Author Topic: Mull next week! (Read 6080 times)

Wowbagger · « **Reply #25 on:** 22 May, 2014, 09:13:54 am »

We've packed longs and are equipped for a mild winter's day. We also have an extra blanket to cover our sleeping bags. I've kept warm in a hard frost with that combination.

I think we might well follow you round, albeit at a more leisurely pace. We are considering staying at Lochbuie tomorrow night and Uisken on Saturday. There's a weaving place that does tours at 1pm daily and Jan wants to do that. Fidden on Monday, possibly.

jane · « **Reply #26 on:** 22 May, 2014, 11:32:19 am »

I can just see Mull and the peak of Ben More fading into the distance as I type....on the ferry to Barra. Very windy....the Minch will be fun. Mull looks terrific though, from here anyway.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #27 on:** 22 May, 2014, 12:13:27 pm »

We'll give you a wave when we get there!

I have just finished my Rewards Points First Class lunch and am now enjoying a glass of a decent enough red. When I get my OBRC I reckon we might default to first class rail travel for longer distances. Jan's ticket was only a little over £60 and with drinks and lunch thrown in that's well worth the extra £20 or so over and above the second class fare.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #28 on:** 22 May, 2014, 06:11:11 pm »

We have arrived at our B & B which we obtained through Airbnb. About a mile and a half from Waverley. I have just had a shower, Jan is in ad we speak. We have been trying to get in touch with Jan's sister, without success. The favourite for dinner is the Origano (sic) in Leith Walk, onle a short distance away.

andrewc · « **Reply #29 on:** 22 May, 2014, 06:44:37 pm »

An intense shower of rain this morning but it's been brightening up all day. Blue skies

Damn windy though!

Dave_C · « **Reply #30 on:** 22 May, 2014, 06:59:29 pm »

Have a lovely evening in the Burgh. Just cycled home from Edin to Sunny West Fife. :0) if I'd seen your post earlier I would have met you from the train with some fizz and shown you the sights before you headed to your b&b.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #31 on:** 22 May, 2014, 09:57:45 pm »

The Origano was superb. Mrs. Wow was defeated by a garlic bread starter and half of a chichen salad. I had bruschetta crudo followed by a pizza named Vesuvio. It lived up to its name.

I love it when you are far enough north that it is still light at 10 pm. And tomorrow we will be further north and west, so it will be lighter later!

Wowbagger · « **Reply #32 on:** 23 May, 2014, 09:52:46 am »

We can see snow from the Glasgow-bound train. I think it is on the Lomond hills.

eck · « **Reply #33 on:** 23 May, 2014, 10:37:26 am »

Quote from: Wowbagger on 23 May, 2014, 09:52:46 am

We can see snow from the Glasgow-bound train. I think it is on the Lomond hills.

ITYM the hils by Loch Lomond? I'd be very surprised if there was any snow on The Lomond Hills

Wowbagger · « **Reply #34 on:** 23 May, 2014, 10:50:14 am »

OK, I naively assumed that they would be the Lomond hills, and that Ben of that name would be amongst them.

Bairn Again · « **Reply #35 on:** 23 May, 2014, 11:31:28 am »

Quote from: Wowbagger on 18 May, 2014, 07:30:38 pm

Anything special we should do/look out for?

You can be among the first fare paying passengers on the new Edinburgh Trams. They go into passenger service at 5am on Saturday 31st May.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #36 on:** 23 May, 2014, 04:39:07 pm »

We are now on the Craignure ferry and we have been chatting to a young couple with a small daughter who is being towed by an absolutely beautiful black Thorn with red Rohloff and Schmidt hubs. It is truly gorgeous.

epa611 · « **Reply #37 on:** 23 May, 2014, 05:07:48 pm »

Just back from a wee tour of Machrihanish and Arran, and have the midge bites to prove that they are alive and well

Make sure you buy some Smidge.

Campsite at Fidden farm nr Fionnphort and wild camping at Calgary Bay to be highly recommended as is a day on Ulva.

Tom B · « **Reply #38 on:** 23 May, 2014, 06:41:46 pm »

Happy travels! I enjoyed my stay at Tomsleibhe bothy a few years ago. The last few hundred yards or so to the bothy is a slow push, tho

Wowbagger · « **Reply #39 on:** 23 May, 2014, 07:19:32 pm »

At Craignure tonight. Campsite busy but wifi reaches easily to our tent, which is about 10 yards from the high water mark. It's a bit breezy and cool, but I think the sun might be on us in a few minutes. The Ardnamurchan Peninsula is bathed beautiful sunshine.

andrewc · « **Reply #40 on:** 23 May, 2014, 07:55:59 pm »

I'm in Tobermory, treating myself to a meal at Cafe Fish. It's fully booked so I'm sitting outside in a wooly hat and lowering the tone....

Calgary Bay campsite is a beautiful spot, but the coast road is a bit brutal! The sign says the tap water isn't drinkable...

Wowbagger · « **Reply #41 on:** 24 May, 2014, 07:42:50 am »

Things are not going perfectly at the moment. Mrs. Wow has a cold - not a stormer, but one which causes congestion. On the first night I got very little sleep because one of us was snoring so much and last night the poor dear couldn't get comfortable and kept waking me up. Add to that that I have lots of arthritic pain in my right shoulder and we make a right pair of old crocks.

On the brighter side, the weather h as been fine but with a refreshing northerly wind. Now for breakfast, shower, bit of laundry and then a potter downd to Lochbuie for a night. If tonight doesn't go well then I suspect we will be on the lookout for a B & B for a night or two, with little hope of getting one. This campsite is fully booked for the next couple of nights.

Dave_C · « **Reply #42 on:** 24 May, 2014, 09:26:35 am »

Of you're desperate you could head up to Fishnish. Take the ferry to Lochaline and try the dive centre. They have 12 2 person rooms with bunk beds shower & toilet. Or the old postoffice (also from the dive centre) may have a room. Its a kind of rented house where divers rent the whole thing but there may be room if its free (especially mid week)

I'll post contact details.

Dave_C · « **Reply #43 on:** 24 May, 2014, 09:29:38 am »

Lochaline Dive Centre
Lochaline, Morvern
Argyll PA80 5XT
Scotland, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1967 421627
Fax: 01967 421661

Skype: seaarch

Web: www.lochalinedivecentre.co.uk

Web: www.smartdiving.co.uk

Twitter: @divelochaline

bumper · « **Reply #44 on:** 24 May, 2014, 10:47:53 am »

Hope she perks up so you can make the most of the sunny weather. Pop into a b&b for a night and have a good rest and feed up.

andrewc · « **Reply #45 on:** 24 May, 2014, 11:26:59 am »

Hope you both perk up. Sadly most of the B&Bs I've passed have had signs saying full.
SYHA in Tobermory ?

Wowbagger · « **Reply #46 on:** 25 May, 2014, 03:17:31 pm »

The weather yesterday was perfect - warm and sunny. Last nigh t we suffered a very nasty midge attack while wild camping at Lochbuie. Currently having a reviving coffee at the Pennyghael Hotel. Heading for Bunessan / Fionnphort hopimg for a b & b but with the backup position of Fidden Farm.

We have seen plenty of cuckoos and a dipper

bumper · « **Reply #47 on:** 25 May, 2014, 03:48:04 pm »

Quote from: Wowbagger on 25 May, 2014, 03:17:31 pm

We have seen plenty of cuckoos and a dipper

I found it very strange listening to cuckoos at turned 11.00pm at night, and it was still light!

What time is it now dark at night?

Wowbagger · « **Reply #48 on:** 27 May, 2014, 12:27:12 pm »

Have resorted to B & Bs as Jan has reacted badly to midge bites. Trust her to have to answer a call of nature in the middle of a midge attack!

We had two nights at the Argyll Arms, Bunessan and are heading for Salen today. I went to Iona yesterday whilst Jan had a day off the bike. Fantastc weather yesterday and today. While on Iona I saw John Smith's grave and a pair of corncrakes.

Oh, and the coffee and cake is much better a few hundred yards further west than the Pennyghael hotel. I just had a scone that was stll hot from the oven, with home-made raspberry jam.

Coast road next!

Wowbagger · « **Reply #49 on:** 27 May, 2014, 07:10:48 pm »

We have just booked two nights wt the Salen Hotel. I haven't seen a forecast for tomorrow but this trip has served to confirm my view that weather forcasts are rubbish this far from London.

Although it was very tough, especially for Jan, who is coughing a lot and suffering from the beastie bites, the coast road from Pennyghael to Salen is just stunning. The weather was gorgeous all day: even the ten minutes' warm rain, the edge of a thunderstorm over Ben More, that occurred about 7 miles from the end of the ride, was pleasant. Our choice of lunch stop was inspired because we spent the time sitting on our Helinox chairs watching a black throated/great northern diver (I am inclining to gnd after looking at piccies) and then an otter turned up. There was a moment when they may have been joined by the Fat Southern Bagger, so warm was the weather, but in the end I refrained.

Author Topic: Mull next week! (Read 6080 times)

Bairn Again