Today we got up and I had the hotel breakfast early because I was kind of craving a real hot breakfast. I ate my hotel english breakfast (think Hampton in We but with slightly more hot options) and it hit the spot. After breakfast we both finished packing up and took the stuff to the car where it would stay while we headed to the ferry terminal as passengers only this time. We collected our ferry tickets and schedule for the tour from the tour offices and then sat and relaxed in the boarding area waiting on our ferry.

Once on board we settled in on the 4th level outside where I could use my zoom camera lens to try and take pictures of anything interesting we saw. Shortly after starting a lady pointed out that we could see jellyfish in the wake so I spent way too long trying to get a good shot of them but eventually got a few you can see them in.

We also saw dolphins but really just the fins. here are some other pics of the transit as well.

When we arrive on Mull we had to immediately hop on a bus to take us across the island to the ferry port for Iona which was our ultimate destination. This transit was about 1.5 hours and was interesting lansdcape to look at but ultimately after our last couple of weeks was not anything to get super excited about.

But we weren’t here for Mull so when we arrived at the Ferry terminal we hopped on the ferry about to depart and headed to Iona for a couple of hours. Remember Becky hadn’t eaten breakfast so first priority was to find lunch. We found a cute little cafe with a pretty shaded garden and grabbed lunch. We then headed to the Abbey which is the highlight of Iona. We realized after lunch that our 2 hours on island was going to run out quickly so we hurried over and started the tour. Briefly Iona is famous for Saint Columba who was from Ireland and became a missionary to Scotland and setup a Christian monastary and knowledge center on Iona. Later it is believed that the famous Book of Kells which now is in Ireland was created on Iona. Also Iona is the burial ground of many early Scottish kings and clan chiefs including the MacDonald clan chiefs from the Isle of Skye and also Macbeth from Shakespeare fame. The Abbey is now run by a community church but is open for touring as well. They have many examples of celtic/christian crosses from the island and it is thought these crossover icons might have originated here as well. We did have to rush a bit but the cathedral and cloister were very beautiful and kept up in a way that they can be used for modern services but also have much of the feel of the older building.

We had to move on to the nunnery ruins and the Heritage center if we were to wrap up in time for the last ferry back to Mull. The Heritage center was small and mostly consisted of Iona community history which was interesting but not something we could spend much time on. I did almost lose Becky though when she got to a section on the geological history of the island. Next we headed to the ruins of a Nunnery that used to be on the island. Not a lot to say it was again insteresting but there wasn’t any specific history to mention.

After finishing up there we got over in time to rest while watching the ferry cross back over to pick us up. After riding back we were at first proud we had done everything in time but then saw the lines for the busses and realized it was going to be a crowded ride back. We had to separate and that always makes any trip like this seem to last longer but we did finally arrive in plenty of time for our ferry back to Oban.

This transit was pretty uneventful but we had to head out as soon as we got back as we had reservations at a B&B in Stirling with a strict checkin time policy we were stretching. This meant again we were missing a regular mealtime so we snacked a bit on the way and now are relaxing in our super nice B&B and looking forward to the home cooked breakfast tomorrow morning. Last day in Scotland tomorrow and thankfully last day driving on the wrong side of the road. I won’t miss Scottish roads much lol.