Loch Na Keal, Mull

Wild and remote; Loch na Keal epitomises the rugged natural beauty of Mull. Even on a dull winters day the landscape is breathtaking.

Loch Na Keal or loch of the cliffs lies on the west coast of Mull. It consists of a wide outer loch divided from Loch Tuath by the islands of Ulva and Gometra and a narrower inner loch which extends inland to Gruline almost dissecting Mull in half.

Loch Na Keal looking towards Griburn

The southern shores are mountainous and rugged and are watched over by Mull's only munro -Ben More rising to 966 m.  A single track road follows the shoreline from Gruline to the towering cliffs at Gribun. This is sea eagle country; the loch a popular haunt for these majestic birds.

The beaches along the edge of the loch are stony and broad and in places the retreating tide reveals large pavements and abundant rock pools.

Ben more and the shores of Loch Na Keal

As I stood on the shore in the fading light and drizzle of a winter afternoon a flock of Goosanders swam slowly along the waters edge; the only obvious signs of life on the vast cold waters.

A quaint stone bridge lies just across the beach from my vantage point, spanning a small stream which tumbles over boulders  and hurries in a spray of white water to the sea. This looks like perfect otter territory but I was not to be rewarded with a sighting this time.

The fresh water flows into the loch

A little further along the loch towards Griburn the land rises up into towering unstable cliffs of scree, black and devoid of vegetation. Road signs warn of falling boulders and the evidence is everywhere; small black lumps litter the short grassy verges. The beaches here are much narrower and the water much deeper at the edges.

Wind sculpted tree on the shore of Loch Na Keal

The shore side road turns to head inland from here and as the road climbed I turned to look at the breathtaking view and all the islands laid out before me; Eorsa, Inch Kenneth, Samalan, Ulva, Gometra and Little Colonsay. 

Merrily, merrily goes the bark
On a breeze from the northward free
So shoots through the morning sky the lark
Or the swan through the summer sea
The shores of Mull on the eastward lay
And Ulva dark and Colonsay
And all the group of islet gay
That guard famed Staffa round.

Sir Walter Scott, The Lord of the Isles,

Loch Na Keal Facts

OS Map 1:50 000 Sheet 47