Monday (26 May) stocking up at Tesco’s in Oban, and a very quick walk around in the rain. Obviously it is raining we are about to attempt to put up a tent, first time using a new tent in anger, we did put it up in a garden last year, just to check we knew what we were doing.
Got the ferry from Oban to Isle of Mull, a really busy ferry, it is a bank holiday! We were the second car off the ferry, an easy 20min drive to our campsite in Salen Bay, to put the tent up in the rain! It went fairly well, the kind Motorhomers next door made us a cup of tea.
Tuesday, we had pre-booked a boat trip to the Treshnish Islands and Staffa island, the home of Fingal’s cave. The sea was a little rough to start with, we were on the bow deck of the boat getting soaked by the spray, in our full waterproof gear, until they had to close that deck, so we went on to the outside upper deck.
The boat couldn’t dock on Staffa Island as work was being done on the jetty. We did get a great view of Fingal’s cave. Then on to Lunga in the Treshnish Islands, we had 2 hrs ashore, we have never seen as many Puffins, it was amazing, you could have reached out and touched the Puffins!
We returned to port, via the north of the isle of Ulva, which is our next destination. We could see our Bothy from the boat, it is in the middle of absolutely nowhere, we couldn’t wait.
Wednesday, we drove to Tobermory, most of the roads on Mull are single track with passing places, so you can’t get anywhere fast. Tobermory was an interesting little town, with a lovely little museum. All the exhibits had exquisitely written information, done by the founder of the musuem.
We had fish and chips for lunch. Then we drove around the north of the Isle of Mull, stopping at ‘Isle of Mull Cheese & Spirit’, we bought some ‘Whey Ski’ whiskey made from Whey!!
Thursday, we awoke to a flooded tent, there had been a malfunction with the tent door, thankfully this had not caused too much damage, however we did have to bail out the water with a wine glass! We then had to take the tent down in the rain and a howling gale, which snapped a couple of tent poles.
We then went for second breakfast and coffee at Glenforsa cafe, before driving to the Ulva Ferry, the storm was still with us! However after crossing to Ulva and having a coffee and really good chocolate Brownie in the BoatHouse, the storm had subsided and the rain had stopped, so we had a pleasant 5 mile walk to our off grid Bearnus Bothy, thankfully the owner will transport all your gear to the Bothy by quad bike, we needed a surprising amount of gear for our 4 night trip, sleeping bags, food, wine and other essentials.
The Bothy is lovely, off grid, no electricity thankfully it does have a flushing toilet! Sea views lots of bird song, 10 minutes walk to the beach. It is just stunning.
The Bothy is also our excuse for not being able to publish a blog last week.
In our first 24 hours we only saw the owner and one other quad bike pass the door.
Friday, the weather was kind today, warm blue sky and only a little breezy, so we walked the track to Gometra, the next island connected by a causeway/bridge. On Gometra there is a small community, however we only walked as far at the first building (about 3miles from our Bothy), with a little gallery selling jewellery, cards, Gometra stamps. We were met by Trooper, the local horse.
Saturday and Sunday, the weather was changeable, so we only managed a couple of short walks. The ferry doesn’t run at the weekends so we saw nobody, it was lovely.
Monday (2 June) we checked out from our Bothy, did the 5 miles walk back out to the ferry and the Boathouse, the restaurant, still on Ulva, being so close to the sea we had wonderful seafood.
Given the snapped tent poles (we did have a spare tent with us) and a forecast storm, we cancelled our campsite booking and checked in to a B&B.
Tuesday, we changed out ferry booking back to Oban, had a long days drive to Bishop Auckland.
Wednesday, we met an old friend and visited Bishop Auckland Palace.
Thursday, went to Durham, had a wander around town and visited the Cathedral, then Crook Hall gardens (a national trust property).
Our friend kindly cooked dinner for us.
Friday, we drove to St Cuthbert’s Church in Billingham to see the graves of Nic’s grandparents. Then on to Leyland to visit some family for tea & cake, finally on to Widnes to see more friends.
We are so lucky to have so many amazing friends and family that allow us to visit!
Saturday, a gentle start to the day after a couple of drinks last night! Then went into Liverpool to take friends to a black tie do, whilst we went to a Chinese restaurant and the cinema to see ‘Ballerina’ a spin off from the John Wick franchise. A very violent film.
Sunday, another lazy day.
Travurple 