Framedlight

We camped next to the shore at Lochbuie and in the early hours I was woken by the light streaming through the van windows. A full moon was shining over the sea and so I pulled on some clothes to go out, take some pictures and discover that midges don't sleep! In the morning the sheep were wandering over the tide line picking over the seaweed. The next place on our itinerary was Fionnphort at the very south western tip of Mull. As we were at the end of a no through road this involved driving back towards Craignure and then across on the main road. We stopped in the little town of Bunessan to pick up some supplies before carrying on to Fionnphort, although we found the shop in Fionnphort actually had more stock. The beach at Fionnphort has wonderful pink granite rocks. The weather was clearing up, as well it might as this was the hottest day of the year back down in England. We thought about taking the ferry to Iona but, as we were about to go up and buy...

After our stone circle experience, we drove into the hamlet of Lochbuie, where there is a lay-by, a post office selling coffee, a few houses and the rather ugly Lairds house, visited by Johnson and Boswell in 1773 during their Hebridean meanderings; " Lochbuy has, like the other insular Chieftains, quitted the castle that sheltered his ancestors, and lives near it, in a mansion not very spacious or splendid. I have seen no houses in the Islands much to be envied for convenience or magnificence, yet they bare testimony to the progress of arts and civility, as they shew that rapine and surprise are no longer dreaded, and are much more commodious than the ancient fortresses. "  Moy  castle, as romantic a ruin as one could desire. We parked a little way down from the lay-by next to the pebbly shore and walked to the castle which is locked up as it is unsafe, being abandoned before Johnson's visit. The shore line was full of yellow flags and twisted trees. A small road led to...

We had had a conversation with the manager of the campsite in Craignure, who was extremely helpful and advised us that white tailed sea eagles could be seen at Grass Point, just south east of Craignure. So we though that this would be our first port of call in Mull. We drove towards Lochdon and tried to go down a small road leading to Gorsten. Unfortunately it was one of the very minor roads in Mull, where the trunk roads are single track, and we had to bottle out before we had got very far. Lochdon was a very pretty village and we stopped to take a couple of pictures before driving on to Grass Point, passing a family of Highland Cattle standing in the road. At Grass Point we walked up to a promontory on the cliff overlooking Loch Don. The eagles were soaring over the bay but were too far away to photograph, although  it was a privilege to see them and Alan was happy. There was life on the grassy promontory too and a lark put on a show for us. Here...