Island 157 - Porth Island, Cornwall

I have never seen Porth Island mentioned in any book about British islands. However it definitely is an island.  I visited several hours before high tide on a dull and very windy afternoon in October 2011 and there was a lot of seawater under the short footbridge that links it to the mainland at Porth, which is just north of Newquay on the north coast of Cornwall.  The gap between the mainland and the island is only about 10 metres.

 Porth Island from across the bay

 Short footbridge connecting Porth Island with the mainland

 Blowhole looking north east towards Whipsiderry

More oystercatchers than I have ever seen in one place.  I think they were waiting for the weather to improve! Looking south west towards Newquay

 Looking down into the blowhole. 
When there was a particularly big wave the spray reached up well above ground level

 Long narrow Geo at the western end of the island

 The highest point on the island

  A very narrow rocky and slippery path leads around the western end of the island.

 Looking south east towards Porth

 This rock is apparently known as Norwegian Rock
It is located directly to the north of the footbridge

I visited in 2006 to look for a geocache but had forgotten that it is an island.  It isn’t very large but has several interesting natural features including cliffs, a blowhole and a geo.

It was populated in the Bronze and Iron Ages.  There are 2 Early Bronze Age barrows on Trevelgue Head, which is at the western end of the island  and is the highest point on the island.  These consist of cists (stone lined boxes) containing cremated human remains, which were then covered with an earth mound.  There was an excavation of the barrows in 1840 by Canon Rogers and in 1872 led by William Copeland Borlase Neolithic flint tools have also been discovered on the island. 

There was a major excavation on the island in the summer of 1939 led by C.K. Croft Andrew but the work was halted by the start of the Second World War.  A survey was carried out by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit in 1983.  There was a farm on the island in the Iron Age with a large roundhouse of 4.5 metres in diameter, which was probably a meeting place, with several smaller roundhouses located around it.  There was a terraced field system. Evidence from the remains of the middens indicates that sheep, cattle and goats were kept and deer were also eaten.  More than 4,000 sherds of decorated pottery were found along with glass rings and beads, querns for grinding corn and spindle whorls for spinning wool. The remains of iron, tin and copper smelting activities were also found – furnaces, ore roasting pits and slag.

There are the eroded remains of 8 large earth and stone ramparts and rock cut ditches (5 on the mainland and 3 on the island), which formed an Iron Age cliff castle.

 Later Roman pottery and coins have also been discovered on the island.

Today the island is uninhabited and not grazed, except by rabbits.  It is grass covered with wildflowers such as thrift.  There are a couple of interpretation boards, which were erected in 2007 with historical and archaeological information and an artist’s impression of what the island would have looked like in the Iron Age.  It is popular with dog walkers and there were some people fishing off the rocks when I visited.

Island 156 - Ard Thunga, Sutherland

Ard Thunga, like its neighbour Eilean Thunga, is linked to the mainland by the Kyle of Tongue Causeway/Bridge and has been since 1971.  It is very flat and has a car park and a litter bin and the remains of an old building.  In September 2011 I walked to it across the causeway, while staying in the excellent Tongue Youth Hostel, which is situated at the east end of the causeway.

 Car Park and wheelie bin - looking towards the east

Remains of an old building - looking south west

This was the last new island of my holiday.  In 8 days I had visited 25 islands, of which 22 were new to me.  You can have too much of a good thing, so it was time to stop island collecting for a few months.

Island 155 - Eilean Thunga/ Tongue Island, Sutherland

Eilean Thunga is a flat and unremarkable island located in the Kyle of Tongue.  Since 1971 when a ferry was replaced by a causeway/bridge it has been linked to the mainland on the east and the west.  The crossing carries the A838.  The bridge and causeway were built by Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners.   I have crossed the causeway several times in previous years but never noticed this island!  I even spent quite a while looking for a geocache in a very large pile of rocks several years ago. 

 Plaque commemorating the opening of the Kyle of Tongue Crossing in 1971

Eilean Thunga - picnic table

 Unite Hope Project Angel on Eilean Thunga
This is one of 49 "peace angels" gifted by a Swedish organisations to various places around the world.  It was presented to the communities of Melness, Tongue and Skerray in 2014.

Island 154 - Eilean na h-Alteig, Oldshoremore, Sutherland

Eilean na h-Alteig was a bonus island for me.  While I was waiting for the Handa Island Ferry earlier in the day I got my OS map out and planned my route north when this island caught my eye.  Low tide was mid afternoon, which was perfectly timed.  However on several previous occasions I have got to tidal islands that look accessible on the map only to find that it is soft mud or acres of slippery seaweed that separate them from the mainland or that they are only accessible on a spring tide.  This island is a short walk across sand, boulders and larger rocks with not very much seaweed.  The island is covered in short grass and heather.  The land rises from near sea level on the north side to cliffs of no more than about 20 metres on the southern side.

The beach at Oldshoremore is gorgeous - golden sand.  There is a car park at the south east end of the bay. 

 Even Highland cattle enjoy a day out at the seaside!  Oldshoremore Beach

 Eilean na h-Alteig from the graveyard

 On Eilean na h-Alteig looking towards Bagh a Phollain

 On Eilean na h-Alteig looking south eastwards

Oldshoremore Beach from Eilean na h-Alteig

Island 153 - Handa Island, Sutherland

Handa Island is owned by Dr Jean Balfour but it has been managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust since 1991.  Between 1961 and 1991 it was managed by the RSPB and it is best known for its seabird colonies.  Nearly 100,000 seabirds nest on the island each year.  However by the time I visited at the beginning of September there were only fulmars and skuas and a few gulls to be seen.  However the cliffs themselves are stunning in their own right.  

Handa Island is accessible by a passenger ferry from the hamlet of Tarbet from the end of March to the end of August.  The narrow road to Tarbet meets the A894 about halfway between Scourie and Laxford Bridge.  When I visited in 2011 the charge was £10 for adults and £5 for children.  Dogs are not allowed on the island and there are no toilets. 

Geologically Handa is composed of Torridonian sandstone.  This has weathered to leave horizontal ledges, which are ideal if you are a seabird looking for somewhere to nest.

Ruined Cottage

Until 1848 when the potato crop failed 60 people in 8 families lived on Handa in stone cottages in the SE of the island.  They grew oats and potatoes, kept animals and collected seabirds and their eggs and shellfish from the beaches.  By 1851 they had all left, mainly emigrating to America.

The remains of a graveyard can be seen in the SE of the island outside the information hut.  It was probably used to bury people from the mainland at a time when wolves were still roaming wild.

Great Stack 

Boardwalk across the island

This is the longest boardwalk I have ever seen.  Most of the path from the old village to the north coast and along the south coast is boardwalk across the heather covered boggy ground both to protect the fragile environment and to prevent visitors from getting very wet feet!

Cliffs at Puffin Bay

The cliffs on the north coast are about 85 metres high.  The highest point on the island is Sithean Mor at 123 metres.   In the breeding season there are thousands of guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and puffins to be seen.  The whole island is an SSSI.

Rats were a problem to ground nesting birds like puffins but they were eradicated from the island in 1997.

 Almost vertical cliffs

 Narrow geo

Another geo

 Blowhole- Poll Glup

Looking towards Great Stack

 Port an Eilein

 Ferry to Handa - at Traigh an Teampull

 Looking towards Traigh an Teampull

 Traigh an Teampull - landing beach

Information Hut

Port an Eilein

 

Meall a Bhodha

Island 152 - Garbh Eilean, Sutherland

Garbh Eilean is an unremarkable island which  I expect used to be little visited.  However it is now at one end of  the Kylesku Bridge, which links Kylesku with Kylestrome and carries the A894 road.  There was previously a ferry here.   The bridge was opened in 1984 by the Queen. There is a car park with a seat and a commemorative cairn. 

 Kylesku Bridge

Cairn to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 12th Submarine Flotilla, who trained in these 'wild and still waters' in 1943
 

The monument was erected on 10th April 1993 to honour the men of the XIIth Submarine Flotilla who manned midget submarines (X-craft) during the Second World War. Much of the training of the crews of these craft was done in the waters around Kylesku. The crews trained in this area for their midget submarine attack on the German battleship Tirpitz in the Altenfjord, Norway.

 This is apparently Mackay Country

Kylesku Bridge

Island 151 - Tanera Mor, Summer Isles

Tanera Mor is one of the Summer Isles.  You can go there on a boat trip from Ullapool or from Achiltibuie.  However you only get 45 minutes or an hour on Tanera Mor, which isn't really long enough to explore it properly.  I understand that with the Summer Isles Sea Tours, which operates from Achiltibuie that you can sometimes go on a morning tour and return on a later one if there is space and more than one trip is running.  I went with this company and you get a tour around the islands to see seals and the stunning cliffs and Cathedral Cave on Tanera Beg before you land on Tanera Mor.  There was just enough time to walk through a bog to one of the geocaches on the island and to have a quick cup of tea and a piece of flapjack in the cafe. 

5 cottages on the island are rented out as holiday lets.  For more information see
http://www.summer-isles.com

 Shed in a bog
 - I'm not sure of its purpose but there was no one at home when I was looking for the nearby geocache.
 

 Beach at the Anchorage

 

 Cafe - excellent flapjack!

 Tanera Mor from the landing jetty

 Fish farms in The Anchorage - east coast

 

 Jetty

 Looking west towards Eilean Fada Mor

 

Old Schoolhouse

 
Tanera Mor from the hill above Achiltibuie


Seals on one of the Summer Isles

 Cathedral Cave, Tanera Beg

 Tanera Beg Cliffs

 Summer Isles