Despite the wind, we slept well. We wake at 7 and depart at 7:30. A new record! It’s a 20 minute drive to the ferry to Iona. Everything is closed when we arrive, but we can hide from the wind in the waiting room. Here, the kids eat breakfast until we see the ferry arrive at 8:30. It’s a short sailing trip to Iona.
We meet a woman from Soest on the Ferry, she’s been living on Mull for years and says the weather is exceptional good. We look up to the grey sky, and the 14 degrees do not feel particularly warm. But we’re happy that at least it’s not raining.
We arrive in a tiny harbour with five houses and walk East, to see the ruined nunnery, the best preserved in the UK. The wild flowers give it a romantic atmosphere, wild roses, cow parsley and thistle have overgrown the stones.
We walk a bit further to visit the St Oran Chapel and graveyard. Built in 1100, it is the oldest structure on the island, and it’s just amazing when you think of all the Viking raids and weather conditions it faces. Kings of Scotland lie here, but the chapel is ver simple, yet the carving of the mural tomb recess and door passage is impressive.
Next door is the Abbey, it’s still closed as a visiting site, but we can already explore the buildings. There is a sense of history with large standing Celtic Crosses. We also hear the prayers from the church which add to the atmosphere.
St Columba founded the monastry 1450 years ago. Little remains of Columba’s monastry, we look at the reconstruction of the later Benedictine abbey. It’s still an active Christian community. It’s said to be a “thin place”, a fine veil seperating heaven and earth. Many wanted to be burried in this holy land.
A rocky knoll in front of the abbey is Torr an Aba (Hill of the Abbot). St Columba’s writing hut stood on this summit. The Cathach of St Columba is the oldest surviving book in Ireland, and was written in this hut.
Inside the abbey is a collection of grave slabs displayed with stunning designs. Mostly crosses, swords, ships and foliage.
As the service in the church is finished, we also take a look inside. Also here the stone carvings are beautiful and the atmosphere is peaceful.
The site officially opened now, so we have our heritage passes scanned and pick up an explorer bag for the kids. We only have to visit the small museum where more grave slabs and standing crosses are displayed. These are the first Celtic crosses ever created, as they originate from this abbey. There are early crosses dating back to the 7th century.
The most beautiful piece of art created in this abbey still exsists but is no longed here but in Trinity library in Dublin, the famous book of Kells. The richly decorated gospel book from the 9th century. It survived the Viking raids was moved to Ireland, somehow survived more Viking raids there. It was handed to Trinity college in the 17th century.
We are ambitious and think we will hike half of the island in 2,5 hours. The kids are tired after a week camping, and an average of 9-10 hours sleep per night. For some reason we cannot remember, we left the Deuter on the other island in our car. We carry 10 kilo’s of camera and lenses. But optimistic as we are, we go for it, passing fields of sheep and wild flowers, and having a first stop at White Strand of the Monks.
This was the site of yet another massacre of dozens resident monks by raiding Vikings. The stones on this beach are mostly black, and the strand ends with a white sandy beach looking onto the Island of Storm.
The sheltered cove with soft sand and clear water make it one of the most beautiful swimming spots in Scotland. The water is cold, but the shelter and the clarity make swimming genuinely tempting. We take a dive in the freezing cold water and return for more as we are cold adapted now.
As everybody is exhausted by the cold, wind and heavy bags, we decide to cancel the island tour by feet and head back to the ferry instead. It’s another 40 minute walk anyways.
Unfortunately, the ferry just leaves when we’re close to the port. Never mind, we spot a cafe and are enthusiastic about a warm drink, Olga already tastes the Irish coffee on her tongue, it’s Oma Miriams birthday after all. But unfortunately, there is a power cut and they cannot serve us. Never mind, we can enjoy ourselves on their terrace, and finish our snacks and drinks until the ferry arrives an half hour later to bring us back to the Isle of Mull. We will keep Isle of Iona in our hearts!
We’re back at our car at 13:00 and enjoy the warmth of our car. Our dear car heats us, rocks the kids to sleep, and drives us around Mull, the cliffs, the sheeps and gooses that want to cuddle our car, water falls and sea views, lochs and hills. We have several stops for short viewings to spot sealls or climb around a waterfall.
We also visit the main town Tobermory with its famous colourful port view.
We’re back at our campsite at 18 and want to have dinner in the next door inn, as it’s so windy, it will be impossible to heat any food. Sadly there is no place for us and since it took them more than 10 minutes to tell us this, we skip their take away option and try the supermarket next door. We get all ingredients for a simple pasta dish and discover a laundrette too. Tim does the laundry and Olga cooks despite the wind.
This is the moment Zeno has to poo. He’s with Cleo in the playground and they don’t know where the toilet is. The poo comes neverthless. So while Cleo and Tim eat somehow warm pasta, Olga and Zeno take a long shower to get clean again. All in all we have clean kids, clean laundry and dinner in the end, so all is fine. We even have cake for desert to celebrate Oma Miriams birthday. Hip hip hooray!
