Isle of Staffa; Fingal's Cave

Our visit to the Inner Hebrides would have ended at Iona, except that the bus driver's description of Staffa goaded us on. Staffa is mythological...it is the Scottish terminus of the Giant's Causeway. See http://roadeveron.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/day-in-nlorthgiants-causeway-carrick.html. It is the place of Fingal's Cave, both mythological and scenic. Fingal is a rendering of Finn MacCool, builder of the Causeway.  It's all out of Jamie McPherson's Ossian, perhaps the greatest of all literary hoaxes. Staffa is of geological significance...those hexagonal basalt columns. It is of musical importance...the inspiration for Mendelssohn's The Hebrides. Etc.

Obviously he was an unusually erudite bus driver. Maybe they all are, but most just drive. Anyhow, mid-stream, so to speak, we decided to extend our trip and take the six-mile open-sea boat-ride to Staffa. We had to go. We are glad we did.

In a little boat like this , 30-40 passengers

Still in the channel, the White Beach on Iona, site of one of the Vikings' greatest
victories: Vikings 68, Monks 0

Out in the open sea now, feeling that Atlantic swell (the Irish Sea is way south);
fascinating islands on the way  

The Isle of Staffa, Fingal's Cave the big one on the right

The boat now docks on the leeward side and you set foot on the island, gawking at
the great pile of basalt

Thus

Walk a couple hundred feet down a cabled ledge, round a corner, and there you
are at the mouth of Fingal's Cave

Me, there

Vicki, too; the sound of the waves crashing against the back wall, 200 feet inside
the cave, and the echo, were unforgettable

The Giants' Causeway disappears beneath the waves in the
general direction of Ireland

In the distance, Iona, the abbey clearly visible on the left

Basalt columns and cabled walkway on Staffa

View from the top of Staffa

And a parting shot, beginning the long rides back to Oban

Isle of Iona

Iona and its abbey are among the more famous names in Christianity. It was here in 563 that St. Columba came from Ireland to found an abbey and spread the gospel. And from here much of Scotland was Christianized. At the abbey on Iona is where the very famous Book of Kells was written and long kept until the monks moved it elsewhere during the age of Viking raids. And it was from Iona that monks dispersed after those raids, established monasteries in Belgium, France, and Switzerland, and did their part to keep learning alive in those darker times.

The abbey from the channel

Ruins of the nunnery down the road

The abbey; still in use by a variety of "spiritual" groups

Oldest of the giant Celtic crosses still
standing...St. Martin's, 8th century

Chapel under which St. Columba's bones are
said to lie

Interior of abbey church

Interesting face on one of the church arches

Cloister

In the abbey museum, the Stone of Echodi,
said to be the oldest of the carved stones,
approximately a generation after Columba

Other stones in the museum, warriors, and note the Viking
ship at the bottom of the tall stone

Cemetery and oldest building still standing; next to it is a
plot thought to be the burial ground of Scotland's ancient
kings, presumably including Macbeth

Isle of Mull

Although Mull seems a nice enough place itself--a large island, just a few miles off the mainland, home of the Tobermory Distillery (intense smokiness...), Clan Maclean, numerous mussel farms, forests, farms, sheep, two menhirs, some hotels and B&Bs, not very many people, one-lane roads, and much rugged Scottish landscape both coastal and mountainous--for most, including us, it is simply the intermediary to getting to Iona, home of the famous Abbey of St. Columba, the Book of Kells, and so on. You take the bus across and down Mull and then hop on another ferry, which takes you the mile or two across the channel to Iona.

Castle Duart, ancient stronghold of Clan Maclean

Disgorging ferry

And now we are on the turbuss

Right behind the driver, Vicki in her accustomed "suicide
seat," probably wishing the driver would slow down;
she has not let me forget Penelope's "Grandpa, slow down!"

Enjoying the driver's amusing 90 minute narration of Mull's
history, geography, geology, climate, culture, commerce,
scenic wonders, colorful characters, etc. Above, one of the
several mussel farms we saw 

Mountains, waterfalls

Typical

One of the menhirs

At last we are on the southwest coast, ready to board the
next, smaller ferry, which will take us to Iona

Iona in the distance, the abbey smack in the center

Oban

Oban is a big town on a little cove (so it seemed) on the coast. Its principal purpose, so far as I could tell, is 1) to serve as a holding area for thousands of tourists (ourselves included), 2) be the site of the Oban distillery (which we skipped; Oban is a good Islay, but no distillery tour nor Scotch could top Kirkwall and Highland Park), and 3) be the jumping off point for tours of the Isle of Mull and Iona. There were scores of RVs circling the narrow streets, looking for parking, particularly over-night parking, including us.

We lucked-out, totally, with this almost-level spot...

Over looking the harbor

Just a few hundred yards from the ferry-port from which
this vessel would take us, next day, to the Isle of Mull

We spent the afternoon and evening walking about the
town, purchasing our cruise tickets, shopping and examining
restaurants (finally opting for a shellfish extravaganza I put
together on the wharf)

We have been having a running discussion about
the proper use of the word scotch, I insisting it refers only
to a certain beverage and is a noun, Vicki, that it refers to
anything Scottish and is (also) an adjective; above is her
Exhibit A; it is also Exhibit A in my subsidiary argument that
not all Scots are well-educated and that some have succumbed
to popular if ignorant usage; the discussion continues

Note the "Afternoon Fish Tea"

Next morning, we are aboard the ferry, bound for Mull,
watching the loading of turbusses

Sailing out of Oban's harbor

And on to the Isle of Mull

On The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks Of Loch Lomond; And Beyond

Pleased with our visit to Glasgow, some old, a lot of new, a lot of walking around, we drove on in the general direction of our next destination, Oban. We over-nighted on the Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond.

Thus

And thus

Next morning, elements of the fleet were massing...

It was to be a Combined Operation, land and sea (OK, I have
been reading at a biography of Lord Louie Mountbatten)

We drove on

Enjoying the sights

Pausing to refresh

Now reaching the coast

And proceeding on, through a succession of villages and
towns, in the direction of Oban