Road to the isles, 4th July, Calgary to Tobermory

September 01, 2015

Overnight it had rained torrentially, and there is nothing like the beating of the rain on a metal roof to keep you awake. So feeling slightly groggy, I went down to the beach the next morning with my camera shrouded in a Tesco bag to look at the view. And it was dramatic, even apocalyptic. I was eventually driven back inside by the rain and we drove off east towards Tobermory.

We passed through the village of Dervaig and stopped by the Loch an Torr, a manmade lake. The rain had stopped now and the water glistened on the side of a rocky crag. We made coffee in the small car park and decided to return to Dervaig as it seemed worthy of a visit, back across the fairly exciting steep and bendy road.

Dervaig is supposed to be the 'prettiest village in the Hebrides' and indeed the main street is fringed by old cottages built around 1800. We did a little shopping in the local store and watched from the car as the local dairyman unloaded his crates from the back of his van in his shirt sleeves, oblivious of the now bucketing rain. Hardened men around here!

The river Bellart winds it's way through the village out to the ocean and we crossed the old bridge and also visited the church, Kilmore church with its distinctive steeple, only one of two like this in Scotland, although common in Ireland.

In the church we spoke to the verger, an nice old man with a horrendous cough who had come in to do a spot of cleaning. You can see his vacuum cleaner parked in front of the altar. From the church a visit to the old cemetery seemed logical. Lying a little outside the village the grave stones rose up the side of a small hillock. The rain had stopped again although the sky was still very threatening.

And so on to Tobermory, which was to be our last stop in Mull before crossing to Ardnamurchin on the mainland. The houses and harbour were pretty, but it was very crowded and we soon retreated back inland a little to walk near Glengorm Castle. Here the rain finally came down so hard we were forced to run back to the car and retreat for a drink in a pub in Tobermory and then to our camping spot which had the largest concentration of midges we had come across on Mull.