Isle of Jura - Inner Hebrides
The western half of the island is virtually trackless, making Jura one of the wildest and emptiest of Britain 's inhabited islands. The west coast is notable for its profusion of caves and famed for its unsurpassed raised beaches. The mountains, known as the Paps of Jura, all reaching 2500 ft in height or more, dominate the rugged landscape in the south. Off the north coast of the island is the Gulf of Corryvreckan , world famous for its notorious whirlpool, which makes an eerie roaring noise sometimes heard 12 miles away on the Scottish mainland.
Jura's name is believed to derive from Old Norse meaning ‘ Deer Island ', a description that is still very apt as both Red and Roe Deer outnumber the population of 200 by about 25 to 1. The Vikings were driven out of Jura in the 12th century by Somerled, whose descendants became the MacDonalds and Lords of the Isles. In the 17th century the MacDonalds fell out with the Scottish Crown, as a result of which most of the land of Jura was granted to the Campbells of Argyll who, in their turn, remained for 300 years. The last Campbell left Jura in 1938 and the island's acreage is now divided between seven private estates.
The single road running up the east side of Jura links many of the island's attractions. About 3 miles along the road from the ferry is Camus an Stacca , at 12 ft high and 4 ft wide, the largest of Jura's 8 standing stones. Offshore is the island of Am Fraoch Eilean , Heather Island , whereon are the ragged ruins of Claig Castle , the fortress built in 1154 by the mighty warlord Somerled. A mile further on is Jura House, constructed by the Campbells in 1812 and renowned for its beautiful Walled Garden , designed as a Victorian kitchen garden - it is open all year round. Near to the Jura House estate stands a Neolithic chambered cairn dating from about 2000 BC, together with a Bronze Age burial cairn. Scuff your feet on the beach at the southern tip of the island and you'll hear the sand ‘sing'.
The old crofting settlement of Keil is a beautiful conservation village, and lying just beyond it is Killearnadil cemetery containing a Campbell mausoleum commemorating the family's three centuries of dominance on Jura. Northwood House is the stone farmhouse in the village of Barnhill, north Jura, where Eric Blair aka George Orwell wrote his celebrated novel 1984. Orwell almost lost his life in the boiling waters of the nearby whirlpool when his boat overturned. The Corryvreckan whirlpool boils when currents of up to 10 knots rush through the strait between Jura and Scarba from opposite directions and meet over an underwater pinnacle; the whirlpool is best seen on a rising tide when there is a strong wind from the west. The Gulf of Corryvreckan is officially classed as unnavigable by the Royal Navy. In the north-west of the island is the site of Glengarrisdale Castle , scene of bloody conflicts between the Campbells of Jura and the MacLeans who owned the northern portion of the isle.