A' Chorr-sgeir Muigh

Towards Iona Golf Course

From Skerryvore.

Gateway by Skerryvore

Leading to Iona Golf Course.

Machair house

On Iona

Cross country on the north of Iona

The one fully land-locked grid square on Iona is rough terrain with various prehistoric defensible remains and lots of good viewpoints perched on rocky tors. Compared with the coast, it seems little frequented (and very boggy underfoot with various fences deflecting one from the obvious directions of travel). Frequent it we must, however, as this was my final square to complete coverage of my first inhabited island for geograph.

Andy Waddington

Iona coastline

The north-west coastline of Iona, with rock of the Lewisian Gneiss type evident. This is one of Britain's oldest rocks, and was formed approximately 2,000 million years ago.

North-west Iona

The north-western area of Iona, viewed towards Dun I, the highest point on the island.

Iona coastline

The western coastline of Iona near Camas Cuil an t-Saimh, with Eilean Didil visible in the distance.

Sheep-worrying, Iona

Despite its small size, this canine fiend caused considerable distress to sheep on western Iona.

Cnoc nam Bradain

If I believe the Gaelic dictionary, the name of this place means 'salmon knoll'. It is a typical Hebridean house, standing on the machair by the track across the island.

Camas CÃ¹il an t-Saimh

This is the main beach on the west coast of Iona, and an easy one to get to. Its name apparently means either 'sorrel back beach' or 'bad smell back beach', according to the Gaelic dictionary, but there was no evidence for the latter today.

Eilean nan Slat and Eilean Didil

Eilean nan Slat is on the left and Eilean Didil is on the right. The rock in the middle of the bay is unnamed.

Bloody Cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum)

Unmistakable because of its distinctive colour, this plant is usually found on lime, but here it is taking advantage of the shell sand of the machair.

Rock Climbing

A party of students celebrate the end of their examinations by taking a few days and practise their rock-climbing skills at Port Bàn.

Port BÃ n

It's easy to see where this name comes from - it means' white harbour'.

Port BÃ n

The vessel passing to seaward of Port Bàn is the Silver Discovery.

Lamprophyre

The brick-red rock is part of a calc-alkaline lamprophyre sheet, and its contact with the browner sheet beneath can be seen in the rock pool at the bottom of this image. Lamprophyres are igneous rocks of unusual chemical composition, high in magnesium, potassium, sodium, nickel and chromium.

Pseudotachylite

Pseudotachylites occur where parts of a rock have been suddenly and briefly melted by changes of pressure, for example during tectonis movements. They solidify quickly, with a glassy texture, and appear like black veins in other types of rock. Note the sharp contact with the undisturbed granite beside it. 10p coin for scale.