To get from Cornwall in the far south west of Britain to the remote village of Bunessan on the Scottish Island of Mull is quite a trek... taking me two days ( not including my time in Cheltenham) . I headed up from Cornwall to Cheltenham by train where I stayed with my friend for three days to catch up with life there. I then headed down to Bristol airport where I flew up to Glasgow.
This was the first time I had flown up South to north through England. Although it was mainly cloudy I did manage to get get good views of the Bristol channel, South coast of Wales, a couple of mountain peaks poked through the clouds in North Wales possibly Snowdon. Then later a good view down onto Preston where there was a break in the clouds, Morecambe bay , lake Windermere and a couple of other lakes of the lake District. Then it went cloudy again until we got to Glasgow .
Although the flight was only one hour in duration the late time of the flight meant I had to stay overnight in a hotel in Glasgow . It was called Charing Cross Hotel and was a pleasant clean hotel.
Next morning, early, I caught the bus from Buchanan bus station to Oban . This was a three hour trip. I don't really like cities and was relieved to leave the conurbation of Glasgow. We then went through some stunning mountain and loch scenary. Unfortunately it was a very rainy day and visibility was very poor in some places eg along most of loch Lomond I could see the loch through the trees but couldn't see the mountains on the opposite side.
A particularly memorable part of the bus journey was between Ardgarten and Cairndow. The bus followed the valley of the Croe Water burn , up from Loch Long. A wide forested valley with high mountains on each side culminating at the pass between the two high peaks of Beinn an Lochain and Beinn Ime .
We passed several other lochs on the way to Oban, plenty of forest and high mountains. An interesting town was Inveraray on the coast of Loch Fyne. Most buildings were painted white and there were expensive looking restaurants and shops... catering for the obviously large tourist industry here . There was an arch over the road which the bus only just squeezed through and signs for Inveraray castle. I was pleasantly surprised as I had always thought Inveraray was in Ireland!!
I arrived at Oban around mid-day. My first impressions were a very pleasant Scottish harbourside town. Gayle my friend I would be staying with gave me a big shopping list of things to buy in Tesco , as it's not easy to get certain foods on the Isle of Mull, there's no supermarkets. I found the big Tesco in Oban and purchased a couple of bags worth of shopping. After having a coffee I lugged the shopping along with my huge rucksack to the ferry terminal .
The ferry crossing was at about 2 pm . It was still rainy so visibility on the crossing wasn't too good, but good enough to see I was in a beautiful part of the world. We headed out onto the strait in the direction of Craignure. We passed Maiden Island on our right and the Kerrera lighthouse on our left. Around this area there was a strong current clearly visible and the ferry rocked more than earlier in the trip.A few Gannets flew past singly or in pairs on their way to feeding sites where they would dive from a height into shouls of their prey fish.
The crossing from Oban to Craignure on the Isle of mull took approximately an hour. When I arrived at three pm ish there was another wait of an hour for another bus which travels down to the South West end of the island terminating at Fionnphort. Bunessan is the penultimate bus stop before Fionnphort. I noticed a small oak tree near the ferry ticket office that was absolutely festooned with shield ferns (Polypodum) living epiphytically on its branches.
The bus took over an hour from Craignure to Bunessan . The weather was still very rainy and misty . I could see halfway up the mountains. Water was everywhere. Silver waterfalls ran in torrents down the mountain slopes. These joined to become peaty brown burns ( rivers) and we crossed over several bridges which spanned these numerous burns. One or two of these burns were raging torrents due to all the rain we were having.
There was a considerable amount of broad leaf woodland and conifer forestry to be observed on the first half of the journey .. ie the area nearest Craignure, but as we got into the Ross of Mull the countryside opened up into mainly moorland.
We came to Loch Scridain on our right and the road followed fairly close to the loch all the way to Bunessan. It was still mainly heather moorland right up to the loch with many rocky outcrops.
At last we came to Bunessan a quiet village not much more than a Hamlet by the side of a pleasant horseshoe shaped natural harbour . There was a hotel where Gail worked and two or three shops ... Gail also worked in the spa (and still does at the time of writing). There were of course quite a few houses , some terraced nearest the harbour along the main road and further back a few detached houses scattered up the hillside.
Gail was waiting at the bus stop to meet me and carry the shopping . We greeted each other with a kiss and hug . She was once you could loosely say my girlfriend for a couple of weeks. It never lasted due to the interference of another girl. I seem to have a curse where when I meet one girl I meet another girl at the same time and things get confusing which one to stay with. Up till now I usually choose the wrong one and regret my decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment