin Distillery for cocktails and a catch up. I loved their “Atlantic Mist” cocktail; we only had one each and I think I chose the best.
On our way back, we stopped in at the amazing Becky’s Bakes – OMG do not go here if you are on a diet! Her cheesecakes are to die for, and come in very generous portions too! Heaven! You simply must visit her bakery if you are on Tiree, even if you’re on a diet (just save up plenty of calories first!)
Dinner back at the tent was some leftover curries that we had frozen and brought with us, then we had our salted caramel cheesecake from Becky’s for dessert. Yum!
Come Monday the weather had picked up. It wasn’t quite as good as forecast, but it stayed mostly dry with some sunny spells. It was still pretty windy, so kayaking was almost out (we had brought our inflatable Itiwit kayak with us) although we did manage a short, but tough, paddle around the bay at Balinoe. We got most of the way round the island that day, checking out the beaches and looking for the best spots to come back to paddle the kayak. Around lunchtime, we stopped off at the Alan Stevenson House in Hynish for coffee and a scone. We had planned to sit out at one of the tables on the pier outside, but the sun hid itself away and it got just a bit too cold to brave it, so we went back inside.
As we were more or less passing Becky’s Bakes on our way back. we couldn’t resist popping in to see what was on the “menu” for today. This time we came away with Tiramisu cheesecake to have for our dessert after dinner, though just one slice to share this time.
After two cloudy and wet nights, this time we finally got a sunset. We walked down to the beach to enjoy it, and although it wasn’t the best we have seen, it was nice to get something at last…
Tuesday was the day with the calmest forecast, and fairly sunny most of the day too. Lets not forget that Tiree is reputed to be the sunniest place in Scotland! We made the most of the good weather and kayaked at “The Maze” and the stunning bay next to it (free parking by following the sign just off the main road, following the rough track across the fields).
After paddling, we ate our picnic lunch overlooking the beach, whilst watching the cows go down to drink the sea water (!) and then we headed along to Gott Bay for another paddle. Gott Bay was beautiful in a different way. There was a vast expanse of white sand (the tide was out) and clear turquoise water which stayed shallow for ages. Parking was easy on the grass verges along the side of the beach. We parked at the far end and paddled out to and under the pier where the CalMac ferry comes in, and on to Scarnish past some small white sand beaches.
We had hoped to stop for a drink at either (or both) the Scarnish Hotel or the Gin Distillery, but we were too early for the hotel bar, and too late for the distillery! So instead we headed back to the campsite for a walk down to the local surfing beach, and then to sit out (at last) in the sun back at the campsite. This was the first day that we actually felt warm – at least for some of the time!
Come Wednesday the weather was still pretty good. A bit windier, but not too bad, so we managed a fairly decent paddle from Balinoe beach to Crossapol beach. We saw a big seal sunning himself on a rock, and we paddled over for a closer look, but he dipped into the water and kept his distance. He did keep popping his head up though, probably waiting for us to pass by so that he could get back to sunbathing.
As it was a mostly sunny day, after stopping off again at Becky’s to buy more delicious cheesecake for later, we went back to the Gin Distillery for a cocktail, this time being able to sit out on the deck and enjoy the sun. We both opted for an “Atlantic Mist”, which we would recommend – and this from people who don’t tend to drink cocktails.
After the distillery we stopped off for a while at Balephuil beach (which has a car park close by) – it’s another huge expanse of soft white sand and turquoise sea. There was only us and one other couple on the whole beach.
For dinner we had booked the Scarnish Hotel restaurant, knowing that we were taking our chances as the chef had left and a new one had just started this week (which was a shame as we had really been looking forward to trying some of the Thai food that was on the previous chef’s menu). To be honest, we were rather disappointed. We both had fish & chips, and both the batter and the actual fish was overcooked, meaning the fish was very dry. The hand cut chips looked rather burned too, but they actually tasted rather good. Maybe (hopefully) it will improve as the new chef settles in…
While in Scarnish, we stocked up on a few things at the Co-op for our trip to Coll. It was a good move as the Co-op was well stocked and very reasonably priced – certainly much cheaper than the local store on Coll.
Back at the tent, we enjoyed our last cheesecake from Becky’s (although we have one of her tray bakes to take to Coll for a treat tomorrow!) It’s been very cold at night in the tent, once the sun has faded, the temperature really drops (and mostly it’s not been warm to begin with). We sat with 3 layers on including down jackets. I slept with my down jacket on last night, and it was the first night that I could say I didn’t feel cold! That’s July in Scotland for you!
A final note on kayaking on Tiree
As far as kayaking goes, we found the easiest beach to access, with the closest parking, was Gott Bay. Parking was free and easy on the grass verges right next to the beach. For Balinoe, there’s a small grassy parking area just as you enter Balemartine, opposite the sandy path to the beach. At the Maze there is plenty of parking, just follow the sign and watch your undercarriage! These were the main places that we put in. I would say that we were very glad that we had a trolley for our kayak, even at Gott Bay where you can park right at the beach, it’s quite a long walk if the tide is out. Also, as a “general rule”, the beaches on the south of the island (the side the ferry comes in on) tend to be better (calmer) for kayaking, whereas the ones on the north are more suitable for the surfers.
COLL
From Tiree to Coll is about an hour on the ferry. It was a dry and sunny morning when we were leaving Tiree, although a short shower did come out of nowhere, so we ended up packing away a wettish tent. We got to the ferry port in plenty of time, so we went into the Yellow Hare Cafe for coffee & cake (which was nice, but the service was very slow, so we had to take half a cup each of our coffees away with us). Only 3 cars got off the ferry on Coll. Tiree was quiet, but Coll is a lot more so. Most people seem to give it a miss, which is a shame, as they are equally beautiful.
There is only one village on Coll (Arinagour) which is also where the ferry comes in. It has a shop, post office, café, community centre (with showers and toilets), petrol station, primary school and a lovely hotel (featuring a bar and restaurant).
Once we arrived at the campsite the sun was out, so it didn’t take long for our tent to dry out once pitched. Unlike the campsite on Tiree, which had lots of families, this one had only 3 tents (including ours), all couples, and a small caravan, also just a couple. Motorhomes and caravans, unless very small, can’t access the archway into the camping field, so they park just outside near the facilities block. The owner of the campsite, Ken, is an elderly widowed man, who is lovely and friendly. We also got chatting quite a bit to one of the other couples while we were there. It was a very chilled out and relaxing few days.
Once we were pitched up, we headed out with the kayak to Breachacha Beach, which has 2 castles on the shore. It was recommended as a safe beach for both swimming and kayaking, and since it was a bit windy, this was a good option for us. This was the most accessible beach we paddled from, with parking a hundred yards or so from the beach. It’s a big bay, and we paddled out towards the end of it (for about a mile). We would have continued on round to Crossopol beach, but we reckoned that getting round the headland would leave us far too exposed to the wind.
We sat outside our tent later with a drink while it was still warm(ish), then headed inside, but keeping the front door up, with just the mesh inner down to break the wind a bit as we made dinner of baked camembert with bread and olives.
On Friday morning we walked out to Feall and then Crossopol beaches (both about 2 kilometres each way, one on either side of the island at its narrowest point). The paths leave from the RSPB car park, which is free and has plenty of space. The paths meander through the machir which is full of beautiful wild flowers in summer. Both beaches are long sandy crescents, Feall beach (and others that we visited on the Atlantic side of the island) was hoaching with washed up jellyfish, like a jellyfish graveyard! It made for an interesting focal point on some of our photos.
After that, we stopped off for a look around the village (Arinagour), the only village on the island. The road in and out is single track with passing places, very quaint. It’s a pretty looking village, with it’s row of whitewashed terraced cottages. The ferry comes in just under a kilometre from the village.
As the weather was good, we wanted to see as much as possible, so we then headed north to visit some of the other beautiful beaches, the loveliest (in our opinion) being Torastan, which we later went back to for a paddle. Most of the beaches on Coll have a walk in of at least a kilometre, so for kayaking the trolley was a must!
We went as far as the road goes, to Sorisdale, only to find that there was no parking as such, just an area marked as a turning point only. Mind you, as it was a decent size, we parked there anyway, just for long enough to walk out to take a look at the beach. It looked like a very good area for kayaking, with a small island about a kilometre offshore, which might have been nice to paddle out to had we not been mindful of leaving the car parked in the “turning only” spot. It did, however, look like access to the beach there might have been a bit tricky compared to some of the other beaches which had good wide well-worn paths that were easy to wheel the trolley on.
So, as mentioned earlier, we went back to park near the stunning beach at Torastan and wheeled our kayak to the beach over the kilometre or so of grassy track that went over farmland.
In the evening, although we had some food that we could have cooked, instead we decided to go to the Coll Hotel for dinner. The food and wine there was excellent, as were the views from the restaurant. We shared some olives and focaccia to start, then Paul had a seafood platter and I had a Thai veg curry, finished off by sharing a typical Scottish dessert of cranachan. We were lucky to get a table, but it is worth pre-booking if you can as the hotel restaurant can get very busy.
Saturday was again a nice day with sunny spells. We started with a visit to Hogh Bay. Ken had already warned us that we should avoid kayaking there due to the strong undercurrents. This beach was also accessed from an RSPB car parking area (at Totronald) and was a mile or so to walk in to. We could see when we arrived why we were warned against kayaking there, and we certainly wouldn’t have tried it anyway. There were big rolling waves coming in, and it looked like it might be a good surfers beach, but most definitely not for swimming or kayaking!
After our walk to Hogh Bay, we headed back into the village for coffee and cake at the Island Café, before driving up to Torastan again for another paddle in the kayak. There was more sun this time, but it was also fairly windy, so we stayed around the bays, which were less exposed and had a lovely paddle.
For tonight we had already pre-booked the Coll Hotel for dinner (we did this while we were still on Tiree). We had booked an early slot (6pm) so we were back at the campsite while the sun was still shining. The wind had really dropped by then, and it was the first evening that we felt warm enough to sit out for any length of time. However, the dreaded midges (which until then we hadn’t had much bother with as it was always too windy for them) descended on us for a feast! That soon sent us into the tent!
On Sunday, our last day, the ferry back to Oban wasn’t until 12.30, so we had planned to have a short paddle in the bay from the village. The tide was due to be in, making access to the water much easier. However, the winds were pretty strong, too much for being out in an inflatable kayak (even the ferry had quite a lot of trouble trying to dock when it arrived), but it was warm, so instead we had coffees in the beautiful garden of the Coll hotel.
Once we boarded the ferry, a little late due to the extra time it took for the ferry to dock, we headed up to the café for lunch, which was very good and reasonably priced. A 2 hour and 50 minute sail back to Oban, followed by a slower than usual drive back to Glasgow and we were home.
We had a wonderful time on both Tiree and Coll. It is hard to say which we preferred, as they both have a lot to offer. But for sure, if you are visiting one, you really should try to do both!
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