ISLAND HOPPING Day - Six
Well up early and out of the B&B for six am, took the road to Oban, parked the car and boarded the ferry to Coll as foot passengers. To see at least a reasonable amount of Coll and Tiree, you really need three days, due to the rather odd time table that the ferries use.
Day one, ferry Oban to Coll, day two get the ferry that has come from Oban, and travel the short distance over to Tiree. Day three catch the ferry back into Oban. But you can't do this everyday as sometimes it goes to Tiree first.
However I spotted that for some reason on a Saturday, the ferry calls into Coll, then nips over to Tiree and returns back to Coll, two and a half hours later, before going back to Oban.
So that was the plan, a two hour forty minute cruise out to Coll, a quick two hour taster of the island then return trip back to Oban. Was it worth the early start and the long trip there and back ? You bet, even the sun shone for most of the time on the island. This is one to go on the must return list. Wonderful place, clean and bright, and very friendly residents.
However talking to a shop keeper revealed a possible drawback to living in such a beautiful place. He told me about how last winter was unusually harsh. They are used to the ferry being cancelled, through bad weather, sometimes even for two or three days.
Last winter they had EIGHT consecutive days with no ferries at all. Fresh food was getting very low.
Another thing I noticed on the fuel pumps, very old fashioned ones still with manual moving prices, no digital displays here. At home £1.17 a litre, here £1.47 a litre. That is £6.68 a gallon in old money
Heading back down to the harbour, I watched from a nearby hill the ferry returning and docking. It is amazing watching the skill the ships officers have in making these ships move exactly where there want them to go.
After taking photographs of the ship docking, I had to run down the hill to get on board, once again I was the last one on board.
To get back to Oban, you sail down the channel between the Isle of Mull and Ardnamurchan, it is quite a scenic voyage.
Once back into Oban, we headed back south. I had told Jane I would take her to islands near to Oban that I thought she would like best. Headed back over the Bridge over the Atlantic again, onto the Isle of Seil and then it had to be the Isle of Easdale, it really made a big impression on me. We summoned the little ferry by turning on the light, had a nice walk around, bought some lovely slate work off one of the islanders.
Being so small, on Easdale you are never very far from the sea. Jane spotted a Dolphin jump out of the water. We ran over to get as close as possible, and watched and photographed a pod of at least 6 Bottlenose Dolphins, they seemed to be far more interested in playing than serious fishing. Then the ferry man spotted them and he took the ferry out, taking photographs and the Dolphins were happy to play, jump and ride the bow wave of the boat. Heavy rain stopped our fun, and we rushed over to the little pub, and had some fantastic fresh local food.
Unfortunately we had to leave, caught the ferry and headed back to Connel for some much needed sleep.
A very long day, and only one new island but Coll and Easdale are fabulous, totally different places but I want to return to both very soon.
Islands visited; Three
Total visited ; Twelve
Ferries Used; Four
Total Used; Nineteen
Ports used;Four
Total different; Eighteen
To see the rest of todays shots just follow the links ....
http://365project.org/markp/Alternatively/16-05-2015
Thank you everyone for taking the time to view, and leaving such lovely comments and Favs.
