Scotland Autumn Dispatch - Friday, 31st October 2014

 Dear Friends, on Wednesday we rose early, packed the breakfast we had been given by our affable hosts and joined the queue in the dark at 7.15 for the first ferry from Oban to the Isle of Mull. Our trip was delayed by 15 minutes as one of the engines was malfunctioning, but eventually we got away safely and arrived at Mull at 9am. Our Tom-Tom told us we could drive to the ferry point for Iona in just over an hour, and as the ferry left at 10.15am, we decided to give it a go. The car ferry wasn’t sailing, but there was a cute little pedestrian ferry, which we duly caught, after discovering that, in spite of lots of signs asking if we had paid for our car-parking, there was no charge today. Ditto on the ferry – we all got our money ready, but no-one collected it, and the Captain suggested he might do so on the way back or he might not!

  

Sunset from our windows in Greystones the night before

We were so pleased we couldn’t take the car – it would have been unnecessary on this beautiful, peaceful little island. You could ‘feel the serenity’ the moment we landed. There were about 20 of us and we all headed off up the hill towards the Abbey, some of us stopping on the way to visit the ruined Nunnery, which I thought was very evocative indeed.

Then off a little further to the Abbey, where we paid our money, got our headsets and strolled around for the next 90 minutes. There is something very special about this place that St Columba established in the 6^thC AD, and we were aware of how lucky we were to be visiting it. I particularly loved the church, which is probably the fifth or sixth on that site, only the well and some portions of the pilgrims’ path survives from Columba’s time.

Ferns growing on the nave walls (L) & me looking out from St Columba’s Mound, where he did his writing

We had another free ferry ride back to the Isle of Mull and set off to find Gruline, where our host had told us there was a tribute to Governor MacQuarie. We drove for over an hour along some of the prettiest coastline you could wish to see – avoiding sheep on the road; bird-watchers with cameras set up on the road; other cars, and even a lost cyclist, all sharing one of the narrowest strips of roadway you could ever see.

Finally we arrived at Gruline and much to our amazement found this sign for starters: so we parked the car and walked the 500m to the MacQuarie Mausoleum, through three private properties (shutting the gates carefully behind us) until we came upon a very special dry-stone walled garden.

We had no idea that MacQuarie was born on Mull and that he came back here to live out his final days. He, his wife, and their son & daughter are all buried here and the site is looked after very well. We even saw some deer just outside the gate you can see at the back.

On our way back to the ferry point we stopped at the capital of Mull, Tobermory, which is a very picturesque town full of colourful homes, and visited their Museum, which is an absolute treasure trove of information, photos and artefacts. We then joined the queue for the ferry, which was 15 minutes late as it hadn’t made up any time during the day, and finally arrived back here in Oban at 6pm. We parked our car near Ee-Usk Restaurant and went back there for dinner and more importantly a bottle of McLaren Vale Shiraz, which hit the spot after our busy day.

Our view of the Coliseum, Oban, from our room at night

Yesterday, after Wes rang Barbara, and I left a message for Leanne, we enjoyed another yummy breakfast before heading off for circular drive around various spots within a radius of Oban. We had hoped to go for a long walk but it was raining most of the day which put paid to that idea. Wes spent a lot of time deciding where we would go and we were very pleased with what we saw.

We started by travelling over Connel Bridge, (which goes over the Falls of Lora and is a single lane bridge governed by traffic lights on each end). Then on to view Castle Stalker, made famous by Monty Python’s Holy Grail film.

We stopped at a café in the grounds of the Dragon’s Tooth Golf Course, just outside of Glencoe, where Wes enjoyed the best coffee and a yummy hedgehog, while I had some lemon & ginger tea as we watched the rain come down. Then on to Glencoe and down a little lane where we found a magnificent MacDonald Monument, hidden away as all these things are and almost impossible to get within coo-ee of unless it is fine and dry and you don’t mind a bit of a walk.

Our final stop was the magnificent folly that is St Conan’s Kirk, in beautiful Loch Awe. This is the third time we have driven past this sheltered building and we decided we just had to go inside and we are so pleased we did.

Three internal & three external views of this wondrous building.

Back in Oban it was time for a late lunch/early dinner, so we went to Rick Stein’s favourite fish & chip shop, where the chef was on his lunch break, so we settled for scampi, chips, peas and salad, and came home with a bottle of shiraz and some Ecclefechan tarts.

Today is going to be wet again and all the castles are closing, the ferry timetables are changing and Scotland is preparing to go into hibernation for Winter, even though there is still a month to go officially. We have loved spending Autumn here – the colours are superb and even now, some roads we drive along are still a riot of russet, yellow, green, & orange, with the greenest grass you will ever see.

The MacDonald Monument as seen through the mist & rain