An impressive and rather mysterious entrance, less sporting now the rock has been marked (but then lost its mark!). That rock is in fact much closer to the shore than I used to think in the days when you had to guess where it was, or use rather vague leading line marks on the shore. These days, Antares charts have come to the rescue. Once inside the loch, you are as safe as houses. There are so many places to anchor depending on the wind direction. Ignore the extensive mussel farm which may look unsightly but it does employ local people and the product tastes pretty good.
Most people seem to aim for the northwestern arm where there is wood for a barbeque and a short walk up to a lovely lochan hidden by the trees. To get there, cross the deer fence and scramble up along the burn through the trees. There is a bit of a path along the north side of the lochan which changes to a track which comes out on the road. Turn right and in 200 yards there is a sign back to Loch Spelve — a rather nice round-trip with butterflies, dragonflies and water-lilies.
If you have time, and it's calm, anchor temporarily off Rubha na Cille, just inside the entrance to the loch on the northeast side, close inshore of the mussel farm. Go ashore and follow the west side of the burn for a few minutes up to the isolated and very ruined parish church of Killean which you can see from the loch. It is medieval, abandoned in the 17th century. I couldn't find much in the autumnal bracken, just an enclosed burial ground with maybe 20 sad gravestones, mostly 19th century. So best to go in the spring before the bracken grows up when there would be a much better chance of seeing more, and there may be quite a lot more to see, even 14th century stuff if it is still there.
