Home » United Kingdom » The Isle of Mull

Another chapter in the adventures of our windswept and intrepid traveller.

The Isle of Mull

Nickjenkins
2003-11-20 12:21:40

Displayed times (last time: )

two is a strenuous, uphill clamber with a fairly sheer face of scree on the right and an equally plunging face on the left. The wind now was more insistent and the first whisps of cloud were beginning to whip over the top of Ben More ahead of us.

We paused just shy of the top for a snack and waited for fifteen minutes hoping for the clouds to clear. They showed no such inclination and we ascended the last thirty feet into the clouds and onto the top of Ben More (for the particularly adventurous there is a large bivouac made from a ring stones atop Ben More where you can spend the night).

After a brief but chilly self congratulatory session we started to head down the South flank of the Ben back to our waiting car. Luckily my partner realised that he did not recognise any of the landscape we were traversing and we stopped to check the map. With the aid of a compass we discovered we had been about to descend the North ridge of the mountain. In the mist we had made a classic mistake and had managed to turn around 180 degrees and would have cheerfully descended several hundred feet in the wrong direction before discovering our error.

The descent was a long downhill slug on scree and grass and we were extremely weary by the time we crawled our way up the road and into the car.

Needless to say we spent the evening in the pub.

The next morning we did a gentle circuit of the island in the car (which involved almost know walking at all). One highlight of which was a visit to Governor Macquarie's mausoleum which is maintained on Mull by the Scottish Trust for the Australian Heritage Trust. Macquarie's family were connected to the ruling clans of Mull and Macquarie himself retired here in 1824 after his service in Australia. He died however of a bowel disorder in London in July of the same year.

In a strangely poignant and colloquial Australian gesture, Andrew who, beset by a full bladder, took cover behind the only large cover available and urinated on Macquarie's tomb. I judged it best not to take a picture.

Further on we included a visit to the renowned and picturesque village of Tobermory for lunch in one of the brightly coloured houses. A walk around the forest path which skirts the Tobermory harbour was undertaken to settle lunch. Afterwards, while procuring ice creams in a local shop we discovered, in one of those bizarre travelling coincidences, a postcard of the Endeavour replica anchored in Tobermory bay. It apparently toured Britain after its re-creation of Cook's voyage and visited Tobermory in its tour.

This about concluded my visit to Mull and it was time to return Craignure where they squeezed my car aboard the ferry and headed back to the mainland. The drive back to Glasgow was a little slower due to traffic and I booked into a hotel in the airport so that I could return the car and board my flight home this morning.

I arrived back in London at about 7.30am and finally navigated my way into the office just in time for my Monday morning meetings. A bit better than the average weekend away I think. What did you get up to ?

My travels