We sailed from Oban over breakfast to the Isle of Mull, passing the dramatically situated Stevenson Lighthouse and Duart Castle, perched on its rocky promontory. Our first call was the Isle of Iona, situated off the north-west tip of Mull and an object of pilgrimage since the Middle Ages. This is where Columba brought Christianity to the northern world from his home in Donegal, Ireland in the middle of the sixth century.
Our transit over Mull by coach took an hour and a half along single track roads through stunning scenery, with sightings of a red stag deer, various birds of prey and shore-side birds including herons, turnstones and oystercatchers. A short ferry ride from Fionnphort took us over the sound to Iona where we had a walking tour and orientation, taking in the Augustinian nunnery and the celebrated burial ground. The former Benedictine abbey has been restored and is now used for a daily Ecumenical service by the thriving Iona Community, founded in the 1930s by George Macleod.
After lunch at the St Columba Hotel, we crossed back to Mull to visit Duart Castle, the ancestral home of Clan MacLean, a Highland Scottish clan. The site was awash with kilts and the resonating sound of bagpipes. Once we had returned to ship we set sail along the sound of Mull to Tobermory, an attractive fishing village that is now a yacht haven where we came alongside for the night.
