Morven MacNeil writes about her island-hopping trip to the Isle of Jura – it involved walking, whisky and Elvis...
While visiting the Isle of Islay I decided as part of my holiday to visit its neighbouring island – the Isle of Jura in the southern Inner Hebrides. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made; the scenery was stunning, it felt utterly tranquil, and more importantly the whisky was out of this world.
I got the ferry from Port Askaig in Islay over to Jura (it’s just a few miles north east of Islay); this service runs regularly and it only took about 30 minutes. It was slightly cloudy that day but I got to enjoy the views of Islay as we were on our way. There’s also a passenger ferry operating from April to September from Tayvallich to Craighouse in Jura if you’d prefer to travel that way.
Once I’d arrived in Jura in a village called Feolin I jumped on the bus to the main village of Craighouse. You can take a car onto the ferry but I’d booked a slot on the tour of Jura Distillery later that day so the bus was the most sensible option! It was a nice journey and didn’t take that long at all.
I’d booked myself into the Jura Hotel which is a family-run business. I was welcomed by Elvis, the resident cat. He was a grey tiger cat, very confident and very welcoming - we were best friends within seconds and he even joined me for a drink outside later that night.
Once checked in I went for a walk around Craighouse ahead of my distillery tour. I found the village shop, the village hall, a gift shop with a tea room where I got to eat the most delicious scone and then I went to the church. There’s a room at the back of the church with old photos of residents from yesteryear, school photos, locals working away and family gatherings. It gave me a profound feeling that Jura has a warm sense of community spirit, there are only around 200 people that live on the island and these photos showed me how close everyone was and is with each other. Craighouse also has the most splendid views overlooking the Small Isles.
It was now time for the whisky distillery tour – it’s really important to book a place in advance as it’s extremely popular. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and not only spoke about the whole distilling process and the sherry and bourbon casks that are used, she also gave us the history of the distillery itself and the trials and tribulations it had been through. It first opened in 1810 and around 110 years later due to the decline in whisky sales, the owners took the roofs off the distillery, reportedly so that they didn’t have to pay taxes. When it was bought over years later, as you can imagine there was a lot of work to be done to get it looking like the building it is today. After our tour we got to sample some of the whiskies in the shop. My favourite was the Jura Superstition – it tasted peaty but it’s not overpowering, it has a hint of honey and a touch of spice which tones down the peaty flavour. It was far too easy to drink.
After the tour I jumped on the bus again to take a tour of the north part of Jura – I was hoping to see some of the deer (there’s meant to be over 5000 of them on the island) but I didn’t see any that day. Jura is meant to be Norse for ‘Island of the Deer’. We didn’t go north enough to see the cottage in Barnhill where the writer Orson Welles stayed and allegedly wrote ‘1984’. Also north of the island is the Corryvreckan Whirlpool which sits between Jura and Scarba. You’re advised to take a 4-wheel drive over there as it’s quite far from the road or even a boat to take you near there.
After my bus trip I had dinner back at the hotel, I treated myself to a three-course meal and wasn’t disappointed. I then had a night cap with Elvis. In the morning it was time to go so I got the bus back to Feolin and the ferry to Port Askaig.
I would definitely go back to Jura and spend longer on the island; I felt that I just got to tip my toe in the water there – I’d love to walk the Paps of Jura – they’re in the southern half of the island. Every May there’s also the Jura Fell Race where participants race for 16 miles accomplishing seven summits, three of those are the Paps of Jura. I think I’d go to watch rather than take part though!
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