West Coast Walks - day four and return

The choppy weather had forced all the boat operators to cancel the trips out to Staffa, which had been our original plan for the day, so Ken came up with Plan B again, which was a couple of beach walks with a break for lunch at the local pub/restaurant. Before that, however, a few of us were up early enough to take a look inside the Abbey before it officially opened for business. They were ready for Sunday service:

Setting off towards the north of the island, the first task was to climb the only significant hill on Iona - all 300 feet or so of it. A bit like going up Mount St. - only greener:

From there it was down to the beach:

We could spy Staffa and Fingal's Cave in the distance, almost taunting us:

After our walk round the coast, we headed across fields towards a sign which indicated the direction back to the main road and another one towards the hostel. We took the latter, slightly shorter route and came across our first grumpy islander, apparently resident or owner of the hostel, who enquired as to whether we could read or not?

There was a civilian walking beside us and I asked him whether we had come the wrong way or not and he replied "you have, but I haven't", which meant in his eyes that he was entitled to take this short cut because he was a local, but we weren't.

A little further on, at noon, we stopped for our traditional drams. We didn't offer one to the civilian who had been walking beside us:

The skies were clearing and it gave us the opportunity to sit outside the pub for our lunch. Dave, Ken and I had mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce but Andy opted for more conventional carbohydrates:

The afternoon walk took us to the east of the island, eventually crossing the golf course - which didn't appear to have any pins - nor greens that we could see - to the western beaches and back. It was on our return journey that we came across grumpy local number two. The road we were walking on was fairly narrow, and this particular individual was driving a van (the locals have cars, but not the tourists). Most of our group moved to the left to let him pass, but Dave went right, which incurred the wrath of the driver, who stopped, wound down his window and gave Dave a mouthful for making the road too narrow for him to pass safely - he thought his wing mirrors might clip him.

The combined morning and afternoon walks totalled over 17 kms - the longest of the weekend - http://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/714490037

Dinner in the evening was in our hotel again - not quite up to the standard of the previous night, but still very acceptable. In the morning, we packed our bags and headed off after breakfast down to catch the 8:50 am ferry. The hotel owners kindly took our bags down in their van. Here's the hotel from the ferry:

We drove back across Mull to Craignure to catch the big ferry to Oban, passing through Glen More again:

This photo of Ken on board the Oban ferry is indicative of the changeable weather we experienced over the weekend:

Once we landed at Oban, Dave shot off - he had a plane to catch. I guess he and Ken must have been home mid-afternoon, but the rest of us stopped for a bite of lunch at the Green Welly Stop, Tyndrum. We were still safely home before 5 pm.

Great weekend. Good fun, good company - and well done again Ken.

West Coast Walks - day three

Coastal/beach walks were planned for today and, after we checked out of our hotel, we drove through Glen More towards the west of Mull. Spectacular scenery with fairly precipitous drops meant there were waterfalls everywhere:

A fairly typical scene was sunshine as we drove through the glen below, with Ben More constantly covered in low cloud:

We had to do a bit of fine manoeuvring through a narrow estate road and at the car park at the end before we all lined up for today's team photo:

We were walking along a coastal path under steep cliffs, trying to dodge some heavy showers, but eventually came to a large sea stack where we stopped for elevenses:

We turned round from here and headed back to our cars. It had been a short but interesting walk - just 4 kms - http://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/713290291

We had lunch in the pub at the ferry port where we discovered the local predilection for half a bowl of soup. Stewart's was only a couple of spoonfuls and our protests - led by Ian - eventually produced some top-ups. There was a hand pump on the bar, but no badge, which we assumed, like the pubs in Craignure, meant there was no ale on. Wrong - Deuchar's was available, but by the time we found out, it was too late, so we made a mental note to return later.

The afternoon walk was across some fields and along a land rover track down to another deserted beach:

The outcrop of rock to the right in the photo above is usually a mini-island, isolated by the sea coming in from both directions, but the tide was out and it was possible to access it so a few of us scrambled to the top:

We were aware that the tide was coming in so we didn't linger long. Gordon's dogs - but not Gordon - had followed us up the hill, but poor little Susie took a wrong turning and got herself stuck at the top of a sheer face. Ian quickly volunteered to be the hero and scrambled back up the stack and guided Susie back down again.

By now, the water level was higher and wider and there was no way Ian could just step over the water as the rest of us had, so he was left with no option but to take his shoes off and paddle:

Watch it on video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMwJj-O-UuM

Back to the ferry port for that well-earned pint of Deuchar's. We'd had some showers, but generally conditions weren't at all bad and we escaped a complete soaking again. The afternoon walk had been a little longer than the morning at 6 kms - http://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/713731667

It's just a short ferry ride over to Iona but we had to leave our cars behind and carry our luggage on board - and also from the pier at the other end up to our hotel. The late realisation of this made Andy wish he'd brought a lighter bag - preferably one with wheels like most of the rest of us. The Abbey was clearly visible from Mull:

St. Columba's Hotel was just a couple of hundred yards from the abbey and was a notch up from the one we had stayed at in Craignure. Dinner in the evening was first class - as was the wine - and John did the honours with his birthday drams after dinner:

With nobody driving in the morning, Stewart repeated the order and made it a double dram Saturday. evening

West Coast Walks - day two

Everyone was frantically checking the weather forecasts over breakfast, although the poor wi-fi in the hotel didn't make it easy. Our leader quickly concluded, however, that the planned walk up Ben More was a non-starter due to the low cloud hanging over the top of the mountain - plus the forecast heavy rain. Never one to take no for an answer, Ian, however, was still determined to give it a go and John agreed to go with him.

We thought it would be best to go round to the foot of Ben More anyway to check the actual conditions, but this merely confirmed Ken's fears. So it was that we split in to two separate groups. Ken would lead us on a low-level walk around the adjacent island of Ulva and we would meet up with Ian and John later.

It's a very short ferry ride across from Mull to Ulva - and it's done on a "call-up" basis using the sliding panel on the building on the Mull side:

The Ferryman duly arrived:

He's been doing this job for the local Laird for 23 years. It prompted a rock trivia question - Who Pays the Ferryman? Initial guesses of Sandy Denny/Fairport Convention were subsequently proven to be wide of the mark - it was a 1977 BBC series with a theme tune composed by Yannis Markopoulos.

Anyway, there was a welcoming sight at the pier at Ulva:

Tea/coffee and Empire Biscuits was the most common order before we set off on our walk. The geologists amongst us admired the basalt columns:

The walk took us past beautiful bluebell and primrose fields and woods:

Today's (partial) team photo was taken in the ruins of David Livingstone's parents' house:

Back at The Boathouse, we stopped for a spot of lunch - the fresh langoustines were terrific, especially when washed down with:

Dave did some research which revealed that Colonsay is the smallest island with a brewery, and also the island with the highest percentage of its population working in the brewery - and you thought trivia was dead?

For the statisticians, the walk round Ulva was just short of 13 kms - virtually the same distance as yesterday - http://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/712778459

Back on Mull, we were halted along the road by this poser, who stood stock still just a couple of feet from our car. We think he knew he was beautiful - in a bovine kind of way:

Back at the hotel, we met up with Ian and John, who had made a valiant effort to reach the top of Ben More, but the lack of visibility at the summit, the high winds and the dodgy track made it far too dangerous and they had to turn back just a couple of hundred feet from the top.

We had time to enjoy the pool and the spa, which included an outdoor jacuzzi - a strange experience in the drizzly rain.

Ken had arranged a mini-cab to take us in to Tobermory in the evening. It was damp but the town is instantly recognisable:

Prior research had revealed that Macgochans was the place to go for beer - and it was too, with 3 Isle of Mull ales on handpump. We plonked ourselves down in a handy 8-seater booth for the team photo(s):

Dinner was at the Gallery. We sat up at a high table and had a good laugh. Great day all round.

West Coast Walks - day one

An early start last Thursday but we all got to the Mountain Cafe in Aviemore around the 9 am mark for breakfast/brunch and a chat about what lay ahead of us. The first obstacle was a road closure just west of Newtonmore, but Ken navigated us safely round that and soon we were all winging it towards the Fort William area.

Ken had previously given us 4 options for the Thursday walk, depending on weather conditions, timing etc. Three of these options involved Ben Nevis some way or other and as the weather looked to be set fair, we all agreed one of these would be fine. We were motoring along in bright sunshine when, all of a sudden, Ken and Dave in the lead car turned sharp right off the main road in to a car park. We all thought something must be amiss, but it transpired that Ken had spotted some coastal cloud in the distance and decided that the Ben Nevis options might be a bit risky after all, and the Creag Meaghaid glen walk was a safer bet.

So it was that we lined up for our first team photo of the weekend:

We were headed upwards towards a little lochan and, as the day progressed, we all started taking layers off. The views were getting better and better:

Noon was approaching, so tradition dictates:

Eventually, we made it to the lochan:

The round trip there and back was 13 kms - full stats and map here - http://www.mapmywalk.com/workout/986385281

A drive and two ferries later we were on Mull and heading towards our hotel in Craignure (http://www.crerarhotels.com/isle-of-mull-hotel-spa). There wasn't a cloud in the sky and we decided to go and take a quick look at nearby Duart Castle. Spectacular location, although there was a fair amount of scaffolding on show:

Adjacent is the site of a shipwreck:

We watched the Oban ferry arrive:

Tourist bit over, we were ready for a beer. Our hotel had a handpump on the bar, but no beer - not even any nice bottled ales - but we knew the Craignure Inn also had a handpump, but it too turned out to be ale challenged. Nonetheless, a swift pint was downed and then back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. It was Steak Night - and really excellent they were too - although the "free" half bottle of wine was a bit naff.