Blogs from Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 8

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

With diesel prices on the mainland a little lower than on Skye, we filled the tank this morning and still gulped at the price. We’ll need to keep it filled now, with only a week left until we return the car in Manchester. Today we completed a zigzag drive past lochs and mountains to reach the departure point of the ferry to the Isle of Mull and thence to Tobermory where our hotel for the next three nights awaits. Highlights of the drive on this fine dry morning included reflections on the glassy waters of still lochs, where huge slopes of grass and heather plunged down to the edge and autumn colours tinged the foliage lining the road. At Glenfinnan we stopped near the edge of the loch to look at a monument commemorating the Jacobite ... read more

Highlands Ah! J'ai tellement trouvé ce que je recherchais ! C'est tellement beau, c'est magique, c'est enivrant! J'adore ! Je resterais ici toute ma vie! Sur cette terrasse! Ahaha!  Ok je me baladerais un peu tant qu'à être dans le coin...je ne ferais pas que rester là...!  Le truc c'est que c'est tellement beau que je suis totalement non fonctionelle! Je reste là a regarder le paysage..je fais rien du tout! C'est trop beau!  La route pour venir...tout le monde dois faire cette route au moins une fois dans sa vie!! Et en plus je conduisait alors j'ai probablement ratté la moitié de ce qu'il y avait à voir!! Je suis partie d'edinburgh avec l'intention d'arriver ici vers 13h et je suis arrêté tellement souvent en chemin pour voir le paysage, les villages...je suis arrivée à ... read more

We left Inverness around 9:30 in the morning via a train destined for Glasgow. This time, we had a much better trip: our seats were reserved and we had a place for our luggage...so other than a family that needed to learn how to use their inside voices, the trip was more what we were used to when we had been to Scotland previously. We arrived at Glasgow Queen Street Station shortly before 1 PM and our flight wasn't until 5, but since we had bulky bags, we decided to head straight to the airport (probably our most expensive taxi ride at 25GBP). Cor and I only had a baggage allowance of 20 kg for the flight to Islay and we knew that we were going to be over with all of the clothes shopping (and ... read more

As per usual we take our time hitting the road with John and Ingrid questioning whether we have left our departure time too late to be able to see The Isle of Mull. The weather has again changed and we are bathed by a warm and sunny sky. From the lodge we head a couple of kilometres north and take the free Corran car ferry across the loch, turning left we wind our way towards Lochaline where we will catch another car ferry to the small port of Salen on the Isle of Mull. It is easy to underestimate how long driving in this area will take. Most of the roads are nothing more than single tracked lanes with passing bays strategically placed every hundred meters or so. It doesn’t take us long to understand the ... read more