Today we toured the islands of Mull and Iona, part of the inner Hebrides off the coast of Oban. Our tour embarked mid-morning by ferry from the Oban terminal. The first ferry ride was about 45 minutes. The sun was out, the sky was clear, and we had a beautiful view. At one point we even spotted some dolphins and jellyfish. Once on Mull, we boarded a tour bus and rode for an hour and 20 minutes to the other end of the island. There were some pretty views from the bus, as well as some chatter from the bus driver over the PA system, pointing out sites of interest along the drive in a comforting Scottish brogue. After the bus we got on yet another ferry, this time for a 10 minute ride over to the island of Iona.

We had two hours to explore Iona, which sounds like a lot of time for such a small island, except that it was now lunch time and we still had a 10-15 minute walk to get to the featured highlight of the island: Iona Abbey. There weren’t a ton of lunch options (again, tiny island), so we chose the café hoping it would be the quicker of the options and give us more time to explore. It didn’t end up being particularly fast, but the meal was quite possibly the highlight of the day for me (a hearty salad with roasted potatoes, carrots, and Scottish smoked salmon).

The abbey was interesting because it is the “birthplace of Christianity” for Scotland and marks the site where Saint Columba arrived in Scotland from Ireland in 563 and founded a monastery. It was more or less abandoned after the reformation, but has since been restored and serves as a church again for the community of Iona. Our entry tickets included free audio guides which we would have loved to listen to, except that we were so short on time. We made a quick lap through the church and cloisters (which were very beautiful), circled through the small museum, made a lap through the Heritage Center, and walked through the ruins of a nunnery (as in “convent”, not “brothel”) before heading back to catch the ferry back to Mull.

From there, we repeated our journey in reverse. Ten minute ferry ride. Hour and twenty minute bus ride. Forty five minute ferry ride. All the same scenery, except the bus ride on the return trip was so crowded and Chuck and I were the last two on, so didn’t even get to sit next to each other. I think we were both feeling a little travel-worn by the time we got back to Oban – and then embarked on a two hour and ten minute car ride to Stirling for the night.

Our check in time for our B&B was supposed to be by 8 pm, but fortunately Chuck emailed ahead to let them know it would be closer to 8:30 and they were kind enough to wait on us. We didn’t want to inconvenience them further and neither of us were particularly hungry or ambitious enough to go back out after checking-in, so we’re surviving on all of the snacks we accumulated in Isle of Skye when we over corrected after our impromptu Pringles-and-instant-porridge dinner.

Today’s Highlights:

• Spotting dolphins and jellyfish on our first ferry ride
• Scottish smoked salmon
• Walking through the cloisters at the abbey and through the ruins of the nunnery
• A bottle of cold local ale on our last ferry ride back into Oban
• Meeting this good boy (pictured below) on the last ferry who is my new best friend
• A queen sized bed and spacious room/bathroom in our beautiful B&B
• Listening to the birds chirp outside the window of the B&B as we type our blogs and watch the sun set

Tomorrow’s Proposed Adventures:

• A warm breakfast at our B&B
• Touring Stirling Castle
• Heading on to Glasgow to explore for the afternoon
• Taking the night train back to London