Iona and Mull - The Necessity of Taking Turns

The first time we came to Scotland, I looked at the single track roads out on the islands and absolutely refused to rent a car. We planned our whole trip around trains (which were mostly cancelled due to flooding and track damage) and buses. Now that I'm rated for left-side driving, left-side stick shift, and roads from motorways to A roads to smaller B roads to single track - we were ready to drive across Mull to Iona. Here's my favorite photo from the day (which I'm listing first just so it becomes the thumbnail of this post):

Mull

Mull is the large island just off the mainland - clearly visible from Oban. There are many ferries from Oban to Mull every day - the crossing takes around an hour. The fare for three people and a car, one way, was 31 pounds - or around $35. Alternately, we could have taken the ferry as foot passengers then caught the local bus across Mull. Later I wished we'd done that, but the bus was both more expensive and more limited, we would have had to take the earlier sailing. 

Mull was a surprising mix of forested areas, coast, and big baren hills. 

I don't have many photos of he 35 mile single-track road across the island from Craignure to Fionnphort because driving took ALL of my attention. My job was to drive like a bat out of hell - as fast as I reasonably could - watching like a hawk for oncoming vehicles. As soon as I saw one, I had to quick figure out if there was a passing place ahead (or behind me) - or if they were going to stop. I learned to flash my lights, and I did that steering wheel wave at every car. The road was NARROW and the oncoming vehicles were tourists, locals, RVs, vans, or full sized buses. I must have passed 50 vehicles on the way there - it added almost 30 minutes to the trip. 

The trip back was almost restful in comparison. That's when I stopped and got that picture of the highland cow. And these sheep that let me slowly squeeze by without giving up their place on the road....

Iona

There's evidence of human habitation of Iona as far back as the Bronze age, 2,000 BC, but the island is mostly known for the monk of Columba who arrived in 563 from Ireland - one of the first Christian communities in Scotland. The island still hosts religious communities. Otherwise, it's kind of a small, baren rock off the coast of Mull. A pretty rock - but not much room for farming. We joined the throngs of people off our ferry to see the ruined nunnery, the Abby, the heritage center, some shops, and back to the harbor to take the ferry back to the mainland. That's Iona, sorted.