1km (2/3 mile) E of Islay

Jura is the fourth largest of the Inner Hebrides, 43km (27 miles) long and varying from 3 to 13km (1 3/4-8 miles) in breadth. It takes its name from the Norse jura, meaning "deer." The red deer on Jura -- Scotland's largest animals, at 1.2m (4 ft.) high -- outnumber the people by about 20 to 1. The hearty islanders themselves number only about 250, and most of them live along the east coast. Jura is relatively unknown, and its mountains, soaring cliffs, snug coves, and moors make it an inviting place.

The Gloom & Doom of Orwell's 1984 -- George Orwell was quite ill when he lived on Jura in the bitter postwar winters of 1946 and 1947, while working on 1984. After a close call when he and his adopted son ventured too close to the whirlpool in the Gulf of Corryvreckan -- they were saved by local fishermen -- he went on to publish his masterpiece in 1949, only to die in London of tuberculosis in 1950.