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Yesterday we went into Tobermory for a meal and walked into the MacDonald Arms only to be met by Rob, whose house we stayed on in Portree, Skye. He had been skippering a boat with a group of young people all week. They were from all walks of life and had been observing and recording dolphins and whales in the Western Isles for statistical purposes. Amongst the team was a young lady from Low Moor, Clitheroe, who is an ecologist. It certainly is a small world. We also met a nice young American man whose base is in Washington DC, but appears to travel the world working out of his rucksack advising on charity and trustee projects etc. An interesting life I suppose but I am sure it will get lonely at times. We were away to the sound of the cuckoo, which we get several times a day, every day, and were up onto the hills Straight away. Bill did not tell me how difficult today was going to be with steep hill after steep hill. It was also a day of large birds again; herons, buzzards (forever), another sea eagle (through a telescope), a golden eagle in the distance
and all the regular small birds. We did have a nice surprise when we began our leg down to Pennyghael, on the Ross of Mull, and a short eared owl flew across in front of us and stayed around long enough for me to get a good photograph of it in flight. We were astounded by he number of Eagle watchers on Mull and there were more telescopes on tripods than candy floss on Blackpool Promenade. Luckily they did not mind us having a peep, although it did slow our progress somewhat. We rode north from Tobermory and then around the coastline through Dervaig, where we bought sandwiches to last us through the day since we were not sure of cafe availability on the route. Next was Calgary where we had a coffee and scone at the small outdoor art shop. We struggled to make progress today since we were constantly encountering other cyclists with panniers travelling in the opposite direction, many of whom gave a donation. We also had a car travelling in the opposite direction pull in on the single track road to let us pass and stopped us to give us a fiver. We think he must have seen us earlier in the trip and decided to donate if he saw us again. We have now received over £330 and still it comes in. We called the ferry to go to the island of Ulva, which is £5 each way per adult, and the kind boatman let us off since we were doing the ride for a good cause. We had a brew at the Boathouse on Ulva and we were on our way south again to the home of Tony and Jean Wagstaff in Pennyghael, who are kindly putting us up tonight. We eventually arrived just before 7pm exhausted after doing 61 miles of very hilly terrain and against quite a wind from the south. Our evening meal was followed by much talk of rallying on Mull and the local wildlife. - very entertaining. Number of islands now 38 and 4 to go with over a thousand miles covered so far. Tomorrow Iona in 20 degrees and sunshine.Someone has to do it!
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