Isle of Mull

Raining when we got up this morning.  About 7 miles south of Ft Williams, we boarded our first ferry.  

Boarding took longer than the ride and we were off on another one lane road with pullouts.  The countryside was beautiful even though it is still raining.  We saw lots of waterfalls, sheep and four big road deer on the side of the road.  Unlike the sheep who just stand in the road, the deer moved away to quickly for pictures.

No hairy cow sightings so far.  We are now sitting at Lochaline Ferry awaiting our ferry to Fishnish, Isle of Mull.

Arrived at Torlundy and had late lunch, then went looking for Glengorm Castle B&B.  

Finally asked and they said go up the road and it would be at the end.  Off we went and we saw a sign pointing down a one lane road saying 4 miles. After a couple of miles we turned around as we doubted it could be down this cow path.  Went back to check the sign and sure enough it pointed down the same cow path, so back we went.  Came upon a runner and he said yep, just follow the main road to the end and there it was majestically sitting on a promontory overlooking the hebrides islands.

 I went for a walk and took some pictures of this beautiful place

Built 1860

This is our room

We even have a view from our bathroom window and the bathroom is ginormous.

 

Sunset

Had my first single malt in the library. Pretty good. I will try a different one tomorrow.

Woke to sunshine and had breakfast in the big dining room.   The ladies we were eating with were from Alaska and were a nice group.  

Off to the Isle of Iona, the Nunnery and the Iona Abbey.  We took the coast road which took us 2 hours and was the usual one lane with pullouts.  It was worth it as the coast was beautiful 

and we came up on what we think was a herd of young hairy Highland Cows.  

Further down the road we saw a for real Highland Cow behind a fence gate.  He was not very cooperative for portraits, but good enough to prove we have seen a Highland Cow.  

The Nunnery and Abbey were very nice, 

but Terry and I decided to go on another boat to the Island of Staffa to see Fingal's Cave. It is a sea cove formed completely in hexagonnally jointed basalt.  

Its appeal lies in the size, the sounds, the colors, and the remarkable symmetry of the 227 foot cavern, and by Nature's gift of  fractured columns which form a crude walkway just above high water level, allowing one to walk along to the inside of the cave. 

 It is said that Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture was inspired here and provides a continuous stirring reminder of this wonder of the world.  

The Giants Causeway in Ireland is the other end of this formation

The whole trip took 3 hours, an hour out and back and an hour on the island.  We didn't know how long it was until after we got on the boat and  JoAnn and Ginger had no idea how long we would be gone.  Yup a bit of a flummox.  They were smart enough to take the ferry back to the mainland and when our boat reached the mainland, we were able to get off there instead of going all the way back to Iona and taking the ferry back again.  Yea for us.  It was 5:00  PM pretty cold by then and we had not had any lunch, so it saved us a bit of time.  We had a two hour drive back to civilization and food.  

In addition Terry and I are suffering from a bit of a cold and stopped up head, so I for one was glad to have a hot shower and my bed.  Didn't even have a wee dram tonight, although it might have helped the cold.  I think tomorrow we are going to just hang around the castle and walk the grounds.