Isle of Mull and Iona
During breakfast we slipped our moorings in Tobermory and headed south along the Sound of Mull for Craignure, the main ferry terminal on the island linking the island to Oban on the Scottish mainland. From Craignure, we went by coach through the glorious scenery of Mull to the furthermost point of the island where we boarded a ferry for the short crossing over to Iona. In the course of our transit of Mull, going and returning from Iona, we were treated to prime sightings of some of the fauna for which the island is justly celebrated: red deer stags, a low-flying sea eagle, buzzards, a merlin, and grey herons to name just a few. These islands along with Skye which we have already visited form part of the Inner Hebrides, the latter being a Greek term used by Ptolemy on the earliest map of the British Isles.
So Iona sits off Mull, today a remote location for most visitors arriving from urban centers by car and ferry. For most of human history, however, the sea connected and the a land divided so Iona was not only a thoroughly desirable location — no mainland predators, animal or human, and good subsistence farming and fishing — but one that was seen to be well situated. Its fame throughout western Christendom derives from its pivotal role in the reintroduction of Christianity to continental Europe after the Dark Ages, the period following the collapse of the Roman Empire when the light of the Christian faith was extinguished throughout western Europe save for the Celtic lands where the Angles and Saxons had not yet penetrated. Columba crossed from Donegal in Ireland to Iona in 563AD and established his monastic community on Iona. In the course of his career as monk and missionary he travelled the great Glen taking Christianity to the Pictish kingdoms of the north-east. From there Christianity reached the northern Anglo-Saxon world when the Northumbrian ruler Oswald adopted Christianity. From there, a springboard was established for Celtic monks to re-establish Christian foundations in mainland Europe. We visited the abbey church and saw St Martin’s Cross, the original Celtic cross still in its original location in the abbey grounds. And we lunched – where else? – in the St Columba Hotel.
After optional activities – a nature walk or a visit to the abbey museum – we return to Craignure via Duart Castle, ancestral home of the Macleans. Like Eilean Donan, this is a castle where William Wallace meets William Morris, its modern formation being a fanciful Arts and Crafts restoration of a mediaeval pile on an impressively craggy site. After dinner, we continued with natural history with a visit to the ship by Wings over Mull, a raptor rehabilitation charity. Examples of their collection of birds of prey were brought to the ship for close inspection, providing some exceptional photo opportunities.
