A Quiet Day in Tobermory/from Mull to Skye

Today, I was feeling lazy after my race around Mull the day before.  A storm was forecast for the afternoon, so I decided to spend the morning making a short walk around Glengorm Castle, an imposing property near Tobermory, before shopping for cheese at a local farm.  I also bought some asparagus and venison salami.  I reserved the afternoon for enjoying my cottage and writing my blog. 

The storm was forecast to last a whole 24 hours, and I was a bit worried that the ferries would be cancelled, and I would be unable to travel to Skye the next day as planned; Mull is completely dependent on its ferry services. But in the end the storm never materialised – it was a bit windier than usual in the afternoon, but from my window I could see that ferries were still sailing in the Sound of Mull. My trip to Skye would be OK.  The weather was even nice enough to venture outside for another look at picturesque Tobermory.

In the evening I cooked the two crabs that I had bought yesterday.  They were enormous, so I had one for dinner and made crab sandwiches with the other for my lunch the day after.

The next day I got up early to queue for the ferry from Tobermory to Kilchoan, a tiny village on the Scottish mainland.  The forecast storm had not arrived, and the crossing was uneventful.  The weather was cloudy with occasional rain, giving a completely different feel to Scotland – impressive and melancholy rather than pretty.  The route from Kilchoan was on a narrow, single track road.  First, it ran along a mighty loch with impressive views of distant mountains. I stopped for coffee and then for my crab sandwich lunch, enjoying the view.

Then the road skirted past Fort William and the might Ben Nevis mountain range, the highest in the UK. I stopped for a coffee in a castle that had been converted to a luxury hotel.  It had magnificent reception rooms, and also an impressive snooker room where trophies from the former castle owners’ hunting expeditions were displayed. I was sorry for the deer that had been shot, but relieved that there were no bears amongst the victims. BTW I found a very cool and useful site full of information for next time when I will have time to climb Ben Nevis.

The road continued through the impressive Glen Shiel valley, guarded by the might “five sisters” mountains.

It then reached the sea, to reveal the beautiful castle of Eilean Donan, sitting alone on its own island in Loch Duich. 

Finally, I crossed over the bridge to Skye, to be met with brilliant evening sunshine.  The scenery suddenly looked very different – pretty and happy.

I was very glad to reach my hotel at half past five after a long day’s driving– I had left the ferry at a quarter past ten, but had only managed just over 100 miles since then. Progress had been very slow, with coffee stops, photo stops, lunch and even a short snooze along the way.  I had dinner in the hotel and then a stroll around the hotel’s grounds and its golf course to catch the evening light.  With the warmth of the sun weakening, it was bitterly cold, but I managed to take a couple of last photos for the day before hurrying inside to bed.

  Sunset over the loch in Skye