Ian Brooke wrote the following article for the Ileach newspaper: It is that time of year again, and Walkislay starts on Saturday 16th April. Our first walk this year leaves from the car park leading to Islay House Square 10.30am sharp with Iain Macpherson being our leader. Iain’s walk will go though Islay House Square, past Eollabus and Knockdon and eventually up to Loch Cam. We will return by Loch Skerrols to our starting point.

On Sunday, the walk will be starting from Ardnave at 10.00am and go round Ardnave Point. For those not wishing to continue, you have the option to return to your cars from Traigh Nostaig. The others will continue on along the coast to Sanaigmore. Transport will be provided to get the car drivers back round to Ardnave to pick up their vehicles. In the evening, starting at 9pm in Port Charlotte Hotel, there will be some light music provided for your entertainment.

On Monday there is a choice of two walks. Florrie MacAllister will lead off from Bowmore Primary School for shared transport at 9.15am . The actual walk itself will start from Red Lodge on the High Road and follow the Burma Road down to Corrary. From here we go down the River Laggan, out to Laggan Point and then follow the coastline up to Gartbreck and return to Bowmore. Please notify Ian Brooke on 01496 850 382 if you intend to go on Florrie’s walk to allow for transport arrangements to be made. The other walk will be led by James MacAulay for a visit out to Texa. This walk is strictly limited to 30 folk, so again please contact Ian to book your place! We will meet with James at 1.30pm at Lagavulin Distillery. Should the weather be inclement the alternative walk will be from Ardbeg out to Solum, but the initial starting point will be Lagavulin. Continue reading....

Tuesday again has a choice of two walks. Meet at 9.15am for shared transport at Kynagarry. We will actually be starting from Kintore and heading inland up the Kintore River and wending our way over to Kynagarry. This will be quite a challenging walk with some great views all around. Here again please contact Ian if you wish to go to allow for transport. The other walk is a 10am start from the car park at the RSPB Oa reserve and will be led by one of the staff from RSPB. This will be a short circular walk taking in the American Monument.

On Wednesday, we sail to Colonsay. Depending on the tides and weather we may head over to Oronsay or alternatively we may head to the other end of Colonsay and walk out to Balnahard. We will be taking some vehicles over to Colonsay to allow us to get you down to the starting point a bit quicker! Please meet up at Port Askaig at 9.25am sharp, obviously we will not return until the evening ferry from Colonsay.

Thursday, has a choice of 3 walks. At 10am there will be the usual RSPB walk from the visitor centre at Gruinart. One of the other options is to meet up with Scott Brown and Alan MacDonald at Bunnahabhain at 10am. Some parts of their walk heir walk will be challenging! They will go inland over to Bolsa , then follow the coast up to Rhuvaal and then return to Bunnahabhain. The third walk today will start from Bunnahabhain at 4pm, up the peat road and past Loch Staoisha down past Ballulive and end up at Ballygrant Hall. At 7pm on the Thursday evening there will be a light informal supper provided in Ballygrant Hall to which all are invited to attend.

On Friday, we head over to Jura to meet up with Donald Ewan Darroch. We will meet at Port Askaig at 9.15am to catch the 9.30am ferry to Feolin. From Feolin we walk out to the track to Inver and then onto Cnocbreac, From there we will head inland again on the track and follow the loop round along the base of the Paps returning to Cnocbreac, down to Inver and back to the ferry. We would remind you all to wear suitable clothing and footwear and to remember to bring your food with you as appropriate.

Armin Grewe has made a very nice illustrated programme in PDF format which is available in the blog's Download section or directly by following this link.

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