Walking on & Around Seil

Atlantic Bridge

The first thing most visitors do when they get here, after a cup of tea or coffee, is to take a walk back to the old bridge which was built in 1792-3 to join the island to the mainland. Its high arch was designed to allow ships to pass underneath - the channel was much deeper then.  The cost of building was £450 - not much today, but very expensive in its day.  Next to the bridge is the Tigh an Truish Inn - House of the Trousers, or more fondly known as the T&T.  When the kilt was forbidden during the time of the Jacobite rebellion, soldiers changed to trousers before going on to the mainland and back into their kilts on returning home.  In May each year, the bridge is covered with a small purple flower - the fairy foxglove or erinus alpinus.  A barn owl has been known to nest in a small hole in the masonry - and he regularly sits on the bridge at dusk, or is seen flying to and fro.

Quarry Ruins

Walking across the bridge and turning left, you can walk along the mainland shore of the sound.  This rather overgrown and boggy track takes you through marshy meadows alive with wild flowers and eventually comes upon some old slate quarry workings.  Roe deer are a common sight in this area.  You can continue around the coastline to Barnacarry Bay, coming back the same way, or via the road.

Puilladobhrain

From the bridge it is possible to walk over the hill to Puilladobhrain (the pool of the otter) which is a natural and well known anchorage for yachts.  This walk gives spectacular views of mull and all the little islands just offshore from Seil.  You may see the ferries which service all the smaller islands, lobster fishermen working and on a lucky day you may see porpoises in the Sound of Mull.  At the T&T, follow the track at the right hand side of the Inn, through a gate, across a field, picking up the well worn track down to the shore - the path is quite distinct the whole way as the T&T is a popular watering hole for sailors!  From here you can return the same way or turn north and follow the waters edge to the tip of the island and then back through the woods to the inn.  The track is not always very clear through the woods, but you can’t really get lost in such a small area.  Just meander along and see what you can see.

Ballachuan

This Woodland area on the south east coast of the island is owned by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and is the home of heron, roe deer, the elusive badger, red squirrels and otters as well as many species of butterflies and lichens.  To access the woods, park up by Kilbrandon Church and walk down the track opposite - halfway down the hill a track leads through the sheep fanks along the bottom of a small lochan, across a small bridge and  into the woods.  From here you can just wander and explore the hazel woods, maybe look the for wildlife and birds or hunt for the ruined village.

Cuan

One of the longer walks on the island with wonderful views over to the little islands of the Garvellachs and over to Luing and Scarba.

The best place to start this walk is from Seaview.  This is a small group of houses at the bottom of the steep hill on the way to Ellenabeich.  Park your car in the large lay-by, and then walk along the road past the houses, through a gate and on to the coastline. The area is a raised beach, usually occupied by sheep or cows.  About two thirds of the way to Cuan is a cave in the cliffs.  Folklore says this is a fairy cave that leads all the way to Mull - in times of clan warfare and invasion, messages could be sent to Mull requesting reinforcements.  On this walk to Cuan, you may see seals, otters and occasional porpoises.  Above, you may see buzzards, ravens, the occasional golden eagle, and all manner of little birds and bigger birds!  From Cuan you join the road for a short way up the hill to Kilbrandon church,  This is worthy of a stop - not only is it a good resting point, but it is also a wonderfully peaceful building with quite remarkable stained glass windows.  At the back of the church grounds a kissing gate leads you on to the hills where you can pick up the track which goes past Kilbride farm and back down to Seaview cottages.

Easdale

Easdale Island, although small, is a delightful place to walk.  With no cars on the island, it is like taking a trip back in time.  Provisions are taken back and forth by wheelbarrow.  Access is gained by the small passenger ferry running from Ellenabeich which only takes two minutes, but watch out for the ferryman’s lunch and tea breaks.   A short walk past a few cottages leads to well made up paths round the island’s old quarry workings and on to the ridge for some spectacular 360’ views.  There is a small museum on the island and the Puffer Bar is a great place for lunch or a cup of tea.

Above Ellenabeich

A short but steep path starts at a kissing gate next to An Cala gardens and leads up the hill to above the village of Ellenabeich. This vantage point gives a great view of the quarry workings of Seil and Easdale as well as spectacular views of the mull and other nearby islands.

Luing

Luing offers many walking opportunities from a couple of hours to a full day.  The fittest can walk the length of the island down one side and back up the other.  Like Seil there are many wild flowers and animals, but because it is generally quieter on Luing, there seems to be much much more!  Again, the views are quite spectacular.  If you want a shorter walk, take the ferry over to South Cuan, walk by road to Cullipool (it’s pretty quiet!) and then along the coast back to the ferry.  There is a part of the path that has eroded away, but you can scramble up the hillside and then back down to the shore again a little further on.

Ardmaddy

The gardens at Ardmaddy have short but pretty walks round the gardens and woodland.  Beyond the castle you can walk along an easy track along the coast for just over a mile or so.  It comes to an end at a salmon farm.  On the way to Ardmaddy, you pass by the Gatehouse - from here there are several tracks that lead over the hill to Degnish Point.  It is easy walking, but it has a feel of remoteness far away from the trappings of the modern world.  In the summer, you can even hear the skylarks singing.  The views over to Mull, Scarba, and Loch Melfort are just wonderful.

Loch Seil Forest

At the south end of Loch Seil a track leads over to Raera Forest where good tracks give some sheltered walking for bad days.  Roe and Red deer are regularly seen here and the wee Monkjack can sometimes be seen by Loch Seil.  There are some lochans dotted about the forest, and some long forgotten remains of settlements.  A map (and compass) are a good idea as it is very easy to get lost, especially as you go further in.  None of the tracks are marked as such, and you do have to rely on your own way-finding abilities.  Some of the forsest has been felled in the last couple of years revealing more and more of the landscape and history underneath the trees.

Further Afield

The island of Kerrera, just off Oban, is another trip into the past.  Very little traffic, cart tracks and masses of wild flowers along with a wonderful sense of peace make for a wonderful day out.

If you want easy walking, then Glens Lonan, Musdale and Scammadale have very quiet roads with hardly any traffic but give you a sense of wild and remote places, and from here you can take any one of numerous hill tracks up onto the moors.

Kilmartin Glen offers a trip into deep history with its standing stones and burial chambers.  The many tracks give you opportunities to explore this seat of the ancient Kings of Scotland.  Further down the coast Crinan Canal again offers easy walking along with the opportunity to watch the boats moving up and down the canal.

Loch Awe has lots of forestry walks, again good for bad weather days.  The loch also has the remains of many crannogs - ancient settlements built on stilts out in the water.  And for the more adventurous, there is the horseshoe of Ben Cruachan and other Classic munros further north.  And there are miles and miles of inviting remote moor land and coastline.

This list of walks is by no means definitive - they are merely suggestions.  Please make sure you are adequately clothed and shod for the walk you intend to take, and that you take a map and compass if you are going to the more remote areas.  Waterproof clothing, hats and gloves are always good to carry in case of a change of weather.  Food and drink should also be taken.

We have maps of the area if you need to borrow them.