As we departed Oban over breakfast we had a short, but very scenic, crossing over to the Isle of Mull, one of the larger islands of the Inner Hebrides. On the way we passed one of the many spectacular Stevenson lighthouses, built by the father of author Robert Louis Stevenson. The author’s novel Kidnapped is said to be based on the geography of Mull. We also sailed past Duart Castle, ancestral home of the Clan Maclean, which we were going to visit from land later in the day. We came alongside at Craignure where a new ferry terminal has been built to handle the increased flow of visitors to the island, its reputation for ornithology and wildlife in general having produced an additional stream of visitors to augment those travelling to Iona. We boarded a coach to cross over the island to Fionnphort to board the ferry for Iona. The transit over the island is on single track roads with passing places through spectacular scenery with plenty of opportunities to look for raptors and shore birds, seals and otters.
Iona is a small island off Mull where Columba brought Christianity to this part of Scotland in A.D. 565. It is a sacred site for the people of northern Europe. The Kings of Scotland, and the Kings of Norway and the Lord of the Isles were buried in the monastic burial ground on Iona. In front of the restored abbey stands St Martin’s Cross, the High Cross that is sometimes known as a Celtic cross. The design has been much imitated and it stands in its original position where it has stood proudly for over a millennium. Some guests walked to the summit of Dun I, the highest point on the island for a spectacular, if windy, overview. Lunch was taken in the St Columba Hotel before we returned to Mull to end the day’s excursion at the impressive pile of Duart Castle. The castle was restored in as a summer home for the Clan Chief in the closing years of Queen Victoria’s reign.
We boarded the ship and sailed on to Tobermory, the principal (and only township) on the island. We arrived just in time for dinner and some after-dinner explorations that included a Scottish music session in the local pub, The Mishnish.
