📌 The Oa, Isle of Islay
★★★
The Mull of Oa forms one of Islay’s most dramatic bits of coastline, with 130 metre-high cliffs plunging into the Atlantic Ocean with Northern Ireland about 25 miles distant. Perched in a spectacular location on the very edge of the cliffs is the American Monument; this prominent obelisk commemorates the loss of over 600 lives in 1918, when two troop ships sank off the west coast of Islay in separate wartime incidents. The headland is also a nature reserve, with rare choughs, seabirds and several bird of prey species calling the moorland home. The RSPB’s circular walking route visits both mull and monument, beginning at the end of a long and narrow road from Port Ellen. Be grateful for the excellent boardwalk paths traversing the wetter sections; we tried venturing off the waymarked trail in the direction of Beinn Mhor and wouldn’t recommend it.
📷 Chronological photo guide
🌍 Location
📌 Start / finish at track end 7 mi west of Port Ellen, Isle of Islay
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NR 281422
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.597726,-6.317056
❌ No public transport within 1 mi
🚗 Car park – reached by 0.5 mi unsurfaced, potholed track
📝 Key info
▶ 3 km / 2 mi | ▲ 50 m | ⌛ 1 hr
Features: 🌊 Mull of Oa; 🦅 RSPB The Oa; ✞ American Monument
⬤⬤ Easy to Moderate | Good path with long sections of boardwalk to the monument. Faint path or pathless beyond (though waymarked) with some wet sections.
Download file for GPS➡️ Anticlockwise circuit: start – American Monument & Mull of Oa by direct route – Bruthach Mòr – Upper Killeyan – start. RSPB trail map 🔗 here (orange) and marked by wooden posts on the ground
🥾 On our last visit
Wildlife: Cows on the access track to the car park; sheep.
Weather: Mostly overcast under an inversion; 5°C, almost windless.
January 2018
