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