Colonsay
15.06.2017 - 15.06.2017
15 °C
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Colonsay
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Colonsay is one of the islands in the Southern Hebrides, located south of Mull and west of Jura. The population is about 100.
Island Life
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.
Ready?
I chose to mix and match for my trip to the island - I flew there and took the ferry back.
Hebridean Air operates from Oban Airport and flies to Colonsay on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It uses an 8 seat Islander.
http://www.hebrideanair.co.uk/flights/Air_Charter.html
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.
Tight Squeeze
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.
Posted by IainT 07:05 Archived in Scotland Tagged planes scotland ferries calmac islandlife colonsay
