“A sheltered beach of sand and colourful pebbles on Islay's quiet east coast, with sweeping views across to Kintyre and a genuine archaeological puzzle standing in the field behind it.”
A quieter shingle-and-sand bay on the east coast, with sweeping views across to the Kintyre peninsula.
- Quiet east-coast bay, rarely crowded
- A mysterious standing stone in the field behind the beach
- Good spot for a peaceful picnic
A large upright boulder stands in a field just north of the bay, on the far side of the bridge over the River Claggain. Canmore's own record can't settle what it actually is: an 1878 survey called it a standing stone roughly four feet high, but later measurements found something considerably bigger, at 5ft 8in tall and nearly 5ft across. A 1978 Ordnance Survey visit doubted its antiquity too, noting it looks nothing like any of Islay's other standing stones. Genuine prehistoric monument or a large piece of glacial debris left behind by the ice: nobody's been able to say for certain.
The road in passes Kildalton Cross, an 8th-century Celtic cross, on the way, worth the short detour before or after the beach. Local legend has it that if you take a pebble home from Claggain Bay, Islay will pull you back for another visit — the perfect excuse to fill your pockets before you leave.
Seals are a regular sight, hauled out on the rocks in the sheltered bays along the approach road, and white-tailed eagles, part of Scotland's reintroduced population and now seen with increasing regularity along Islay's coasts, are sometimes seen overhead. The bay and the river mouth behind it attract a variety of coastal birds too, though nothing here is guaranteed; bring binoculars and take your time.
This walk crosses grazing farmland. Cattle, including calves, are sometimes present near the track and the field by the standing stone: keep dogs on a lead and give them a wide berth. No official water-safety guidance exists for swimming here — the sheltered, east-facing bay looks calmer than the west-coast beaches, but conditions haven't been independently confirmed, so it isn't tagged for swimming.