Achnacroish is merely a wee hamlet, there is nothing really to see or do, just the primary school, some not very attractive houses and a rather beaten-up pier and ferry terminal. It is all surprisingly Hebridean even though it is so close to Oban. However, take a walk to the Heritage Centre which is in a calm and quite attractive 2007 modern building (ph 01631 760030) on the 'main' road opposite the turning for Balnagown. It is only about a mile from the anchorage if you take the path along the coast via Balnagown. There are a lot of interesting old photographs and artefacts, and a restored cottage (opened in 2002) with a couple of mannequins and their baby in a cot, an audio of someone speaking in Gaelic, and a Gaelic Bible. Post 'blackhouse' I think because it has a fireplace and is divided into two rooms. In the same building as the museum is the Isle of Lismore café, the only place on the island for a cup of tea. It sells home-baked cakes, and snacks of various sorts but not regular evening meals, and nor does anywhere else on the island (ph 07745 536902). Check the opening times on their facebook page before making a journey. Sitting outside on the deck on a nice day is extremely pleasant, particularly watching the sweaty cyclists toiling along the road below.
A little further along the road you come to Clachan with a delightful and extraordinarily interesting church. At first glance it looks like an ordinary Scottish Kirk but look closer and you will see all sorts of stuff which reveals its more illustrious past — incredibly for such a small place, as a cathedral (St Moluag's) which began life in the 13th and 14th centuries as the seat of the Bishop of Argyll. Before that it may have been the site of St Moluag's monastery. By 1512 it was in ruins. The present structure arose in the 18th century. It is based on the original cathedral choir, although it has been much altered since then (the gallery and the timber roof are late Victorian). Confusingly, the inside is now back to front with the pulpit at the west not the traditional east end. The stained glass windows are good. The few remains of the older cathedral are as spectacular as they are surprising — seven external buttresses, the blocked-off doors in the north and south walls, the arch in the west wall, the three-arched sedilia and the piscina in the south wall. The graveyard is charming, full of wild flowers, a good place to sit and think, some old graveslabs have been stacked up under cover. The immediately adjacent old manse is a lovely 18th and 19th century building, as is the 18th century Bachuil House 100 yards further towards Port Ramsay. Like so many Scottish churches in 2024, this one too was for sale but amazingly the community bought it in 2026. It would have been a travesty to convert such a historic building into a second or holiday home, or leave it derelict.
