Garvellachs

The Garvellachs are a chain of small, uninhabited islands in the Firth of Lorn, remote enough that landing depends on the weather. Their old name, the Isles of the Sea, still fits. Eileach an Naoimh, the southernmost and best known of the group, holds some of the oldest Christian remains in Scotland: a monastery traditionally founded around 542 by St Brendan the Navigator, with a beehive cell, a round drystone hut over three metres tall built as two joined chambers, standing among the ruins of two later chapels and a graveyard. Tradition also ties the island to Columba, whose mother Eithne is said to be buried here. Boat trips run out from Ellenabeich with SeaFari Adventures, and from Crinan on the mainland with Venture West, landing on Eileach an Naoimh’s rocky shore when conditions allow. Seen from the water, the islands sit low against the skyline west of Luing, easy to overlook next to their bigger neighbours.