An island made for walking
Kerrera
Cross the Sound of Kerrera for an old drove road, a ruined tower house, island produce and views towards Mull, Jura, Colonsay and the Garvellachs.
- Best for
- Walking, cycling and island history
- Getting there
- Passenger ferry from Gallanach
- Don't miss
- Gylen Castle and the Kerrera Tea Garden
The Fox verdict
A car-free island day shaped by the old drove road
Kerrera combines a six-mile southern circuit with a ruined castle, a seasonal tea garden, marina dining, island produce and steamship history.
The island's strongest day out follows the southern circuit from the main ferry slip to Gylen Castle and the Kerrera Tea Garden. At the north end, the marina water taxi serves the Waypoint restaurant, Balliemore adds a farm-shop stop, and Hutcheson's Monument recalls the island's steamship links.
Where to go
Places in Kerrera
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesHutcheson's Monument
A monument commemorating David Hutcheson, founder of the steamer line that became Caledonian MacBrayne.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 30 minutes
- Locality
- north end of Kerrera
Kerrera Ferry House
A Category C-listed, mid-18th-century former change house or ferry house that accommodated Kerrera's ferryman until 2022.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 20 minutes
- Locality
- Above the main Kerrera ferry slip
Gylen Castle
An L-plan tower house built by Duncan MacDougall in 1582, burned by Covenanters in 1647 and later sketched by J.M.W. Turner; ravens now breed in the ruins.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 45 minutes
- Locality
- rocky promontory over the Firth of Lorn
Food & drink
3 placesKerrera Tea Garden
A seasonal tea room in a walled garden serving home-made lunches, Scottish stews, muffins, carrot cake and cold fizzy rhubarb juice, with a bothy for shelter in bad weather.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 60 minutes
- Locality
- Lower Gylen, south end
- Access
- The tea garden's operating period varies across the year; check its latest visitor information before travelling.
Waypoint Bar & Grill
A marina restaurant and bar serving a changing menu of fresh local ingredients, including seafood dishes, with views over the bay.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Kerrera Marina, Ardantrive Bay, north end
- Access
- Reached by the marina's own water taxi from Oban's North Pier rather than the CalMac passenger ferry.
Balliemore Farm Shop
A family-run farm shop selling its own beef, pork and lamb.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 20 minutes
- Locality
- Kerrera
Walks & outdoors
1 placeSouthern Kerrera Circuit
A circular route on good track with reasonable gradients, taking in the Sound of Kerrera, Gylen Castle and the tea garden, with views towards Mull, Colonsay, Jura and the Garvellachs.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 180 minutes
- Locality
- from the main ferry slip in the middle of the island
- Access
- The route crosses active farmland; keep dogs on a lead and leave gates as found.
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Three ways to explore Kerrera
Signature outings
Tea at Lower Gylen
Pair home-made lunch or cake with the walled garden setting a few minutes from Gylen Castle.
Gylen above the Firth
See the ruined 1582 tower house on its rocky promontory, where ravens now breed.
The southern circuit
Walk the six-mile circuit from the main ferry slip for the Sound of Kerrera, Gylen Castle and outward island views.
The village story
Kerrera Village Guide
A boat-reached island of food gardens, farm shops, an old drove road and a castle above the Firth of Lorn.
The tea garden and the car-free island
The Kerrera Tea Garden sits in a walled garden at Lower Gylen, a few minutes from a ruined castle, and serves Lorne sausage stovies, carrot cake and cold fizzy rhubarb juice in what one visitor called cute, kitsch crockery. Aideen and Martin took it over in 2013 and run it with their daughter Nancy from April to the end of September, Thursday to Monday, eleven till four. There is a bothy to shelter in when the weather turns and a lavatory signposted the Loo with a View. One blogger's lunch of juice, stovies, tea and cake came to £12.55, which for a place reached only by boat is not bad going.
Kerrera is a long, narrow island lying immediately off Oban, seven kilometres by two, cut off from the mainland by a sound about five hundred metres wide. There are no public roads for visitors' cars, and no cars to speak of beyond the residents' own, which leaves it a walking and cycling island by default.
Two ferries and the Waypoint
You reach it on the CalMac passenger ferry Carvoria from Gallanach, a five-to-ten-minute crossing carrying feet and bikes only, about £3.70 return, with the last boat off around five to six. A pre-booked water taxi from Oban's North Pier lands you at Kerrera Marina at the north end.
The marina is where you'll find the Waypoint Bar & Grill, the island's other place to eat. The menu changes daily around whatever's freshest — scallops, hake, mussels, mackerel pâté, venison burgers, fish and chips — and the tables look west over the water at the sunset. Lunch Thursday to Sunday, dinner most evenings.
Farm shops and the old drove road
Two farm shops sell what the island raises. Ardantrive Farm Shop, at the north end, doubles as a gallery; Balliemore Farm Shop is family-run. Both trade in their own beef, pork and lamb.
The main walk is a six-mile circle from the ferry slip in the middle of the island, heading south along the Sound of Kerrera to Gylen Castle and the tea garden, the track giving views out to Mull, Jura, Colonsay and the Garvellachs. It follows the old drove road, along which island cattle were once walked the length of Kerrera before being swum across to the mainland at a place called Cow Point. The elevated interior is called Am Maolan, the Wild Place — "and wild it is," according to one walker.
Gylen Castle and island life
Gylen Castle, an L-plan tower house on a promontory over the Firth of Lorn, was built by Duncan MacDougall in 1582 and burned by Covenanters in 1647, when the garrison surrendered and were massacred, all but the infant chief. The Brooch of Lorn, torn from Robert the Bruce at Dalrigh in 1306, was kept there, looted in the sack, lost for a century and a half, and returned to the MacDougalls in 1824. Ravens nest in the ruins now. Turner came and sketched it in 1831. Earlier still, in 1249, King Alexander II died of a fever at Horseshoe Bay; the field where he came ashore is still called Dail Righ, the King's Field.
The population has crept back up — sixty-eight by 2019, eighteen of them children. The island's own history page notes that where Vikings once plundered, the only threat to walkers today is the feral island children attacking the unsuspecting with a nerf gun.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Kerrera Tea Garden — kerrerabunkhouse.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Waypoint Bar & Grill — kerreramarina.com other published source
- Hutcheson's Monument — portal.historicenvironment.scot statutory register or public authority
- Balliemore Farm Shop — wildaboutargyll.co.uk other published source
- Kerrera Ferry House — portal.historicenvironment.scot statutory register or public authority
- Gylen Castle — portal.historicenvironment.scot statutory register or public authority
- Southern Kerrera Circuit — isleofkerrera.org operator, sector body or destination organisation