Having survived a soaking of epic proportion on our first day on the Isle of Mull, we weren’t inclined to embark on another wet trek the next day. We decided to enjoy a scenic (and most importantly dry) tour of the island by car instead.
A rainy day drive on the Isle of Mull
In my opinion, the 55-mile drive between Tobermory and Fionnphort, is one of the most beautiful in Scotland. There’s plenty to see and do on it too.
The first stop of our scenic driving tour round Mull was to admire the ruins of Aros Castle by Aros Mains. The wet weather, made the castle look dramatic and moody.
A reminder of the passing of time
Next, came a favourite spot of mine. Some old boats, beached at Salen. They were there when I first visited Mull on a school camping trip in the 1980s. That’s when my long love affair with the Isle of Mull began. The same can’t be said for camping though. Eating spaghetti bolognese full of midgies by the camp fire and having no en-suite facilities – I’ve yet to be convinced that’s fun.
Anyway, back to the boats. When I first saw them they were brightly coloured. As each year passes they deteriorate a little more. I dread the day they succumb to old age. They remind me that time doesn’t stand still. Life’s to be lived – just ike the boats we won’t get any younger.
Salan is also a good place to look for wildlife. There are often seals basking there, and I’ve spotted an otter there too. I’ve also seen white tailed eagles, soaring past and out to sea to hunt for fish.
Passing places, traffic jams and russet tones
The boy loves a road trip, so he was in his element, perched on my knee staring out the window. As we drove towards Mull’s mountains, the mist thickened, making our tour atmospheric – but not too good for taking photos.
I love the rich, russet colours of Mull.
The island has a rally each year in October. The road above is fairly standard throughout much of Mull. Fancy speeding round a hairpin bend on that?
Mull is an island best enjoyed at a more leisurely pace. Traffic jams there can be delightful, if you encounter Highland cattle and sheep blocking the road.
A strange place for a telephone box
When we reached Pennyghael, we decided to take a detour to Carsaig. There are three scary roads on Mull – this is one of them. Steep, winding, narrow, first skirting a gorge, then a steep, wooded hillside with little or no barrier. Throw in rain and a lack of passing places, and what you have is my idea of hell.
It is worth it though, because you get to see this.
Only in Scotland would placing a phone-box in a remote location, next to a thundering waterfall seem like a good idea. Make a call – have a shower at the same time.
Avid movie buffs may recognise this spot from the 1945 movie ‘I know where I’m going!’ which was shot on the Isle of Mull.
Carsaig it’s a gorgeous, off the beaten track corner of Mull, and a million miles away from the fast-paced rat race of modern life
We tolerated a minor soaking to enjoy this rugged spot for a while. We’re glad we did, as the Wee White Dug alerted us to the fact we weren’t alone. The sea before us were little black faces, watching us. I love wildlife, so spotting seals was a real bonus. I spotted my first ever seal in the wild on that school trip to Mull moons ago. Growing up on an Edinburgh housing estate, I didn’t know we had seals in Scotland.
What goes down must come up. After seal spotting at Carsaig, it was time to endure the highway to hell again, so we could continued our driving tour of the Isle of Mull.
We met this guy or gal at the end of the road and stopped to say hello. It’s awful, but I can’t look at a turkey without thinking of Christmas. If only you could live in Narnia where it’s always winter but never Christmas, my feathered friends.
A pit stop for lunch in Bunessan
We decided to grab a takeaway lunch from Bunessan Bakehouse, in Bunessan village. We parked at a spot with uninterrupted sea views.
Yet again, we hit the good food jackpot. I had a delicious potato tortilla which Casper sampled too. We also had lovely home made soup, coffee and a ten minute bicker about whether our cakes were German or Empire Biscuits. I grew up calling them German biscuits, Mr G Empire. It turns out we were both right. They were German until the First World War, when just like the Royal Family their name was changed to something more patriotically British. What we did agree on though, was that they were the tastiest we’d ever eaten.
Fionnphort, Fingal and Fidden
I’ve been to Fionnphort many times over the years, mostly to hop on the ferry to Iona. The village is worth visiting in its own right though. The views from the village, over to Iona are breathtaking.
The beach at Fionnphort has gorgeous, pink coloured rocks on it. There’s also a huge split rock, known as Fingal’s Rock. It’s said to have been hewn in two by Fingal the giant of Fingal’s Cave fame.
Being compulsive road trippers, we squeezed in one last detour from Fionnphort, before it was time to retrace the road back to Tobermory.
Apparently, Fidden is such a great place to camp, that sheep will queue round the block in all weather to bag the best pitch.
The beaches aren’t bad either.
And there ended a great day out – which shows, bad weather doesn’t mean you need to stay indoors.
Later, back in Tobermory we toasted another wonderful trip to the fabulous Isle of Mull.
Until next time …
I keep looking for the “Like” button as I so enjoy reading your blog and seeing the photos. We spent a month in Scotland back in 2009 and had rain every single day. But, that didn’t stop us from having a fabulous trip and taking many (10,000 between three cameras) pictures. It was a huge job to weed them out to a manageable amount. We are overdue for another trip over and hope to make it in 2018. Keep on travelling!
Thank you, so glad you enjoy the blog. At least you managed t capture lots of memories on your last trip. Just make sure you buy a nice big memory card if you do return next year. At the bottom of the page there’s a link to follow the blog via e-mail. You’ll get an alert when a new post is published. 😊
Brilliant! Fantastic blog! The photos & the great stories. And I am amazed by one thing: I’ve been in Scotland for four years now and I had no idea they had wild turkeys here! I’m from the Texas Hill Country where they pop up around every bend in the road.
Thank you – I think they were free range farm turkeys sadly so probably destined for the Christmas dinner plate.
aaaa the red phone box in the forest!:)
Love that phonebox. Such a stunning spot. 😍
We are leaving Scotland in a few days as our tour of the UK is now taking us to England but I can’t wait to go to Mull!
Will keep reading your blog for more ideas in the meantime 🙂
I know what you mean about the weather, we’ve been hiking on the Berwickshire Coastal Path yesterday and it was raining all day but we still loved it! I wish the path hadn’t been so muddy but I didn’t mind the rain.
Hope my pictures will be as good as yours, lots of post editing to do… 😉
Looking forward to following you for the rest of your tour. I’m with you on the mud. Rain I can handle but I hate mud and bog. Yuck
Superb photos of one of my favourite parts of the world! I know those roads well. Beautiful in any weather! I understand why you didn’t want to leave. Thank you for sharing your memories!
Thank you for reading. Mull is my favourite place in Scotland. 💕
I think it may be mine, too! (If Iona is included as well, that would be my idea of heaven!)
Iona for sure and let’s throw in Ulva for good measure. 😍
Ah! Yet to make it to Ulva. You’re making me want to get on the next ferry! 😀
Will read your blog to get inspiration for our travels in Scotland. We start of in Dunoon. Say hallo to Sam from Vlou @TravelingBeagle
Great I look forward to following your Scottish adventures via the blog. So much to see and do. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Hello Vlou another hiking doggy 🐶
So you picked up a car in Oban (or somewhere else), then ferried it across to Mull? i don’t mind driving in Scotland, even though meeting those potato hauling semis on blind corners with a mountain on one side and a stone wall on the other made me feel like we cheated death more than once. Even though we live in a very rural part of Missouri, the minor highways in Scotland often seem like one-way roads in places. However, after 800 miles and four different cars, i managed it with narry a scrape (although i did turn the wrong direction once!) Mull looks challenging – is there a lot of traffic? do you recommend taking the car? or taking the bus with the goals of exploring the island and going to Iona?
We took our own car into the island on the Oban ferry. It’s only a 3 hour drive from our Edinburgh home. Mull is a large island and although it has a bus service it’s not frequent so it’s best explored by car or with an organised tour group to make sure you reach all of the little off road and remote gems. The traffic is on the whole quiet and there are lots of passing places on the roads so if you see a car behind, you should stop and let it overtake. If it’s coming towards you then generally whoever is closest to a passing place waits to let the other pass. It’s a system that works well. It’s a beautiful island to drive on. Iona which is a 10 minute ferry trip from Mull doesn’t require a car. Only locals can take a car onto the island anyway and with one short road there’s little point having one. It’s stunning and unspoiled. The food is out of this world too. It’s one of my favourite places. The history is mind blowing. The real king Macbeth is buried there. The Medieval gravestones are amazing. 😍
Ah, yes, then that is very similar to Shetland and Orkney – i can handle that! thank you. We had hoped to do that Oban, Mull, Iona last time, but simply too much to do in only a month – we plan to get back summer 2017
Good wee travelogue Sam! One of my best memories of Islay was being storm stayed an extra night. My cousin and I went out in the gale and were blown into Laphroaig where we were gifted a free dram for looking so forlorn. When we used to go canoeing after high school, I became known as Chief Dryfoot for my penchant for not getting wet. ( well that and my aversion to leeches) So yeah, don’t let the weather get you down, you might miss something!
Ha ha I love that story Andrew. I loved Islay. Such a beautiful Island and a whisky lovers dream. Not being a whisky drinker myself I developed a fondness for The Botanist Gin made by Bruichladdich. Heaven in a glass.
Your last post made me dream of spending one whole year in Scotland, as a grand adventure of enduring wet and cold weather and seeing past its unpleasantness. If you can find such beauty even in the nasty weather, how breathtaking it must be in the sunshine. My next family trip may well be to Scotland, since it is number 1 on my list. I may apply to you then for suggestions of what to see in the time we have 🙂
That’s so nice of you to say so. I wanted my Mull posts to show how poor weather doesn’t have to ruin a trip and sometimes it can even enhance the beauty of the land. Luckily we get lots of lovely blue sky days too. I’d be more than happy to help you with Scotland travel tips. Hopefully you’ll make it here soon with your family. 😊
I am hoping for next year. This summer we are going to Rome, which is exciting too 🙂 But Scotland’s landscape is what really speaks to me.
It’s a lovely island even in the rain!
Absolutely – I wanted to share photos and some info about the trip so people can see that awful weather doesn’t have to ruin a trip. Saying that we’re back early September and I’d like sunshine morning till night. ☀️
Sunshine does increase photographic possibility and joy…..but there is a wild drama about the whole west coast….whatever the weather! We’re off the Skye again next week…and I am hoping for some sunshine✨😊✨
I’ll cross my fingers for a fabulous sunny Skye trip. We’re staying on Raasay in September for a short break. Such a lovely part of the country.
You’ll find lots of west coast photography on my blog….we go up to Plockton and Skye several times a year….it’s where my Mums from😆💕
I’ll need to delve in. I love Plockton. The west coast is stunning.