Easdale Island

From our cottage in the village of Ellenabeich, we walked down to the harbour to get the ferry across to Easdale Island. It's only 200m and takes about 5 minutes. In the mid-1800s, the island was the hub of a slate mining industry that supplied roof tiles to the world, and the island had over 500 inhabitants. The old slate mines, now deep black pools of seawater have not been worked since the end of the 18th century when a huge storm surged in from the Atlantic, flooding the quarries and carrying away a whole industry. The flooded pools now host the world stone-skimming championships. This year's event was held three weeks ago and apparently attracted over 900 people! It's a lovely place for a stroll being completely car free, and the view from High Hill is superb.