Loch Indaal

Loch Indaal is a sea loch on Islay, the southernmost island of the Hebrides off Scotland’s west coast. It was formed by the Loch Gruinart Fault, which branches from the Great Glen Fault, and lies between Loch Gruinart to the north and the Atlantic to the south. Three villages line its shores: Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte along the northwest, Bridgend on the northeast, and Bowmore, the island’s capital, on the southeast. The loch’s waters slope gently from a depth of forty metres at its mouth to barely ten metres near Laggan Point. Its approaches are hazardous for small boats because of strong tidal streams, eddies and overfalls. The folk song ‘The Lights of Lochindaal’ by Iain Simpson was inspired by the lights of the villages that surround the loch. South of Bowmore the coastline becomes a six-mile sandy beach called the Big Strand, which stretches to Kintra. This beach is popular with holidaymakers and locals in summer. The eastern shore forms Laggan Bay, where the river Laggan empties into the ocean near the beach’s northern end. A rocky outcrop divides the Big Strand roughly halfway along its length. Glenegedale Airport sits beside the Big Strand with two runways, one now disused. Aircraft approach the northwest runway over the loch, giving low-level views of Laggan Bay. The southern end of the beach is reached from Kintra Farm on the Oa. The loch’s calm inner waters contrast with the dangerous approaches at its mouth, where the Atlantic meets between Portnahaven and the American Monument on The Oa.