Holidaying on the Islands of Mull and Iona - Part 3

The last in the trilogy. I could have bored you with more but my youngest came down with chicken pox and we had to cut our trip short. We travelled up the west coast of Mull passing Ben More on our right and looking out to Staffa, with its magnificent geometric basalt columns, to our left. It's only 55 miles but it took a LONG time. A combination of breath-taking scenery that made us stop frequently and of course the single track roads combined with hairpin bends.

We also had to stop quite frequently for herds of cows on the road. They were definitely boss! This one refused to budge and when she did, she came right up to the side of the van and stuck her tongue out.

We stayed overnight at Calgary Beach: a beautiful, windy and unspoilt beach on the west coast. Clearly the drive had absolutely exhausted me because l only have phone pictures of this beautiful bay. Having not passed any shops on our journey, we had a bit of a pick n mix dinner. None of it made sense and it was all perfect.

The next morning we headed straight to Tobermory. Unfortunately our kids had no idea what Balamory/ Tobermory was so missed out on that excitement but they did know about the 'Tobermory Cat', so were looking forward to finding him. However, Tobermory Cat was soon forgotten about when they saw the chocolate shop, appropriately painted a nice shade of chocolate brown, and we spent a small fortune on ice-creams and luxury chocolates.

We had some fantastic food in Tobermory, visited the aquarium and meandered through the town visiting the colourful properties.

These beautiful wrecks were in Salen on the way back to Craignure. l have no idea about the story behind them but thought they made great photographic subjects.

After another night in the van, we made our way, reluctantly, to port to catch the ferry back to the mainland.

On the way back, l watched this mother and her daughter sketching a beautiful picture of this lighthouse on Eilean Musdile. They drew quickly and together, with mum teaching her daughter all the time about shading, contouring, colour etc. I'd love to be able to draw.