Canna is the ‘other’ of Scotland’s Small Isles quartet, hidden that bit further west, often obscured in the shadow of hulking Rum. It’s a hideaway worth discovering though – an isle bathed in starched white beaches and bountiful wildlife and one of the finest places to dine in the Hebrides, too, with a dynamic, welcoming community that is fiercely determined to make island life work.
I’ve been lucky over the past couple of decades to get out to Canna more than half a dozen times. It’s easy to do these days with CalMac ferries serving Eigg. You could also sail yourself into the finest natural harbour in the Small Isles, or even better get someone else to sail in for you and moor overnight. I’ve arrived aboard a trio of excellent small cruise ships run by Hebridean Princess, Majestic Line and Hebrides Cruises. I heartily recommend all three.
There is a good chance beaming National Trust for Scotland ranger Tom will be there to greet you at the pier, furnishing you with a map that opens up this real life Treasure Island, just a bijou four miles long by one mile wide. The map reveals you get two islands for the price of one, with tiny Sanday connected to Canna by a causeway. Both boast beaches, cliffs, grazing animals and patches of wilderness.
Canna may not harbour any Munros but there are gnarly knolls to yomp up where you’ll see more seabirds than people. In fact, there is a good chance you’ll encounter more eagles than fellow hikers. In summer there are cute waddling puffins and bountiful cetaceans – porpoises, dolphins and all manner of whales are all regular visitors. I’ve seen killer whales off Canna. Hebrides Cruises skipper James Fairbairns told me it is “a favourite playground for our marine mammal cousins”.
Don’t dismiss Canna, though, as just a wild, untamed outpost, the type of ‘emptiness’ so beloved of TV documentary makers. There is actually a real sense of community, with the Isle of Canna Community Development Trust at its beating heart. They strive to bring the community together and build a sustainable future, developing community-owned visitor facilities and developing new projects.
The community already has impressive wind and solar power green electricity projects that mirror much more heralded similar schemes on neighbouring Eigg. New for this summer is the community-owned Visitor Hub, with toilets, showers and laundry facilities. The Shearing Shed, a community meeting, events space and social hub, once used as it sounds for shearing, is impending too. Visitors here can make a hot drink, tuck into homemade baking and learn about and meet the community. Canna really buys into the SCOTO community tourism idea of welcoming visitors as symbiotic ‘temporary locals’.
The most striking community project is the rebirth of the iconic Coroghon Barn, which Hebrides-specialist architect Wil Tunnell is rebuilding with some aplomb. It will become a resource for the community and visitors, with an events space, a bunkhouse extension, community library and archive documenting Canna’s history and future. It’s a symbolic return as the barn stands by the site of one of Canna’s cleared villages, with old stones from the lost village being used symbolically in the barn rebuilding.
The National Trust of Scotland are the chief landowners on Canna and they too are investing in the island, encouraging the building of a trio of new affordable homes. They are also investing millions in the restoration and conservation of Canna House. It is a historic house worth saving, but also of national importance due to the unique Gaelic language archive of John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw.
The traces of humans through the ages are everywhere on Canna when you start to look. The island before the Clearances used to be home to over 400 people. The imprint of their religious beliefs is still strong. Indeed some believe Canna was as important as Iona in the early Christian settlement of Scotland. There are the archaeological remains outlining a medieval nunnery, Sgorr Nam Ban-naomha (Skerry of the Holy Women), and a Celtic cross at the cleared settlement of A’ Chill, which you can get right up to.
The bijou Episcopalian Rhu Church next to the pier was built by the Thom family, who owned Canna in the early 1900s. It’s a beautiful chapel with an extraordinary monolithic stone tower that resembles a stubby pencil. St Columba’s, a small chapel at Canna Farm, is still in use today.
Over on Sanday is St Edward’s Church, a catholic chapel that soars above the rugged moorland guarding over a herd of Belted Galloway. It’s a glorious walk around the bay and across the causeway to get here – watch for the bonxies in summer.
With that determined community behind it Canna is not an island to rest on its hard-won laurels, with two new snorkel trails this year. There is a beginners and an intermediate trail at each of the sites – keep an eye on the community website for more as it is just launching this summer. Café Canna is still going great guns and owner and chef Gareth Cole has just released a brilliant cookbook that lets you take home a flavour of Canna.
Canna also has a Dark Skies application going in on an island that attracts little ambient light and is superb for savouring the night sky and the Northern Lights. The community shop is already on board, providing free backpacks to borrow that include blankets, binoculars and other heavens-gazing essentials. As I sailed back out away from the broad shoulders of Canna’s harbour on my most recent visit I waved goodbye to Gareth from Café Canna and ranger Tom, just two members of a community that are determined to make island life work both for themselves . . . and the lucky souls who make it out of the shadow of Rum to discover one of Scotland’s most life-affirming and beguiling isles.
Foodie Canna
Café Canna
One of the top places to eat in the Hebrides, it is cosy inside the stone walls. Or enjoy the wooden outdoor tables by the water when the sun shines. Feast on Canna lobster, lamb and beef spiced with chef and owner Gareth Cole’s creative flair. Take a taste of Canna home with his excellent cookbook. It’s a sublime place to dine.
www.tighard-isleofcanna.com
Canna Community Shop
You’re going to have to put together your own picnic on Canna but the community shop is surprisingly well stocked (including local meat from Canna’s farm) and handily open 24/7. If you’re camping locally, free range eggs make for a great breakfast. Look out for locally grown fruit and vegetables too. The shop operates on an honesty basis and even takes credit cards.
cannatradingltd@gmail.com
Bed down in Canna
Tighard Guest House
A warm Canna welcome awaits, alongside the sweeping views that come as standard on the island. The trio of bedrooms here are named after local landmarks and have private bathrooms; Coroghon is en suite. Canna eggs tempt for breakfast.
www.tighard-isleofcanna.com
Canna campsite
As well as epic views and tent pitches they’ve an eight-bed bunkhouse with a wood burning stove at this forward-thinking, very Canna campsite. There are also solid camping pods, caravans and a cosy cabin on offer. If you don’t fancy lugging your bags here, they can transport them for you.
www.cannacampsite.com
Canna Self Catering
Their trio of hideaways is actually tucked on the adjoining island of Sanday. Garrisdale’s and MacArthur’s cottages are larch-clad bungalows with wood burning stoves, private gardens and views across the bay to Canna that sleep six. Burnbank Cottage is a traditional croft house that sleeps four. These are ideal options if you are looking to really get away from it all or want to spend even more time wrapped in the community.
www.cannaselfcatering.co.uk
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