Mull

In September we took a long-anticipated week away to the Isle of Mull. It was a welcome break after a busy summer. We were very lucky with the weather; a week or so later the UK was hit by Storm Agnes and we'd have had a very different experience. The day we travelled west was cloudy and wet mostly, but on the ferry journey over to Mull, the clouds opened up and the sun streamed through for a brief while. It was particularly atmospheric over the coast and hills of Mull with sunlight, clouds and rain all at the same time.

I took close to 900 photos over the next week. It took me a while after returning from the trip to go through everything and decide what stood out. Some distance and time can sometimes help. After several rounds of selection-making, I reduced my series to just 9 images. It's not many, but I was only there for a week. Some photographers say they can only expect to produce one really great photograph every year. I'm not that picky for a blog post.

I'd been to Mull once before, only for a day trip when staying on the mainland in Ardnamurchan. I thought then, and have for a while, that I'd like to go back for a longer visit. We stayed in Tobermory. There are quite a few places to explore around the island if you stay there for a week. Highlights for us included a gin tasting at the Tobermory Distillery, dinner at Cafe Fish, a visit to the Isle of Mull Cheese farm (food and drink always feature highly in our holiday activities), a walk around the arts trail at Calgary Arts and the nearby beach, coffee, cake and an exhibition at An Tobar in Tobermory, and those are just some of the local businesses we visited.

We also went to Iona one day, which was a real highlight (none of the photos in this post are from Iona, but I might post a few separately later). It's a long way from Tobermory to the Iona ferry, but it was worth it. The roads are narrow and winding most of the way, but you pass through some nice scenery. And, Iona is a very special place.

One of our favourite walks was along the coastal path from Tobermory to Rubha nan Gall lighthouse. We spent a lot of time on our walks looking for otters and eagles. On the last night of our holiday, we walked out to the lighthouse as dusk approached, hoping there might be more chance of seeing something. Alas, we didn't, but we were treated to a nice sunset all the same.