tobermory, isle of mull

Tobermory is along the northern edge of the Isle of Mull: how much more picturesque can a town possibly get?
I had only 24 hours in Mull/Tobermory thanks to missing a ferry from Oban and having to stay there the night, but still it was worth the 24 hours: some of which I spent hanging about Tobermory and doing the easy Shore-walk, and some of which I spent doing a longer walk to the Ardmore forest (next post)

the fish-and chips stall at the Tobermory pier

having lunch on the pier

Fishing nets used for crabs/lobsters (the red building houses the Scottish Youth Hotel)


Tobermory's famous cat thats got a facebook page devoted to it - well, one of two cats, according to the fish-and-chips stallowner; this one is called Ladoig (if I remember the name correctly) while his borther's called Tobermory

A pic of Tobermory from the Shore-walk

a morning in oban

outside an art studio (above & below)

a flower-filled garden

view from McCaig's Tower of oban and some islands beyond

the skies and waters from the oban-mull-oban ferry

walk up to dun na cuaiche, inveraray

The walk starts from near the parking lot of the castle and takes you across a bridge, through beautiful woodland, up to the summit of a nearby hill with lovely views of the town and the loch.

mist over the summit of the hill

tree harvesting / controlled logging

Turning into beautiful woodland...

below is my favorite photo... I was crouching on the ground to take it

Just as I got to the top, it started drizzling...

Then the drizzle stopped for a bit...


(PS: anyone who goes to scotland and does a bit of walking will at some point realize that the Scots know how to place their wooden benches... and will come away with a photo of "the most perfectly located bench." I remember seeing one from my brother's trip to scotland... and this photo from dun na cuaiche is mine :))

inveraray on loch fyne, argyll

The region of Argyll just north-west of Glasgow looks fantastic on the map - the Lonely Planet describes the region as making cartographers sweat with "its dramatically contorted coastline - fjordlike sea lochs lacerate the coast, their surfaces reflecting the weather's moods."

I saw a miniscule part of Argyll, taking a bus from Glasgow to the pretty town of Inveraray located on Loch Fyne, a loch (the Scottish Gaelic term for lake) formed by the sea coming in 65 kms inland from the Sound of Bute, a channel separating the island of Arran from mainland Scotland. Inveraray is probably 50-55 kms inland, so when you're there it is impossible to tell that it is on a sea loch as opposed to simply a loch surrounded by land on all sides.






One of Inveraray's tourist attractions is the Inveraray Castle, the seat of the dukes of Argyll, the chiefs of Clan Campbell (one of the Scottish clans - more on Scotland's clans in another post). I'm assuming that that's the duke and duchess of Argyll below... frankly, it looks like an advertisement for a TV soap...


I didn't bother to go into the castle since I wasn't enchanted :) Instead, did a leisurely walk past the castle and up to the summit of a nearby hill with stunning views over the town and the loch - known as the Dun na Cuaiche walk - post coming up on this walk.