Holy Isle – a Boat from Lamlash and the Lighthouse Path
A day.
The route
Holy Isle is the steep green island that fills the mouth of Lamlash Bay, and a small boat from the old pier in Lamlash takes you over for nearly four hours ashore.
A path runs down its sheltered west side past a saint's cave, a holy well and painted rocks to a square white lighthouse, with Arran's mountains across the water. There's no café on the island, so it's a picnic day.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Lamlash Cruises' Day Visitor Excursion to Holy Isle online for your date before you go: the boats run from April to October at times set by the tide in Lamlash Bay, and a trip the firm cancels is refunded in full.
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The day
Holy Isle
A quarter of an hour across Lamlash Bay, a gentle path down the island's sheltered shore to its lighthouse, and a picnic with Arran's hills across the water.
About five hoursAbout 4.5 miles on foot
The boat to Holy Isle
Lamlash Cruises' Day Visitor Excursion leaves from the Old Pier in Lamlash, and the 323 bus from the Brodick ferry terminal stops at Lamlash Pier in about 10 minutes. The crossing takes about 15 minutes and gives you nearly four hours on the island. It's £28 an adult and £22 for children aged 5 to 15 at the time of writing, and under-5s go free if you note them on the booking. Book online by date: the boats run from April to October, at times set by the tide in Lamlash Bay. Boarding is by the pier steps, so there's no direct wheelchair access, though the crew help everyone aboard. Dogs stay behind, except assistance dogs. Holy Isle has no shop or café, so take a picnic and water. The Old Pier Café beside the pier makes filled sandwiches and soups, and opens at 10am (11am on Sundays), except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
About 1 hr 15 min on foot
Holy Isle's coastal path to Pillar Rock lighthouse
The coastal path starts in front of the Centre for World Peace and Health by the jetty and runs south along the island's west side, about 2 miles and 45 minutes at a gentle pace. A small sign points up steps to the cave where St Molaise lived, then comes the Holy Well, then rock paintings of Tibetan Buddhist teachers. The path ends at Pillar Rock lighthouse, the Northern Lighthouse Board's first square lighthouse; beyond it the ground is unsafe, so turn back the same way. For the fit, the path up Mullach Mòr, at 1,026ft the island's top, makes a strenuous circuit of two to four hours, over loose scree and past hidden clefts marked with blue ropes, so keep to it. There's a toilet at the north end, usually open, and a free cup of tea or coffee in the old boathouse just south of the jetty. The island's owners ask visitors not to drink alcohol, smoke or vape there.
About 40 min on foot
The boat back to Lamlash
Walk back up the path to the jetty in time for the boat home, nearly four hours after you landed, at the time given when you book. Back in Lamlash, the Old Pier Café beside the pier serves coffee, cakes, pastries and sausage rolls until 4pm, and it's dog friendly.
If it rains
There's little shelter on the island beyond the old boathouse by the jetty, which offers a free cup of tea or coffee in bad weather. On a wet day the COAST Discovery Centre on Lamlash's front is indoors and free.
Photographs by Rob Henderson, Anne Stamps, Alan Macleod and David Eadington via Google