Main Road
Colonsay is one of the islands in the Southern Hebrides, located south of Mull and west of Jura. The population is about 100.
You have a choice of two ways to get there and back by public transport. Calmac offers a ferry service which is daily in the summer. The alternative is to fly with Hebridean Air from Oban.
I chose to mix and match for my trip to the island – I flew there and took the ferry back.
Hebridean operates from Oban Airport and flies to Colonsay on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It uses an 8 seat Islander.
Ready
Oban Airport is tiny. The usual formalities are ignored. My bag was weighed (10kg maximum) and the pilot gave as a safety briefing. That was it. No check in. No identification. No baggage tags. No boarding pass. No security checks.
The flight had one other paying passenger – the chef at the Colonsay Hotel – plus 2 fire crew from Colonsay who’d been on the mainland for training.
Squeezed In
The flight bounces along at a pretty low level – it isn’t for the faint hearted. The views must be great on a good weather day. They weren’t the day of my flight. They almost cancelled the flight because of rain and low cloud – no fancy all weather systems here!
Low Level
The service stops at Islay (35 minutes flying time) on the way, and then it’s another 15 minutes to Colonsay.
It cost me £35 one way (not business class, obviously) for a fabulous experience! Highly recommended.
ⓒ iain taylor, 2017