Intrepid Explorers
Today Mel and I headed off to explore the Inner Hebrides – namely, the Isle of Mull, Iona and Staffa. Now I would like to say, we wore our best tie dye t-shirts, ensured our hair was braided perfectly and sprayed liberal amounts of patchouli oil on us before picking up our staffs made of yew and walking to the islands to find our inner selves. But if I said that, I would be lying. I repeatedly remind the reader that we are no longer cool and are getting old in the teeth and so another plan was needed.
We googled a tour guide firm and booked an organised trip and then booked a taxi to collect us from the site. The justification for this total cop out was that we have been away for two weeks and have organised everything ourselves up till now. For one day, it would be good to be organised by someone else.
We had opted for the ‘early risers’ tour and the ferry left Oban at 7.25am and we had to be at the terminal 30 minutes early. Therefore, we booked the taxi for 6.30am and set our alarms (note plural) for 5.15 and 5.30am respectively and went to bed.
My alarm went on first and immediately I got the grumps. It was cold, everything was in my way, Mel stole all the covers etc. etc. etc. I stroppily made a cup of tea and whacked some bread in the toaster. This was the earliest I had been up since we left home and was not impressed. Mel in the meantime was trying to put the bedding away and sort the rucksacks whilst I sat munching fast. I like to wake up slowly and quietly – not at high speed as I need time to regain full consciousness. We then had a conversation about what time the taxi was booked for. I said 6.30am and Mel said 6.15am so just in case Mel was right, we duly waited for the taxi at the earlier time. And I was still cold.
Of course, I soon had an attack of smug-git-it is as I was right, and the taxi arrived nearer 6.30am and in we climbed. To make matters worse, the driver was one of those annoying chatty ones who wants to ask a million questions. Had he forgotten the time? Mel said afterwards that I had probably shocked him by pointing out the local ‘dead centre’ on the way into Oban. I can’t see the problem with the term, but I suppose some may be offended.
We arrived at the terminal and of course we were early so, after collecting our tickets, we found a seat to wait until boarding began. We soon spotted the annoying person amongst our fellow passengers. I am sure you are well aware that on every occasion, there is always at least one person present who is slightly annoying or odd or just plain stupid. This woman was annoying, and she even managed to annoy Mel who is not easily annoyed!
Due to the discovery of covid amongst the crew, the sailing time was delayed whilst a replacement was found. This threw the woman into panic as she was concerned they would miss the connecting coach on their journey so she immediately started running around asking staff for more information and/or confirmation that their trip wouldn’t be ruined. She got her husband to ring the tour company and she generally got more and more wound up. Of course, we wanted the exact same answers as her but as we are pure English, we are far too polite to ask at this early point and so just sat and judged her for being annoying.
The ferry left about an hour late and as Mel had taken her anti-seasickness pill, we were ok to sit on the outside deck and enjoy the wonderful sunshine. After about ¾ hour, we arrived at Craigmore on the Isle of Mull where we were to board our coach for the trip across the island. We were both incredibly relieved to see the annoying woman and her husband were not on the same tour as us and climbed on a different bus. Phew, we were not going to be annoyed all day.
We had thought we were going to have a guided tour with interesting facts and historical information being shared with us via the loudspeaker but alas no, we were driven in a double decker bus along terrifying narrow lanes in silence for the entire 50-minute journey. It was hot onboard and as the views mainly consisted of mountains, mountains and more mountains, Mel promptly fell asleep. I pondered the varying mountains and quietly bounced along in my seat.
We arrived at the small port of Fionphort and got off the bus. We hadn’t even explored Mull and yet this was stage one of our epic travels complete. We were a tad disappointed but never mind, the smaller ferry was waiting for us. Now we were heading on a short 10-minute hop to Iona. As we got closer, it was as if we were about to land on a deserted island (not that it was deserted) as it was rocky and small and had the most wonderful little beaches with gorgeous white sand.
We were supposed to visit the abandoned abbey but due to the late start from Oban, the timings were all wrong, but we really didn’t mind as this gave us (Mel) more time to scour the beaches for treasure. Shells were in short supply it seemed, but she filled her pockets and bag with a variety of very pretty rocks and even a couple of random crab claws! We also visited the local craft shop and bought the obligatory fridge magnet and enjoyed a cup of tea on a wall.
After a couple of hours, we headed back to the little harbour and jumped aboard a smaller sailing vessel which was destined to take us to the tiny island of Staffa. Staffa’s claim to fame is Fingle’s cave which is very similar to the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. With her interest in geology, Mel can explain it better than me and apparently it has been formed by volcano millions of years ago and the lava has cooled to create tall columns of hexagonal rocks – or something like that. The difference here when compared to Ireland was that there was also a cave. On Staffa there was an enormous cave which you could go in and find yourself above, below and next to these strange columns. I enthusiastically marched over them to get to the back of the cave and kindly moved to make way for an elderly lady and promptly slipped on the rock and guess who reached out to save me. The old lady!! How embarrassed was I?
Once I had recovered and had taken a million photos, we went off to see the other attraction on Staff – nesting puffins. However, they were all the way over the other side of the island and we had limited time. We had a mere 30 minutes to get from the cave, back to the steps, up the steps, across the top of the island, admire some puffins which may or may not be nesting and back to the boat. It simply wasn’t possible – particularly in the heat. My cheekbones were already burning from the sun, and I didn’t have any sun cream.
In the end we stopped midway and returned to the jetty pondering whether the sea was warm enough to swim in as it looked gorgeous. I know I keep going on about the beauty of everywhere we have been on this trip and it is all true. The sea is so clear, the mountains are so dramatic, and the moors are so well, moorish! However, I recognise that my eyes are blinkered by the incredible weather, and I would not want to be anywhere near those islands in the lashing rain and strong winds as they would be horrible. All the colours would vanish under thick clouds, and it would be impossible to stay upright on the beach. As much as I loved Iona, I don’t want to live there.
After one short hour, we jumped back on the boat and the long journey home began. The coach ride back across Mull was a lot more entertaining as the driver did his job and imparted some useful information complete with humour. It seemed that the driver in the morning was also supposed to provide this service but was clearly as unhappy as I was at the early start. Another brilliant part of the journey through Mull was seeing a golden eagle soaring above the ground when we were driving through the mountains. It was a long way away, but we can at least say we saw one.
We caught the return ferry to Oban, waited for a taxi which didn’t turn up whilst watching the ferry staff trying to work out how to fit cars, vans, caravans, motorhomes etc onto the next ferry, called the taxi firm to remind them about us, got in the taxi when it finally arrived and returned to ethel. Completely exhausted and sunburnt. A great day.
2LadiesTravelling 