Isle of Canna

There’s so much iron in the rock of Compass Hill, above Canna’s harbour, that it can turn the compasses of passing ships. Canna is the most westerly of the Small Isles, about four miles long, and Sanday, its small neighbour, is joined on by a road bridge. The Gaelic scholars John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw gave both islands to the National Trust for Scotland in 1981. Their home, Canna House, holds the archive of Gaelic songs, stories and folklore they gathered over decades; it reopened in 2025 after a nine-year restoration, and tours must be booked. Near the harbour, the ruin of Coroghon Castle is a small tower, probably 17th-century, perched on a sea stack and later used as a prison. More than 20,000 seabirds nest around the island, and puffins gather at the east end of Sanday in summer; Canna has been rat-free since 2006. CalMac ferries sail from Mallaig all year, and summer boats run from Elgol on Skye; book ahead, even on foot.