Steve The Wandering Aussie

2023.05.12

Oban. West coast. Scotland.
I went on the Worlds shortest Pub Crawl on the Isle of Iona. But first:
We caught the Isle of Mull Ferry from the town of Oban at nine am. Only about a thirty minute ride to our destination on Mull, a lovely port town whose name I can’t pronounce.
We climbed onto the wrong bus (driver didn’t have a clue), quickly realized and exited and boarded the correct one. We hoped. Not a single staff person there knew guest numbers or bus allocations. Not sure how business runs here but confusion seems to be King.
An hour and a half on the bus past (again) striking mountains and lochs and picturesque little villages and timeworn graveyards to the little port of Fionnphort where we were herded onto a small converted fishing boat like illegal migrants.
About 70 people on this little boat. Two life rafts barrels each (yes, I checked) designed for twenty people……
And no safety briefing.
No life vest instructions.
Just saying…….
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We headed out into the North Atlantic for our three island tour (all I could hear was Gillian’s Island theme) past pink granite rock outcrops jutting asymmetrically from the sea some with common seals adorably adorning their higher peaks. The water was like glass and the unclouded blue sky kept shining for us.
As our family say, we ‘Lyn’ed’ it. A perfect day for this. (Things always go well for my Trophy Wife, to the point where it happens so regularly we had to give it its own name). The Isle of Staffa had been inaccessible for days with bad weather. But not today. This was our day and it was flawless. There were even people in kayaks paddling between islands.
Bucket List ticked. Staffa. If you don’t know of it, please google it. Basalt rock formations in hexagonal patterns. Much like the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland but completely different. We walked the rocks to Fingal cave where Finn (Irish) McCools arch enemy Benandonner (Scottish) hid while Finn threw rocks at him. These two chaps were, of course, both giants.
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Puffins!! We finally had a closeup of puffins. Bobbing about and nipping in and out of their burrows and just generally being puffins. No fear of us as we sat on the grass near (four feet ish) them. Funny little clown headed chaps. Big tick!
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Back on our little death trap we headed to the Sacred Isle of Iona. 51 Scottish Kings are buried here including McBeth. Lyn went to the Iona Abby, a lifelong bucket list item for her, and I went on a pub crawl with my new friend, Steve. There is only one pub on the island, thus: The Worlds Shortest Pub Crawl. Steve’s wife Dawn went with Lyn so don’t be saying I deserted her.
A couple of pints here (for our health and for our sins) while we waited for our respective wives, then onto a different ferry for the 10 minute ride back to Mull then the hour and a half back to the port.
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I forgot to mention, on the first bus trip our driver managed to scrape the side of the bus down the rocks of an antique rock bridge. It was never designed for these double-decker monsters now traversing it and the guy was doing his best on his first day. Now if that happened in Australia everyone on board would have cheered and given our poor driver a savage ribbing. Not a peep. Nothing.
Can’t have that, sez I to myself, so on the return trip every time we came to any bridge I would yell down the stairs “Bridge”. Successfully embarrassing Lyn but amusing the other passengers and our driver. This one for you, Jake Baird
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From the bus to the ferry and back to Oban, we arrived back on the mainland at 8.30 in the evening. Still clear skies and calm seas.
We found our room in an old pub/hotel. Single beds and no en-suite (I know, 21st century problems). We were both tired and wind burned and overjoyed with our day.
Staffa, Puffins, Iona. Just wow.
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This is the end of this trip, my friends. We are having a three week hiatus before heading out again. Not sure where yet but I’ll be sure to send you my journals. If you want them.

Thanks for reading and for the feed back. I can only hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing. 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😎

Cheers
Steve