There are two anchorages on Lunga and this one is by far the most dramatic. What is more it is very easy to get into and out of. The bay is amazing, almost completely blocked off from the open sea by the great lump of Scarba. Anchored here gives one the feeling of being surrounded by rocky mountains, green in summer and purple with heather in the autumn, although nowhere is very high. Nonetheless, terrific for the Inner Hebrides.
The name is very apt — the bay of the giant. There is a stony beach which invites a barbeque although driftwood is hard to find, At low tide there is sand enough for sandcastles. Unfortunately there is far too much plastic litter thrown up on the beach to the high water mark, and no one to cart it away. Just maybe there are otters in the steep burn that comes down into the bay.
In October 2016 what looked like prefabricated bits of house were being unloaded in the bay by two men in kilts. Then, by 2018, a strange hut-like structure appeared on the shore. It has a wooden deck with up-lighters, a wind generator, a diesel generator, a single bed and a bean-bag, and a wood-burning stove, all tied down with a ratchet strap to stop it being blown away in a gale. Someone's summerhouse I suppose, for someone who likes to be far away from it all.
It is not easy walking around Lunga, but not impossible. There are no paths, and in the summer the bracken is extremely thick. It is of course possible to walk to the Little Corryvreckan (the Grey Dogs Channel) but this is easier from Poll nan Corran. I am not sure if at low tide you can get across to the islands in the north — possibly not, and nor whether there is anything special to see and do if you can — probably not. By and large Lunga is a place for scenery and views of other islands.
I have never found it, but there are the remains of a well at Tobar a Challuim-Chille (the well of St. Columba's church), northwest of Bidean na h-Iolaire (the island's highest point), which was once used by the slate miners on Belnahua.
The island is owned by the Torquil Johnson-Ferguson family who used to run the Rubha Fiola adventure centre, a not inexpensive place to dump your children for a week or two in their holidays (my wife was dispatched there by her parents). It was closed down after the manager was jailed for sex offences. Lunga is now used for grazing animals and I don't think there are any permanent inhabitants, notwithstanding the few houses at Poll nan Corran.
