Walking the Stoneymollen coffin road (above Loch Lomond)

Pilgrimage Walk Itinerary

All walks are done at a medium pace, we take several breaks and the walks are mixed in with stops to explore plants, take in the view. I will be 57 next year, I am of a basic fitness, have asthma, and can managed these walks. We walk together as a group so no one is left behind. Safety is my top concern and we look out for one another, assisting each other over fences, styles and streams.

The May pilgrimage offers the less amount of walks so we can conentrate on doll making. You can choose not to particpate in any of the walks and stay at the hostel. There are four walks for May:

May:

  1. Kildonan Bay

  2. Laig Bay

  3. Forest

  4. Sheela na Gig

 1 Seal Bay (Kildonnan Bay)

Kildonan Bay is a 40 minute walk from the hostel. This walk involves walking through a field, then taking a tarmac road down to Kildonnan Bay. We will then walk across marshy ground, over hillocks, walking over streams and small tidal pools to the bay shore.

Hostel to Kildonnan Bay

  • Distance: 1.5 miles, 2.4 km

  • Approximate walking time: 40 mins

  • Terrain: Tarmac path. Grassy path down to beach, stony surface, wet sand, grassy hillocks, slippery seaweed.

  • Elevation: Road approach to bay slightly steep but good condition tarmac road.

  • Note: Slippery and uneven surfaces on beach

2 Laig Bay

The walk to Laig Bay leaves the hostel and is mainly on a tarmac road.

Glebe Barn to Laig Bay

  • Distance: 2.5 miles, 4 km

  • Approximate walking time: 1 hour

  • Terrain: Tarmac path, tracks, tracks can be flat, rough, churned up by cows

  • Elevation: One main steep hill on good condition road. Path to bay rocky and uneven, muddy with possible large puddles

  • Note: Cattle grid

3 The Rainforest

A ten minute walk tales you into the magical landscape of the forest. It’s a unique ecosystem called a temperate rainforest, which are also known as Celtic or Atlantic woodland. It’s a magical place full of lush ferns, hosts of mosses, lichens and fungi.

Porcelain Mushroom, Temperate rainforest, Isle of Eigg. Photo credit - Erica Johnson

4 Sheela na Gig

The walk to the Sheela na Gig housed in the ruin of Kildonnan Church takes the same route as the walk to Kildonan Bay. We turn off before the road begins its decent to the bay, walking along a bare track.

Distance: 1.5 miles, 2.4 km

  • Approximate walking time: 30 mins

  • Terrain: Tarmac path, bare tracks, rocky

  • Note: Cattle grids, stony non tarmac road, wooden platform bridge