Island 99 - Luing, Inner Hebrides

Luing is 6 miles by 2 miles.  It is located to the south of the Isle of Seil and can be accessed by a very short crossing on a vehicle ferry across Cuan Sound.  The highest point on the island is Cnoc Dhomhnuill at 94 metres. 

Luing is famous for the chocolate brown breed of beef cattle that have been bred there since 1947 and are named after the island.  

Slate was quarried on Luing and disused quarries can be seen at Toberonochy and Cullipool.  The one at Cullipool, which closed in 1965, is vast and worth a look just to gaze at the cathedral like proportions of its walls.  The slate workers cottages are still in use at Cullipool.   The island was home to around 600 people before the Clearances in the mid 19th Century.  In 2011 the resident population of Luing was 195.

Luing isn't an island that seems particularly bothered about maximising income from visitors, as when I visited the only shop was shut and there doesn't seem to be a café of any sort on the island.

Kilchattan Church and graveyard are in the centre of the island.  There is a ruined chapel and a memorial to the SS Helena Faulbaums, which sank off the neighbouring island of Belnahua in 1936.

Luing Ferry at Cuan on Seil