Getting to Gometra means crossing the whole of Ulva first, its nearer neighbour, a walk of some seven miles from the Ulva Ferry slipway to the bridge over the narrow tidal channel between the two. It’s a working farm island, sheep and cattle mostly, with a scatter of houses around Gometra House by the harbour. Roc Sandford, an environmental campaigner, has owned Gometra since the 1990s and farms it off-grid, without mains electricity. From the high ground you can see west to Staffa and the Treshnish Isles, scattered across the sea. Around seven people live here now, down from nearly 80 before 19th-century clearances drove most residents away. There’s no ferry directly to Gometra, so anyone visiting on foot needs to be ready for the long walk back.
