Mull

[wellinghall]

In nine weeks' time, we're going to Scotland!

On Friday 27 April, we'll be getting the sleepr from Euston to Glasgow, like this:
http://www.firstgroup.com/scotrail/content/caledoniansleeper/index.php
http://www.seat61.com/CaledonianSleepers.htm

and then going onto Oban, also by train. Then it's onto the ferry to Mull:
http://www.calmac.co.uk/mull.html

where we pick up a hire car.

We're going to stop in a self-catering flat in Tobermory ("Balamory", for those of you with small children) for a week, and (among other things) take wildlife tours like this one:
http://www.torrbuan.com/frames.htm

Then it's on to Iona for three days:
http://www.argyllhoteliona.co.uk/homef.htm

whence we will go to:
http://www.fingals-cave-staffa.co.uk/staffa.asp

and
http://www.fingals-cave-staffa.co.uk/treshnish.asp

and then back to the mainland, for three days in Oban:
http://www.kilchrenanhouse.co.uk/

While there, we hope to go here, familiar to many stranded Arthurians:
http://www.inveraray-castle.com/Pages/content.asp

and also here:
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/kilmartin/kilmartinglen/index.html

before we come back home by the same route we used to get up there.

Comments

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

You're just trying to make us jealous so we stop laughing at you for double booking with Sam-alot!: The LotR Musical! :)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Well I've got to find something to stop the whole of LJ laughing at me!

[dreiviertel.livejournal.com]

I think this sounds much better than the musical!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Yep! - although recouping the money for the tickets back would be a nice bonus ;-)

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

We will NEVER stop laughing at that. Too funny.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Well as long as I've made people happy, I suppose ...

[sally_maria]

Sounds like a gorgeous trip - I hope you have a great time, and tell us all about it when you get back.

Have you found Photobucket yet? It's a great way of sharing your photos online. (end advertising mode) :-)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I will certainly share the holiday memories with you all! Thanks for the photobucket plug - I will look into it - although as yet, I only have a film camera. I suppose I'll just have to put up with the decent photo quality for a little while longer ;-)

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

I suppose I'll just have to put up with the decent photo quality for a little while longer

Are you decrying digital cameras? Or am I misunderstanding you?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Yes, although only in a joking fashion! I am occasionally got-at by some of the digital camera users among my acquaintance for my slow speed of transfer to PC, my lack of ease of use &c. But the fact remains that my 30-year-old manual camera, with its lovely optics and a slow film, produces better quality output than most of their small cameras will ever produce.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

It sounds marvellous.

[romancinger.livejournal.com]

If you can manage to take any photos of a sunset over the western sea, I should be forever grateful! Oban has wonderful sunsets, especially seen from the Pulpit headland, and Mull no doubt has great Atlantic views too :)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I will see what I can do ...

[romancinger.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I know you like taking lots of photos!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Indeed - it is never a hardship.

Sometimes at home, I don't have enough organisation / energy / "get up and go" to photograph things - so, I want to put some more things up on eBay, and try a little macro project, and see what I can do with a long lens and our bid feeder. What I might do with the last of these is put up the tripod next Friday, and get out the camera and lens then; then it won't take as much work to get everything set up on the Sunday.

How are things with you at the moment, BTW? How are your arms etc?

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'm jealous. I had half-planned to take another Highlands bike trip at Easter, but decided on reflection to wait until the summer (doing both would be stretching it a bit!)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

We'll let you know how we find Argyll.

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

I know that the mainland part of Argyll is wonderful. I took the ferry to Dunoon and then followed the National Tourist Route up to Oban, and it was a glorious road for motorbikes; gently twisting wooded hills. (Although the last bit was done in a downpour, but that's just Scotland.)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I've never been to west Scotland before (save for Glasgow, which in my considered opinion is a dump) - I am very much looking forward to seeing it. Apparently the train line from Glasgow to Oban is very impressive.

We trust you are all well?

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

Yes, all is well here! I'm sure you'll enjoy western Scotland; Wester Ross is an extraordinary place if you ever get a chance to go there. And the Northwest Highlands. And in fact all of Scotland that I know above the Glasgow/Edinburgh line, come to that...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Edinburgh itself is nice; as is (are?) the Borders.

[lalwendeboggart.livejournal.com]

That sounds a fantastic trip. Very nice people up there too. One of my brothers took his motorbike up to Mull one year. He broke down in the middle of nowhere and a local farmer picked him up, took him into town to get the necessary part and then put him up for the night. Next day my brother got up and fixed the bike - the farmer told him just to leave when he was ready, no need to lock the door.

Very sensible not driving all the way up there, though!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Even better than our small accident in Shetland, when we damaged a car wheel at a filling station. A neighbouring workman patched it up, and was delighted when we offered him a tenner.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

The chap at the next desk to me at work is doing a well-nigh identical holiday to this, though two weeks after you. We're also heading to Scotland this year, but a very different route - flying from Ston to Edinburgh, driving up the east coast, then across to Kyle of Lochalsh - maybe popping over to Skye for a day - then cross country back to Edinburgh.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

When are you going up there?

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Mid-June. We're going to be up on the west coast of Scotland on Midsummer's Day, or thereabouts, so the sunset ought to be very very late indeed. Which is not, perhaps, the best thing, really, since I have problems sleeping except in very dark rooms. Oh well...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't like Iceland, then - they barely seem to have heard of curtains!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Lovely. I went to Mull and Iona as a teenager - lovely places. If you enjoy walking/hiking, the view from Ben More on Mull is well worth it, thought it's a bit of a pull at times.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendation. I do enjoy walking, although my health limits the amount I can do.

[estiel.livejournal.com]

The extent of my jealousy is matched only by my gratitude for the links.

Someday--if I live long enough. The spoiled darling whose picture is above (pouting about being on the kitchen counter next to the sink because it signifies a bath is coming) keeps me from making *any* long trips. My May trip to the UK this year is 10 days long, and I worry; I already wish I hadn't booked it.

There's a castle there where members of my family are supposed to be able to stay for free. Or anyhow, the earlier master allowed us to do so. The current one decided we were too numerous, I guess, and disavowed the connection.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Which part(s) of the UK are you visiting?

[estiel.livejournal.com]

It's the Tolkien Sarehole Mill weekend. I'll be staying with TS friends near Birmingham. We also plan to see Ian McKellan in 'Lear' and the LOTR musical; hence, the longer trip.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Alas, we're not planning to go there - too many other things on! But I hope you have a good time.

I do know the Mill fairly well - I used to live nearby.