Day 2: The mad dash of Pete ‘Schumacher’ Higgins
Wow… Day 2 was a crazy, mad, amazing day, full of fantastic sights (manmade and natural), great food, a mad dash, brilliant company, and our now obligatory visit to an ALDI car park!
So, let’s go back to the start of the day…
It was an early start! Up with the larks!
Last night we’d agreed to pop into a supermarket to get some more supplies for a BBQ in the evening. To do that we needed to leave early to get everything done before the ferry left.
We left in the two vans heading into Oban with us following Pete and Fi. It’s on the way to the supermarket that Pete drove around the ALDI car park with us following (remember, with us not knowing where we are going we would follow him everywhere!)… Pete thought we were missing the attraction of a car park… An ALDI car park no less!
A theme was starting to develop; Pete is sometimes a comedian!
After grabbing some steak for the BBQ and things I’m not sure we needed, we were ready to go …this time, not too far at all, just to the ferry port.
It didn’t take us long to realise our next destination, as it was plastered over the side of the ferry…
…we were off to Mull.
After a short wait, we boarded the ferry and set off…
(To be honest travelling by ferry is a worry for me. I’m not great on boats; when I was younger, my Saturday job was cleaning boats on the Norfolk Broads – and, despite the water being as flat as a pancake and the boats being tied to the jetty, I still managed to get seasick!)
So, once onboard we went outside on deck for some fresh air. It was a bit chilly, yet nice – and thankfully I was alright …well, we were only onboard for 45 minutes. As I was doing ok, we chanced it and headed downstairs for a quick breakfast, I played it safe and stuck to toast and butter only!
…and almost as quickly as we left Oban, we had arrived at Craignure Mull.
A blurry thrill ride!
It turns out the plan was to get the ferry from Fionnport to Iona at 1pm. But before that, we were dropping off one of the vans at Salen Bay.
The convoy set off to the Salen Bay campsite, when we arrived it was lovely. Another campsite pitch looking out over sea and mountains, bit more rugged this time and the weather was a little more overcast making the whole scene very dramatic (the weather brightened up later).
We quickly hooked up our van (and visited the facilities), then we were off again, all in one van. We had 1hr 10 mins to drive to Fionnphort for the ferry to Iona. Zoom zoom zoom!
It was a bit of a fast-paced joy ride along a single track road, cutting through mountain ranges, at one point getting up close and personal with a highland cow!
And despite Pete ‘Schumacher’ Higgins driving, we were still able to take in some stunning views as the mist lifted and the sun appeared …albeit sometimes the scenery was a bit of a blur!
We arrived and managed to park up with time to spare to walk onto the ferry.
Iona was simply lovely, so peaceful…
We walked slowly up to the Abbey to take a walk around, only to find with the latest COVID rules we should have pre-booked tickets. There were 3 tickets left for later on in the day …and they had to be booked online! Thank heaven for smartphones and Wi-Fi (…but just 3 tickets, so Pete opted to stay back, as he’s visited before. Besides, he needed to rest after his Formula 1 van driving!)
So what to do in the meantime? We had nearly 2 hours to kill. There was no option really, we did what any self-respecting friends on holiday, chilling in the sunshine in a beautiful place would do: we went to the nearest hotel with a garden and had lunch al-fresco.
Feasting on lamb burgers, chunky cheese sandwiches on homemade bread and of course chips, all washed down with a couple of bottles of wine, we whiled away a few hours. Having fun chatting and generally being a bit (errmmm, perhaps a lot!) stupid, but not too rowdy. Although, as I recall now when we looked round most other people had left the garden! …it was a lovely afternoon, the perfect holiday afternoon.
The Abbey Tour
If you’ve ever been into the Abbey at Iona you’ll know what a special place it is.
If you haven’t visited, you really want to go…
So restful and unpretentious. No ornate carvings or golden ornaments to commemorate religious men, just a simple beautiful peaceful place of contemplation and mindfulness. A true manmade beauty.
We spent time walking through the quiet Abbey, listening to its history, taking in the amazing carvings and marvelling at both the plain simplicity and beauty of the place.
After we left the abbey, feeling calm and privileged to have visited, we headed back to the scene of our lunch for tea and cake (well, I did say food was a theme for this adventure). We were also watching for the ferry to come across from Mull so we could amble down to meet it for our journey back.
Well almost! – That amble turned into a bit of a jog thanks to a bit of mistiming!
Safely back on Mull and in the van, we took a considerably more leisurely ride back to the campsite, and what a completely amazing journey it was, with some dramatic scenery. The coastal route took us past some fantastic cliff edges and…
…well, any description I give won’t do it justice, just take a look for yourself, check out the pictures.
We never BBQ’d on the beach that night. A combination of too tired, too late, and the beach wasn’t suitable. Instead, we made cocktails (as you do) and ate scrambled eggs and smoked salmon.
What an amazing day. Roll on tomorrow for more fun!
