Iona and Mull

An early start today from our berth at Tobermory, the principal settlement on the Isle of Mull. Tobermory – meaning St Mary’s Well - is a mere village by mainland standards but thanks to magnificently sheltered harbor, much frequented by the yachting community which makes for a lively and even cosmopolitan place in the summer months. We boarded a coach to traverse the island, the largest in the Hebrides, from north-east to south-west, heading some fifty miles to Fionnphort to board a ferry over the narrow strait to Iona. In doing so, we were following the path of many mediaeval travelers, notably those bearing a royal cortege to the burial ground on Iona from as far afield as Norway.

For Iona has ever been a holy isle. Its original name, Latinised by a creative cleric, meant the Isle of Yews, Britain’s longest living tree and sacred to the druids. Here in 563AD the Irish holy man Columcille, known to the wider world as Columba, established a monastic settlement the remains of which can be traced in bumps on the ground close to the modern Abbey. The style of Christianity that these Celtic monastic communities practiced has close affinities with that of the Eastern church. The monks lived lives of austerity but great erudition: it was here on Iona that the marvelous Book of Kells was produced, one of the treasures of the Early Christian Period, the alternative name for the period of history known elsewhere as the Dark Ages. For here in western Britain, notably in the sixth century “Age of the Saints”, the western fringe of Europe kept the light of Christian civilization burning that had been snuffed out elsewhere following the collapse of the Roman Empire. From Iona, in a journey we will follow over the next few days, Christianity was taken to the Picts of eastern Scotland by Columba himself and on down to the most northerly of the English kingdoms, Northumbria by his successor, Aidan, and on into continental Europe. Iona thus came to have a place of honor in the western Christian tradition and for many our excursion was also a pilgrimage. We were blessed with a warm, sunny day and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the lawns beside the restored Abbey.

Returning to Mull in the afternoon, we called in at Duart castle, a magnificent mediaeval fortified house, home to the head of the Clan Maclean and some very talented pastry chefs! We toured the interior of the castle, walked the grounds that overlook the Sound of Mull - the raison d’être of this strategic site – and took time to sample the cakes in the Tea Room.

After dinner in the evening, we had a delightful demonstration by Wings over Mull, a raptor hospice, the owner of which brought several birds (merlin, barn and snowy owls) to view at close quarters while he explained the work that he and his wife carry out on the island.