Scotland has so much variety from its cities, mountains, lochs and islands, there is so much to explore. Our trip back in 2018 took in the Isle of Skye and was totally brilliant, and we have visited both Tayside and parts of the Lowlands. But this year we wanted to explore more of the islands and with some time constraints, the Inner Hebrides islands of Mull and then Arran stood out.
To shorten the travel time involved, we flew from London Luton to Glasgow on EasyJet & had an overnight at the airport hotel. First thing we hit the road for the Isles , via a side trip to Falkirk to see the amazing. “Kelpies”. These are mythical beasts from the swamps and a MILLENIUM Project – stunning and now onwards to our embarkation port of Oban.
We found overall that the roads in Scotland are in pretty good condition, on Mull there were lots of single track roads with plenty of passing places. On the mainland there is enthusiastic road maintenance underway in many places with traffic light controls, which do slow our journey a little, but so what, we are on holiday!
Arriving in Oban, we did a big shop for our week on Mull at the local Tescos, and then the ferry took us across to Craignure on Mull’s northern coast, leaving us a 20 mile drive to our destination the main town on the Island, Tobermory. Driving down the hill into Tobermory is like revisiting Portree on the Isle of Skye, with its colourful houses. A harbour town, small local ferry port, a yacht marina with small and larger vessels arriving and departing constantly, Tobermory is a bustling busy place. Everyone is super friendly!! Lots of foreign languages, yes very much a tourist town, indeed 85% of Mull’s revenue comes from tourism, so we are here to do our bit help the cause!!
It’s Scotland, and the weather can do anything! Our arrival on the Saturday evening was to a drizzly – Scots say “dreich”, 12c and we left the following Saturday to blue sky and a high of 28c, crazy and challenging for choosing which clothing to pack – layers , bathers and waterproofs!!
So having arrived, settled into our cosy warm “Fisherman Cottage” accommodation in a cul de sac behind the Main Street, we set about exploring the Island.
Sunday Walks
A brighter day, and the mist rolled away leaving sunshine, and we managed a 5km round trip to the Lighthouse to the north of Tobermory. In the afternoon we had another walk to the north-west, about 4km and the Dun Ara Castle – “mock castle/country house/apartments”, still quite impressive for all of that.
Monday’s Pilgrimage to Iona
A cool start at 12c, overcast and passing showers as we drive to the south-west tip of Mull for the short ferry crossing to the Isle of Iona. I mentioned the “single track roads” with plentiful passing places, most motorists get the system and it works. On this occasion a driver in front of us, refuses to use the passing lane, thus making a double decker bus driver reverse!!
We are told that St Columba arrived on Iona in the 6th century from Ireland, and with his companion monks set about the building of an Abbey and subsequently in 1200 a Nunnery. It’s not that far to Northern Ireland , as the seagull flies, but in an open Viking like ship, (see pic below) it would have been a challenge. We are able to gain free entry to the Abbey with our Heritage NZ Membership, but it’s cold and drizzling so we head inside to where it’s dry and warmer. The buildings are all of granite, solid but simple until we enter the Abbey and the inner courtyard of the Cloisters, which are as beautiful as any French Cathedral that we have visited. The stone masonry work is exceptional.
Interestingly the Vikings came and regularly raided Iona, putting the inhabitants to the sword and stealing anything valuable. This did not deter further groups of monks returning and continuing St Columba’s work. Indeed the Viking raids only ceased when they themselves began to settle in the Islands contributing to today’s residents.
Tuesday and a Boat Trip to the Puffin Colony on the Island of Lunga and then to the Island of Staffa for Fingals Cave
The idea of a boat trip out into the Atlantic on a modern but modest motor boat, can in advance, leave one a little apprehensive. But on Tuesday morning Tobermory harbour dawns sunny and calm, brilliant!! First a stop across the Sound to collect some more customers and then we are off – except to stop again this time to check out a large pod of dolphins and a shy Minke Whale, then out to the Lunga Puffin Colony.
The Puffins, we are told, get us human visitors most days and welcome our intrusion, as whilst we are there, any predators who might be attacking them or their chicks, will stay away – win – win!! There are many other bird colonies on the island, razor bills, shags, cormorants and guillemots in particular. I have always wanted to see a Puffin in real life and here they fly out of their burrows, down to the sea below, fish and return to feed their young. Once the young have fledged all Puffins head out to the Atlantic to live on the water for the winter, returning in the spring for the cycle to repeat.
On Lunga, the weather has been kind to us, but after two hours there and a picnic lunch sitting amongst the Puffins, our next stop is the island of Staffa to the south, about a 30 minute boat ride. Staffa is renowned for the amazing basalt rock intrusions. We have seen these in other parts of the world, Nugget Point Lighthouse in the Catlins in NZ, Scandola on Corsica and of course Giants Causeway in N Ireland. We hope to see some more of these in basalt rocks on the Isle of Arran next week. But on Staffa, the “star of the show” is Fingals Cave, which the composer Mendelsohn used as inspiration for his work following his visit to Staffa in 1829. It is hard to contemplate just how Mother Nature created these beautiful columns of rock as her volcano violently erupts!! Staffa is one great example of the outcome:-
Wednesday – local walks, some shopping and catch up with visiting friends on their yacht
A lovely coincidence today as we meet up with some friends we first met in Norfolk in the 1980s, before we emigrated to New Zealand. They live near Kendal in the Lake District, have purchased a new yacht, which they keep up on the West coast of Scotland and their first serious voyage is to sail up to Tobermory and meet us, from NZ!!!
But in advance of that a pretty local walk to a nearby Aros Park and loch – (lake in English).
Thursday – Our Day Nature Walk with Nature Scotland
This was a tour we had booked back in NZ. Essentially a group of 8 people spend about 7 hours with a Specialist Guide – our chap, Jack, was excellent and a fount of knowledge on plants, animals, birds and more. Over our day with him, we travelled by minibus to a sea loch to the south of Mull and we saw from a distance – white tailed eagles, otters – “ring of bright water otter tell tale location”, buzzards, hen harriers , lots of sea shore birds and passing seals. It was a part of Mull we would not otherwise have found and it was brilliant and super informative, great value!!
Friday and our last full day on the Island of Mull
Friday sees a major weather change, with sun, blue skies and the temperature up to 26c+, not ideal for hiking, but pretty ideal for a visit to the beach!! So we head to Calgary Beach, white sands and lovely, plus a peek over the hills towards the Isle of Ulva. Back at Tobermory there is time for a visit to the local Museum – free and excellent – so much information, brilliant.
Then it’s time to pack up for an early Saturday morning ferry from Mull, back to the mainland and onto our next stop on the Isle of Arran. Mull has been such a wonderful experience, lots to do and super friendly Mull Islanders making our visit really special.
Travels with My Wife 