Scottish anchorages

From the Little Horseshoe bay anchorage there is a quick scramble up to the site of an old iron age (?) fort at the top of a little flat knoll on the south arm of the bay. A few grassy lumps on its south side presumably cover the remains of the defensive walls. From here there are charming views up and down the Sound of Kerrera. Horseshoe Bay is more difficult to anchor in and seems to me to have no merits over Little Horseshoe Bay which is more attractive anyway – the old wooden hulk enhances the scene in a rather nice way and doubles up as a wrecked pirate ship with treasure (what on earth happens to plastic hulks, there must be thousands of them somewhere?).

One of the small cottages by the anchorage has been taken over by the only parrot sanctuary in Scotland and is open to the public - do not be surprised to hear distant squawks more reminiscent of Treasure Island than the Hebrides when you anchor. Indeed you could easily imagine Long John Silver hopping down to the shore. In 2010 there were 60 birds here in various stages of distress, or well fedness, courtesy of Yvonne MacMillan who is clearly passionate about looking after them. The trouble is that in 2011 she was full and could only take more birds if one of her resident birds dies. This is the same classic problem we have in medicine - to see more new patients in out patient clinics we have to discharge follow up patients to make space, otherwise no new patients get seen. Not surprisingly some discharged follow up patients become disgruntled, and with good reason if their GP cannot provide the sort of specialist care they were getting in hospital.

On a windless day with no sailing you could walk the circuit around the lower two thirds of the island. It is six miles and takes about three hours or so, more if one stops off at the Kerrera tea garden which is only a mile from the anchorage - an irresistible must. What an excellent tea garden. Terrific food for lunch or other times, a lot of it grown on the premises, a lovely cottage garden full of flowers, and a remarkable circular wooden toilet. There are tables outside but if it rains there is an atmospheric sitting room in an old barn. There is also a bunkhouse where my son Oli and his friends celebrated his 21st birthday – certainly an unusual venue. Because no one comes here by car, most have to walk, two miles from the ferry, one wonders how it makes enough money to keep going, but maybe that is not the point - it certainly has nothing of the feel of a mere money making operation, so go there and enjoy it (ph 01631 570223). It changed hands in 2010 and is now not open on Mondays and Tuesdays which is likely to be confusing - let's hope it continues as well if not better than in the past.