Gylen Castle Bay in other than southerly winds is a very pleasant anchorage with views down the Firth of Lorne. A particularly rugged 16th century MacDougall castle is set high on the cliff overlooking the anchorage. It was reduced to a ruin less than a century later, as a result of yet another of those violent Hebridean clan arguments. It has fairly recently been sympathetically stabilised and is looked after by Historic Environment Scotland. There are excellent garderobes to fascinate the children, and a lovely oriole window above the main door — with interesting carvings, and a removable floor so that boiling oil, or whatever, could be poured on to the heads of the attackers. But the intrusive in-your-face signage on the landward side is terrible, it destroys the view as you approach on foot. The Kerrera Tea Garden is even closer from here than from Little Horseshoe Bay. There are plenty of other anchorages to escape to if the wind gets up. This is just one more of the several anchorages on the very attractive small island of Kerrera.
