Mulling it over

This week we have been on Mull, one of the larger islands off the west coast of Scotland.

Getting here involved an overnight stay in Oban (a large town) in a hostel right on the waterfront around the corner from the far end of the harbour

and a ferry ride

followed by a bus trip to get to Tobermory (a small town), where we had an apartment for 7 days,  at one end of the main street along the harbour.

After one night, we took 2 buses and a ferry to go to Iona (see previous post) and then repeated this in reverse to return to Tobermory for the rest of the week, during which we wandered around the town and shops (there are not many), took more buses and a taxi and walked quite a few kms and spent time on the couch while it rained outside.

Much of Mull was difficult to reach without a car, but we got to a few places outside of Tobermory.

Calgary - yes, the place that the big city of Calgary in Canada is named after. Not a lot here, just several houses and a cafe/art gallery and a very nice beach.

At the museum in Tobermory, there was a shocking map of all the locations of  dozens of clearances on Mull during the 18th and 19th centuries. All over the island  families were forced from their homes so the landowner could make more money grazing sheep. This was one of those places. The Duke of Argyll and the next owner, Captain MacAskill both removed families from the village on the hill above the beach.

Captain MacAskill lived here in his "castle" with its walled garden.

The only place to eat was Art in Nature, an art gallery/cafe/self-contained accommodation business where an Aussie girl served us delicious soup, cake and coffee.

We walked through their small wood filled with sculptures.

Glengorm Castle - 'glen' because of its valleys and 'gorm' because of the blue smoke from the burning houses of the clearances here. We went looking for a bluebell wood but they were not flowering yet.

Lunch in the Glass Barn at Isle of Mull Cheese, a working farm with two friendly cats.

Aros Park - lovely walk along the shore from Tobermory.

Two ferries and three buses tomorrow - going further north to Ullapool.