From Jim’s Journal:
From Tobermory to iona

At breakfast, prepared early just for us, I asked to use the phone to call the ferry line and make reservations for the 2:15 return. Once I got through, a machine informed me the office didn’t open until 9:00. I tried making the reservation online, using our host’s computer, but that didn’t work out either. Dial-up connection that took a long time to get though page after page to get to the place I needed, then discovered that online reservations needed to be made well in advance. All times for Saturday Mull->Oban sailings were blanked out.

We managed to negotiate our way down the hill in the car, finding the street we had missed the day before, and stopped in the large car park next to the Tobermory distillery. That was across the harbor and around the curve, just so we could take a picture back in the direction of “our house,” Then we went on out of town, stopped at the Mull pottery only to discover it didn’t open until 10:30, and inched our way along the single track road to Craignure, where the ferry landed.

There we learned that the day was fully booked, except for the 6:15 late sailing. So — we made a definite reservation for 6:15, put our names on the standby list for 4:15, and thought we’d have that much more time on Iona.

We had left the Strongardh house in Tobermory just about 8:30; not, “45 minutes away,” we headed out at 9:45 for Fionnphort and the Iona ferry, another 45 minutes away. Planning an hour for the 45-minute ride, an hour back, we thought we’d have plenty of time on Iona.

Wrong again.

In the first place I was not going to drive as fast as the locals on those roads. In the second place, the scenery was too breath-takingly beautiful not to stop for at least a few–50 or so–of the Kodak moments that showed up at every turn. Finally, we had to stop for sheep and shaggy cows. Not that they were in the way, or anything like that. We just had to stop and look, even if we didn’t take pictures. We took so many photos they have a page of their own, along with other photos of Mull.

So–after an hour and a half for that 45-minute drive, we got to Fionnphort, paid for parking until 2:45, and went into the ferry office. No cars allowed on Iona, we knew that and expected no problem getting back and forth on the “frequent ferries.” Then we found out that the next trip wouldn’t be until 12:30, with “frequent” beginning after that. I phoned our host in Stirling and told him we’d be real late getting there.

There is absolutely nothing interesting in Fionnphort. A tourist office, a small grocery, a small shop, and the ferry office. I did notice that the grocery store rented videotapes–the first harry Potter movie, Spiderman, a few other titles I recognized. They’re not completely cut off, they’re just hard to get to by land. We wondered what it would be like to grow up or learn to drive here. Makes Possum Bend in the 50s look really modern!

You’ll have to go back to the “real” Iona page to read about our time there. We enjoyed the visit, then walked back to catch the ferry for our return, only to see it leave as we walked up. Oh well, best laid plans, and all that. It gave us a chance to get a hot lunch at a conveniently located cafeteria, take a few pictures on the rocks and sand next to the ferry landing, and to laugh at the almost-tame seagulls.

We got back across to Fionnphort, hit the trail (single-track trail, of course) and struck out for Craignure. On the drive, we did stop for a few more photos. Fields below the mountains with huge (house size) boulders that had fallen from above. I didn’t have a lens wide enough to give the full image. The Glen of Muir (I think that’s what it was) that we drove through was wild in some ways. Beautiful.

We also stopped to photograph a shaggy cow. Just across a cattle gap, she was facing away from us, almost on the roac, hind right leg raised, udder and teats swinging, nasty rear end, while she licked and scratched in the joints. One of the funniest things I’ve seen in years. Judy was laughng so hard she could barely get the camera out. Then the cow quit scratching and lowered her legs. Damn! Miseed that one. We pulled up beside her, I lowered by window (not five feet from her shaggy face), Judy handed me the camera, and I got the most wonderful photo of this entire trip! Worth every penny of the whole trip, it you ask me.

In spite of all the stops, we made it to Craignure by 3:50 (only one hour ten minutes this time) to find there had been many cancellations and we could leave on the 4:15 ferry. Hallelujah!