Loch Drunkie to Isle of Mull

Packing up from our overnight stay in the forest at Three Loch Drive was a breeze, the upside of being off grid.

No wires to put away as the power comes from the solar panels on the roof and leisure battery it feeds, water is also self contained, (fresh & grey tanks, plus toilet cassette) so it was a speedy departure once we had decided after a morning coffee to hit the road.

Our destination was a campsite (Seaview) at Benderloch, over Connel Bridge, 8 miles north of Oban.

The plan was for an overnight stay at Seaview to enable an easy departure the following morning from Oban on a Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) ferry to Craigure on the Isle of Mull.

The drive time to the campsite suggested 2 hours from the shores of Loch Drunkie near Aberfoyle to Oban via Crianlarich, it did not factor in an obligatory leisurely stop at the Green Welly Shop in Tyndrum.

The shop has expanded into a haven for hill walkers and tourists, their coffee shop has also transformed over the years, the Scottish weather means there are usually at least 4 options of "soup of the day" on offer at any one time. The Green Welly is a must for anyone passing through en route to or from Oban, Fort William and beyond.

After an obligatory soup stop we were off to Benderloch, a 45 minute drive along the A85, the roads were relatively empty making it a very lovely drive, mainly due to the sunshine, allowing the scenic countryside to shine, passing through Dalmally, around Loch Awe and Taynuilt, before reaching Connel Bridge.

Crossing the bridge, the water below is known as the Falls of Lora, of Loch Etive (a coastal loch) where many years previously I had experienced the most challenging dive ever just under the bridge (at slack water) with my old sub aqua club.

On arrival at the site, we were greeted with a well kept grassy field looking over Ardmucknish Bay, at the end of the field there were sheep and rabbits before an expansive sandy bay towards the Firth of Lorn.

A seaview from Seaview

Just after arrival we welcomed our first van visitor, Shona (who drove up from her home in Oban). Shona and I have been lifelong friends, since primary school.

The weather was sunny and warm, Jo was on self elected bbq duty, Shona and I had a lovely catch up in the sunshine in the peace of the countryside with a fabulous view.

Before long the gates to the site would be closed for the night, and Shona had to make her escape, a lovely afternoon and evening was had by us all.

The following morning we headed off to Oban ferry port to catch a CalMac to Craignure (Isle of Mull) to take in a scenic sail of around an hour from Oban Bay, through the channel by the Isle of Kerrera that sits opposite the town, through the channel to the south of the Isle of Lismore before docking on the east of Mull.

As we approached the narrow channel to leave Oban Bay, the ferry captain had to slow the boat down and was soon on the ship's horn giving 5 loud blasts to a yacht in its path, (the nautical term being "please make your intentions clear", sailors know it as "get out of the f>>king way".......or ......"what the f>>k are you doing"

The yacht skipper had no clue as they purposely stayed in the ferry's path, resulting in the ferry at an almost standstill and sending out a further blast of 5, the yacht eventually took the big hint and got out of the way.

Before long we were docking at Craignure, quickly off the boat and approaching the main road and there were two options - left or right.. we went right which quickly became a single track road, to our campsite at Salen was about 10 miles along the coast line.

After arriving at our camp site, we then took a trip out to Tobermory, a small fishing port, capital of the island and the home to a distillery.

That evening it was a walk around the Salen foreshore and local area and local pub, the weather required waterproof jackets as intermittent showers seemed order of the day.

Up early the next morning, Google Maps suggested the the 47 mile journey to Fionnphort was nearly 2 hours, this made meant most of the journey would be on single track road, slow and scenic.

[NB: In Gaelic Fionnphort (pronounced  like finnyfirt) meaning "Port of the White Sands" is on the south west peninsular of Mull, known as the Ross of Mull, also Ross is the Scottish word for peninsular].

Two hours later we were on a boat with about 25 others heading to the small island of Staffa, just next to the Treshnish Isles.

[NB: The Treshnish Isles are a group of eight uninhabited islands and many more skerries (small rocky island / islet / reef), located in the Inner Hebrides to the west of Mull. Lunga, Bac Beag, Cairn na Burg Beag, Bac Mor, Sgeir an Eirionnaich, Sgeir an Fheoir, Fladda and Cairn na Burgh Mor. The entire archipelago is a Site of Special Scientific Interest].

Staffa was around 30 minutes away, across a calm sea, firstly passing Iona and its famous abbey on our left, then on to the approach to Staffa. The island became easily recognisable from afar, due to its iconic hexaganol rock columns, also home to Fingals Cave and a colony of puffins

We disembarked and opted to walk up to the top of the island in search of the cute little puffin, (other sea birds are available)😀 and were not disappointed, we could see many of them floating below in the shelter of the bay, periodically flying up to sit close by us on the grass above, seemingly curious and friendly little birds.

About an hour later, and whilst still in the sunshine it was sadly time to leave, and as the boat on return stopped at Iona prior to Mull, we opted to get off the boat and would then take a quick 15 minute ferry back to Fionnport.

As we approached the top of Iona, we were visited by a pod of friendly Scottish Bottlenose dolphins; reputably the world's largest dolphin - due to good fishing grounds and their thick layer of blubber to keep the cold out in chilly waters!

Our captain slowed the boat, circled around, where we spent time watching the magical sea creatures play around the boat, cameras were clicking, the dolphins did not disappoint giving everyone their "special Kodak moment!"

After leaving our maritime entertainment behind, we approached Iona, an island steeped in history, and which we wanted to have a wander around.

It is reputed to be the place St Columba came to Scotland (from Ireland) bringing the Christianity faith with him. As the island is only 1.5m x 3 miles in size, and the larger island of Mull around 600m away across a sheltered bay, it was a little perplexing why he chose the smaller island to set up camp for his abbey, or maybe it was the green marble quarry???

Back over the short ferry to Mull, we then opted to take the "scenic" route back to camp at Salen.

The scenic route translated to an extra few miles of winding single track road, more sheep sitting on the road, less tarmac and less passing places, thankfully the huge logging lorry passed us at a very fortuitous location otherwise it could have been a little more hairy.

The following morning we were up at 6am, having popped into the ferry terminal at Tobermory when we went there a couple of days earlier, to find out the sailing time to Kilchoan, to take us back to the mainland for our route further north.

We were advised that there are 3 morning timings 7.20 / 9.30 / 11.30, it was not possible to book so just a turn up and see what the queue is like. The advice given was aim for the 7.20am as it's the least busiest, if you don't want a 2 hour wait- the boat only holds about 8 vehicles (depending on size).

A quick unplug of the EHU, a 30 minute drive to the CalMac slip and we were first in the queue at 6.50am shortly followed by 2 other vehicles... the sail across the seas of the inner Hebrides leading to Loch Sonart was calm, as we passed the Ardmore Lighhouse on Mull.

Being on an open ferry, it was also the first time we could see the roof of Tassie, the seating was up the staircase on each side of the boat, giving a good view of the car deck below on the ro-ro ferry.

So were off back to the mainland, our early morning stop meant we would likely face less traffic on the narrow one way roads out to Ardnamuchan Lighthouse (and the most westerly point of the UK's mainland)... so it had to be done!

Next trip ... Ardnamurchan Point to the Beauly Firth.