Scotland Guide
Argyll
Isle of Tiree
Tiree ( 
www.isleoftiree.com ), as its Gaelic name tir-iodh ("land of corn") suggests, was once known as the breadbasket of the Inner Hebrides, thanks to its acres of rich machair (sandy, grassy, lime-rich land). Nowadays crofting and tourism are the main sources of income for the small resident population. One of the most distinctive features of Tiree is its architecture, in particular the large numbers of "pudding" or "spotty" houses, where only the mortar is painted white. Tiree's sandy beaches also attract large numbers of windsurfers for the Tiree Wave Classic ( www.tireewaveclassic.com ) every October.
The ferry calls at Gott Bay Pier, now best known for An Turas (The Journey), Tiree's award-winning artistic "shelter". Just up the road from the pier is the village of SCARINISH, home to a post office, some public toilets, a supermarket, a butcher's and a bank, with a petrol pump back at the pier. Also in Scarinish you'll find An Iodhlann (June– Sept Tues– Fri noon–5pm; Oct– May Mon– Fri 10.30am–3.30pm; £3) – meaning "haystack" in Gaelic – the island's two-roomed archive which puts on occasional exhibitions.
The most intriguing sights lie in the bulging western half of the island, where Tiree's two landmark hills rise up. Below the higher of the two is HYNISH, with its restored harbour, designed by Alan Stevenson in the 1830s to transport building materials for the magnificent 140-foot-tall Skerryvore Lighthouse, which lies on a sea-swept reef some twelve miles southwest of Tiree. Up on the hill behind the harbour, a stumpy granite signal tower, whose signals used to be the only contact the lighthouse keepers had with civilization, now houses a museum telling the history of the Herculean effort required to erect the lighthouse; weather permitting, you can see the lighthouse from the tower's viewing platform.