Visit to Inchcolm

Inchcolm is one of the four 'Inches' (Inch is the Gaelic word for island) in the Firth of Forth just off the coast of Edinburgh and Fife. Inchcolm is the largest of the four and boasts a 12th Century Augustine abbey and also ruins of World War 1 and 2 fortifications that were built to defend Edinburgh, the Forth Rail Bridge and the Royal Navy dockyard at Rosyth.

Inchcolm is Innis Choluim in Gaelic and means Columba's Island. St Columba, the Irish missionary, is said to have visited the island in 567AD and Inchcolm is known a the Iona of the East, after the island of Iona on the west coast of Scotland where St Columba first made landfall when bringing Christianity to Scotland in the 6th Century.

We booked a landing trip on the 'Maid of the Forth' which gave us 90-minutes to explore the small 22 hectare island that lies 1/4 mile off the coast of Fife.

We really lucked in with the weather as there was bright blue skies, warm autumnal sunshine and hardly a breath of wind which meant the sea was flat calm, which is pretty unusual at this time of year.

The 30-minute crossing on the 'Maid of the Forth' took around 30-minutes, passing under the Forth Rail Bridge and past the oil and gas terminals that had large tankers moored up filling up with North Sea oil and gas. There were also some great views of Edinburgh, Leith and the other Forth islands.

We landed on Inchcolm and immediately set off to the west end of the island to have a picnic while enjoying the views back towards the bridges and Edinburgh itself. We then headed to the Eastern end of the island, which faces out into the North Sea and this is where the largest of the naval guns that guarded the entrance to the Forth were sited. You can still see the gun emplacements and the other buildings which were used as storerooms and for the spotters.

The Abbey itself is located in the centre of the island. King Alexander I decided to make the island the site of an Augustinian monastery after being marooned on the island for 3 days in 1123. The earliest known charter is in 1162, when the canons were already well established, and it was raised to the status of an abbey in 1235. Its buildings, including a widely visible square tower, largely ruined church, cloisters, refectory and small chapter house, are the best preserved of any Scottish medieval monastic house.

We then headed back to the Maid of the Forth for the return trip to Queensferry via a closer look at the three bridges that span the Firth of Forth, but more on that on the blog tomorrow.

The Maid of the Forth boat trips are running until the end of October. You can choose to do a sailing trip, where you just take the boat out to Inchcolm but don't get off, or a landing trip but I highly recommend the landing trip. For more information on the trips CLICK HERE