Blogs from Isle of Mull, Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Today we had intermittent weather. Some say intermittent sun, others say intermittent rain. By the end of the day we had neither, just sun, cloud and wind at the same time. The wind was strong enough to cancel the ferries to Muck. So the saying, “You can’t see Muck for Rum and Eigg” was almost true. This time though, it was because of haze brought on by the wind. This was our second full day on Mull and we decided to explore some of the narrow roads around the northern part of the island. We started on B8073, a single lane road with many pot holes. Next we took a side road which didn’t have a code but was single lane, with very few passing places and more pot holes. After negotiating our way past a ... read more

The boat rode through the waves, swaying from side to side as the wind whipped passed my face. I held on to the rail around the deck tightly as I searched the surrounding waters with my binoculars, hoping for a glimpse of the animal I was looking for. But there was nothing except a few little sailing boats bobbing in the sea. I was on a seven-hour whale-watching trip around the waters of the Isle of Mull on the west coast of Scotland, a place renowned for it’s marine wildlife. Accompanying me on this voyage was my Dad, a pair of newlyweds, and a middle-aged couple and a few others. We were being guided by a hardy crew from Sea life Surveys a company that has traversed the waters of west Scotland since 1982 and has ... read more

Apparently, it's half the price to hire a car on the weekend from Enterprise and we both had 4 days off in a row so we thought it was a swell idea to drive down to the Isle of Mull and hop over to Iona where Ashley has wanted to take Dan for months now. First we had to make a pit stop at Urquhart Castle. You may not believe it but we've been so close to Loch Ness for the last 6 months and hadn't been to the castle. Ashley figured this was the perfect opportunity. The scenery around the castle is stunning as it looks out onto Loch Ness. Urquhart Castle was blown up in the 17th century so the opposing clans couldn't use it anymore. The ruins remain and there's a visitor centre ... read more

The Isle of Mull is an island in the Inner Hebrides, a few miles from the coast of western Scotland. On its northernmost point lies Tobermory, an adorable port town which is the setting for the BBC children’s program ‘Balamory’; at the very south of the island, generations of Scottish kings are buried at Iona Abbey. Between its heralded tips are forty square miles of raw nature: tranquil lochs, moody glens and rugged marshland that are dashing even under grey skies. My family has travelled to Mull since the 1960s. My grandparents made friends in Tobermory after a chance trip away from the mainland, and came back with their four children year after year. In the seventies my mum worked at a pony trekking centre in her school holidays; in the eighties she and her three ... read more

On Thursday we took a ferry from Oban to a town called Craignure on the island of Mull. In Craignure we went to take a train to Torosay Castle and Gardens. So at the station we got the tickets and went to the platform and expected to get on a regular train but no! The train was like a one at an amusement park: it was small and was very slow. (Mom forgot to mention that it was a narrow gauge). We got off at the end of the train ride at Torosay and saw the train driver drive the steam engine onto a turntable. He unlatched it and pushed it around. Then he drove it along the next track and connected it to the train at the other end to take people back to the ... read more