“Always look for places in Scotland at the end of single track roads,” advised sea kayaker David Johnson. “They are always the best.”
David is the restaurant manager at Scotland’s Pierhouse Hotel, which lies at the end of a single-track road in the village of Port Appin, next to the shores of Loch Linnhe and a tiny Victorian pier built to serve steamboats plying up and down. raced Loch Linnhe. between Oban and Fort William.
Today, the pier serves as the disembarkation point for the small passenger ferry that runs the 10-minute dogleg crossing to and from the island of Lismore, carrying passengers in with a chance to see David show off his sea kayaking expertise. at the 12-bedroom Pierhouse.
Because when the tide is too high for the kitchen staff to collect lobster from the hotel’s pier-side granaries, he rows along the sea loch to unload the salty crustaceans himself.
Head chef Michael Leathley is a seafood specialist from the port town of North Shields in North East England.
His grandfather was a fisherman on the coast, and it was from him that he developed his love for cooking fish, something he does very well.
Indeed, the loch-to-fork Pierhouse restaurant has been called Scotland’s National Restaurant of the Year for 2023/24. And my wife Jude and I can attest to the quality on offer – we sampled Michael’s seafood during a sea kayaking odyssey on the Argyll coast.
But before we turned in, we enjoyed a five-hour learn-to-sea kayak session further north on Loch Carron.
Carlton Reid visits the Argyll and Isles region and checks into The Pierhouse Hotel and Restaurant (above), which lies on the shores of Loch Linnhe.
Head chef Michael Leathley is a seafood specialist who cooks lobster caught in the restaurant’s pier-side curlews (above).
The Pierhouse’s ‘table-defying seafood platter’ (above) comes with Loch Linnhe langoustine and lobster, sweet herring, Loch Leven mussels, and Loch Creran oysters. And an £80 price tag
It was led by Lee Woodward of Sea Kayak Plocktonfrom the port town of Plockton (which doubled as the pagan village in the 1970s cult horror film The Wicker Man).
Lee is an outdoor activities lecturer at West Highland College based on the neighboring Isle of Skye and, reassuringly, has plenty of expedition experience.
What do you do if one of us capsizes, I asked when I was on the water.
“I would carry out the X-rescue,” explained Devon-born Lee.
‘I will ask you to keep calm and hold your kayak. I then drained the water from the overturned kayak by placing the bow over my foredeck (that intersection makes the X shape) and rolling it on its side before asking you to slide back. I will be there to support your kayak.’
Easier said than done, no doubt, but we stayed upright so we had no need for any rescue, X-rated or otherwise.
Lee stayed close to us throughout and watched us handle the sometimes turbulent conditions. Pleased with our progress, we were given ship-to-shore leave, and I landed for a drone photography break on the small wooded island of Eilean na Creige Duibhe (Island of the Black Rocks).
The loch-to-fork Pierhouse restaurant has been named Scotland’s National Restaurant of the Year for 2023/24
Above is a bedroom at the Pierhouse Hotel. Overnight stays in peak season start at £200
The Pierhouse pier serves as the disembarkation point for the small passenger ferry (above) that operates the 10-minute dogleg crossing to and from the island of Lismore.
My drone captured its emerald green waters, which combined with Plockton’s swaying palm trees, warmed by the Gulf Stream, and the white ‘sand’ of the Loch’s Coral Island, create a positively Caribbean atmosphere.
Through a camera lens. Temperatures were anything but tropical. And that white sand is actually bleached seaweed.
We nevertheless landed on Coral Island and nibbled on home-cooked fruity flapjack as we contemplated the short, against-the-tide return to Plockton.
The five hours flew by, and by the end of the session we were confident, albeit tired, paddlers.
After entering the water at high tide, we had to trudge through the slick mud of Plockton Harbor to reach dry land.
At The Pierhouse restaurant, Carlton and his wife Jude sample an Arbroath Smokie souffle starter, grilled fresh cod in a burnt butter hollandaise and a fennel tarte tatin
Before checking in at The Pierhouse, Carlton enjoyed a learn-to-sea kayak session further north on Loch Carron, heading from Plockton (above). The village played host to the 1970s cult horror film The Wicker Man
The kayaking session was led by Lee Woodward from Sea Kayaking Plockton. Above – Carlton and Jude with Lee on the water
Lee on Loch Carron’s Coral Island, which is covered in bleached seaweed
We could have helped kayak lobsters into The Pierhouse, but all the sea air and exercise made us far too hungry.
I demolished a £17 Arbroath Smokie souffle starter and a main of grilled fresh cod in a burnt butter hollandaise (£30).
Jude, a vegetable, had a fennel tarte tatin (£22).
Those who have worked up an even more epic appetite might want to try The Pierhouse’s table-defying seafood platter from £80 – full of Loch Linnhe langoustine and lobster, sweet herring, Loch Leven mussels, and Loch Creran oysters.
Carlton’s drone shot of Eilean na Creige Duibhe (Island of the Black Rocks), which lies near Plockton, and its emerald green waters. Two kayakers, in yellow boats, join Jude and Lee
Lee gives Jude paddling tips at Black Rock Island
Carlton notes that Plockton has palm trees that are warmed by the Gulf Stream
Carlton and Jude stayed in a self-catering cottage – Strathan Cottage, pictured here – on the 30,000 acre Attadale estate
As well as the fully catered The Pierhouse (with smoked kippers on the breakfast menu), we stayed in a self-catering cottage on the 30,000-acre Attadale estate.
Near Plockton, Attadale has its own request stop on the Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness railway line.
The cottages are converted 19th-century farm buildings and are part of the 100-year-old artist-planted, sculpture-dotted Attadale Gardens, a Scottish gem, three miles from the North Coast 500 route.
Returning home from the Argyll and Isles region – marketed as Scotland’s ‘adventure coast’ – we concluded that it’s as tasty and inviting as it is fearless.
