Oronsay                  Thursday 9^th June

 

Colonsay and Oronsay are separated by a wide expanse of shell sand called the Strand. It would be safe to cross this when the tide is out enough, at 1pm today. We get to the crossing point just after this and there are several people collected here already. There is a small car park.A lot of people have ridden bikes and left them. Everyone seems to be waiting for someone to commit to going. We are the only ones crossing with a bike and it does look a little crazy as we, the first ones to go, step onto the beach.

 

The tandem leaves odd wheel prints on the sand. The wheels it seems are not aligned behind one another but cross each other’s paths making a thin figure of eight. Someone told us the next day they had followed our prints back from the island.

A lady from Morecambe Bay walked with us though she hasn’t done the 9 mile walk to Grange over Sands which we enjoyed a few years ago. At first the water was shallow enough to allow us to keep our shoes on. We were told to follow the tracks on the sand which we dutifully did but we noticed some people were walking right out and wondered why.

Bob said we were across and we came up onto some dry land.! The lady from Morecambe followed though at this point we were riding. A lady came out of her house and asked if we were visiting her. When we said no she wondered where we thought we were. She told us Oronsay was way over where we had seen other people walking. It was a good job we didn’t have much of a following. The Strand was much larger than expected and the tracks had misled us. The postman had visited the lady who was on an inaccessible bit of Colonsay ”mainland”, and left us false tracks.

There was still a long way across the sand to go. It was bumpy, puddled sand with many worm-casts. Later there were large expanses of water and a lot of seaweed looking like a small variety of bladder-wrack. Bob took his shoes and socks off but I held out till it was clear that I would get wet inside my shoes if I didn’t. Now the sand was peppered with sharp stones and bits of shell, cockles and mussels. I saw tiny shrimp like creatures- maybe krill- and small crabs. The seaweed was slippery and it was hard picking our way across for probably best part of 1½ miles.

We came up onto some rocks at last and then there was a track we could ride though it was stony. It took a while to clean off the sand but the path seemed good all the way to the monastery ruin. (We had hoped to ride around the island but the RSPB rent the area past the ruin from the American lady who owns the island. Other paths seemed to be private too though maybe it would be possible to visit seal island in the Autumn when the seal pups are there- can be up to 1,000.) The population here is only 5 to 6 people.

 It was maybe another couple of miles and the ruin at Colonsay Farm came into view. It was free to walk around though there are no facilities here at all. At the entrance is a tall 3.7 metre celtic cross featuring a relief of the crucifixion and an older small monastic sign with a figure of a monk.

The buildings that have been in existence since 1353 and maybe founded by the Lord of the Isles, are fascinating.  The place has a peaceful atmosphere. It’s a shame some of the stones were removed to build the farmhouse. Gruesomely some human bones are kept by the high altar in the chapel.I liked the miniature cloisters.  

 

Both the farm and priory cum monastery are well looked after. Someone was mowing the grass when we were there. The farm buildings are immaculate and the round barn is especially interesting.

 The views of Jura and Islay from the area are lovely on this sunny day. A peacock struts through the farm behind the ruin and 3 ducks that looked totally black inside the ruin but in the sun they shimmered green, blue, black and brown. I couldn’t find a match on the ‘net.

After an abortive attempt at trying to find seal island, off beside the flat fields that used to be a landing place for planes, we headed back for Scalasaig. It would take at least an hour.

Bob kindly pushed me through the watery bits on the bike so I didn’t have to get my feet wet. A crab swam underneath but we managed to miss running it over. On rocks that would soon be surrounded by sea, oyster catchers were being harassed by gulls. The gulls must have been after the chicks of the agitated oyster catchers though we couldn’t see a nest. We left them having a staring match! At the end of the causeway there were mounds of tiny pink flowers- really pretty.

It was worth the trek we thought. The tide would turn at 3.30 and we were back at the hotel waiting for dinner at 4. We had a drink of the local beer and socialised some more after visiting the local church which had a small art exhibition.