More Trip Recap

We had no idea that before our trip to Mull, PBS did a series on “The Eagles of Mull,” and T’s friend Robin watched with great interest. Okay, maybe she listened with interest. We’re not sure if it was the eagles, or the sultry Scottish brogue of the show host, Gordon Buchanan that got her all excited about Mull. (T. suspects it was the brogue.)

The sea eagles really are a big deal. The UK has had the bad luck of rapacious ancestors, who managed to hunt a lot of animals into extinction. (And it isn’t like the U.S. ancestors were any better, but our country is much larger, and the Native population didn’t let those ancestors take over without a fight. In spite of everyone, the animals won out on this one.) The sea eagles were one of the victims, but in 2007 they were reintroduced in the wild, followed by beavers just this past May. Scotland is carefully taking care of their new wildlife, and here’s hoping they can keep the likes of Donald Trump and his endless golf real estate ventures from taking over. (Let’s not even get started on that.)

Did we mention that our bus driver said he had known of the sea eagles to take the odd lamb? There’s video footage of one bringing a dead lamb — whether scavenged or killed, they don’t know — to its chicks. Anyway, Robin has asked to know everything that we know about Mull, and is making plans to visit with her husband next summer (Sorry, Gordon). You know we’ll have to go along, just to keep her company. Actually we both really said — repeatedly — during our time there, “Okay, we have to do this again.” And we do. We only had time during our day on the Island to take in a little of the 300 miles of coastline — and we saw seals in the distance, sea eagles in the distance — but we weren’t far enough from the main drag, nor quiet enough to see any good wildlife up close. Next time, we’ll give ourselves time to change that.

Tobermory is the most colorful little fishing village we’ve ever seen. Many of the seaside places we’ve seen are stark white, as if to compliment the blue and white sky, and the waves. Tobermory has decided to compete — and it’s gorgeous. There’s not much to do there but …sail, fish, and eat ice cream. It really has some of the tastiest and original flavors. Our friends Avril and Kirsten held out for the rhubarb crumble ice cream (which Avril says probably doesn’t contain one rhubarb stalk), while D. and T. walked another few feet up the road for berry sorbet and caramel chunk. Not an indulgence we often allow ourselves, ice cream — in a real cone — was absolutely lovely, and perfect for that bright, warm day.

*Sigh* Nice memory, since it’s been pouring since we came back.

As we wandered the main street of this small town, we saw the sign for the butcher… and we were gobsmacked. T., because she somehow failed to realize that hairy cows are for food here, and D. because… well, why is the cow licking its chops on a butcher sign? Something is very, very wrong there…

The other surprising thing in the village of Tobermory on Mull is the grocery store. Spar, a chain grocer, has a shop smack in the middle of their main road. Spar is ubiquitous around here; we even found one in Italy (although it’s called DeSPAR there, which cracked us up no end). However, this Spar, which is a lot like a 7-11 grocery store at a gas station, minus the Slurpees, is in… a…church.

We all had different reactions to this. Avril was horrified that Spar wasn’t taking better care of the building, and allowing moss and small trees to grow in the sandstone, while T. was gobsmacked that there was a cross still on the top. Kirstin thought it ingenious, while D. stayed behind the camera. Both T. and Avril muttered darkly the while we looked the building over, both laughing at themselves yet also slightly disturbed. The gargoyles and stained-glass window date from the 1870’s, and it’s a truly gorgeous little building… filled to the brim with sunscreen and onions and bottled water and fishing lures and all the other mundane needs of people on vacation to the coast. It was… weird. But definitely lent itself to the quirky air to the village.

As we took the ferry over to Mull from Oban, we’d heard announcements from the loudspeakers about driving conditions on the island. Since we weren’t driving, we didn’t pay much attention, but we did take in that there were brochures available for driving help, for those not accustomed to “the one track road.” Tracks? we thought, somewhat confused, since we were taking a train to Torosay. We didn’t find out until a little later — after the train ride, the hike through the countryside, and the ramble through the castle — that train tracks were not what they meant. A track, in the common term, is a rough trail or minor road. And on Mull, many of those minor roads are one way. There are plenty of places to pull off — if you can get past the sheep, and if you’re careful, you can back up and find those “Passing Place” without too much hassle. Sometimes, coming to a full stop and backing up is the best that you can do.

Something else they said on those announcements — that everyone on the island was supposed to drive slowly.

On behalf of our bus driver, we’d like to say, “HAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!” and Yeah, RIGHT. We have been to the Scottish Racing Speedway. It’s on the Isle of Mull.

That was just to give you a little idea. It’s kind of mesmerizing, isn’t it? It’s funny, how much time we spend on buses. And even though the driver was bouncing us along like that, you’d better believe that almost everyone on the bus eventually fell asleep.

Yeah, we university students. We’re a rowdy bunch.

That’s the gist of our trip — we’re sorry you can’t sample the …intriguing food, or feel the air or see the sunsets like we did. The following day after our perfect visit to Mull, it bucketed down rain yet it was still beautiful. *Sigh* We have got to get around to visiting more of the seaside villages, and we can’t wait to revisit Mull. It’s got a lot to offer, and we’ve not even remotely scratched the surface.

– D & T

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