Island 262 - Shona Beag, Loch Moidart, Highland

Shona Beag and Shona are one island located on the north side of Loch Moidart and linked by a narrow isthmus.  Shona Beag, which is the smaller part, is accessible at low tide from the mainland via a causeway.  A track runs down to the causeway from the A861 about halfway between Kinlochmoidart and Glenuig.

It was difficult to spot where the track started.  Initially I drove passed it, as there is just a closed gate with no name on it.  After careful consultation of my Explorer map, I realised it was the start of the Shona Beag track.  There was just about enough parking for one small car without blocking the driveway.  It was then a delightful walk in the sunshine down the tree lined track to the ford marked on the map as Atha a' Chaolais.

I arrived about an hour before low tide and the causeway was clear.  On each side of it was mud, so I presume that the causeway has been deliberately built up slightly and made firmer with gravel.  There was no ford to cross.  I met no one on the way down or on the island and there are no notices saying Private, Keep Out.  However I still felt slightly uneasy about being there without permission, so only walked a short way up the track and didn't go as far as the small cluster of houses on the south side of the island at Invermoidart.  The track on the island had been mended recently but the only cars I saw were parked on the mainland side of the causeway.

Shona Beag is covered in widely spaced mature oak and birch trees with heather in between.

A few days later when I was at Castle Tioram on the opposite side of Loch Moidart I watched a boat arrive and depart at Eilean Shona House on Shona.  There is no road access to this house.



Mainland from Shona Beag



 Mainland from Shona Beag

 Mainland from Shona Beag showing the causeway

 

Shona Beag from the mainland.