Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
superb restaurant. Around a mile and a half south of Fionnphort are the golden
sands of
Fidden beach
, which looks out to the
Isle of Erraid
, where Robert Louis
Stevenson is believed to have written
Kidnapped
while staying in one of the island's
cottages;
Kidnapped
's hero, David Balfour, is shipwrecked on the Torran Rocks,
out to sea to the south of Erraid, beyond which lies the remarkable, stripy
Dubh
Artach Lighthouse
(meaning “black stony ground” in Gaelic), built by Stevenson's
father in 1867. In the topic, Balfour spends a miserable time convinced that he's
stranded on Erraid, which can, in fact, be reached across the sands on its eastern
side at low tide.
6
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
THE ROSS OF MULL
By ferry
The CalMac passenger ferry from Fionnphort to Iona is very frequent (see p.250).
ACOMMODATION AND EATING
UISKEN
Camping
Uisken beach, two miles south of Bunessan, is a
wonderful spot for wild camping, but ask permission first
at
Uisken Croft
(
T
01681 700307), just up the hill.
signposted). The owner catches and then serves up crab,
lobster and other fishy treats, while the veg is supplied
from their own kitchen garden, resulting in fantastic dishes
like pan-seared fillet of Mull Highland beef with baby
beetroot and horseradish mousse. A three-course meal
costs £42. Reservations required.
Tues-Sun 7-11pm.
Seaview
T
01681 700235,
W
iona-bed-breakfast-
mull.com.
About 200m up from the ferry terminal, on the
main road, this conscientiously run sandstone Victorian
villa has five somewhat boxy, but pretty and well-
equipped, rooms adorned with splashes of a
rtwo
rk.
They've also got bikes for rent.
March to mid-Nov.
£80
Staffa House
T
01681 700677,
W
staffahouse.co.uk.
Handsome whitewashed building some 100m back along
the road from
Seaview
, with four light and immaculately
presented rooms, and
a
lovely glass conservatory for
breakfast.
March-Oct.
£70
FIONNPHORT
Fidden Farm Campsite
Knockvologan Road, Fidden
T
01681 700427.
This simple, getting away from it all
campsite has a wonderful location, with direct access to
Fidden beach. There's a Portakabin with toilets and
sho
wers,
and best of all, campfires are allowed.
Easter-
Oct.
£12
Ì
Ninth Wave
Bruach Mhor
T
01681 700757,
W
ninthwaverestaurant.co.uk.
For something a little
special, head to this posh restaurant - in a renovated
200-year-old bothy - secreted away in wonderful rural
isolation about a mile north of the village (it's well
Isle of Iona
Less than a mile off the southwest tip of Mull,
IONA
- just three miles long and not
much more than a mile wide - has been a place of pilgrimage for several centuries, and a
place of Christian worship for more than 1400 years. For it was to this flat Hebridean
island that St Columba fled from Ireland in 563 and established a monastery which was
responsible for the conversion of more or less all of pagan Scotland as well as much of
northern England. his history and the island's splendid isolation have lent it a peculiar
religiosity; in the much-quoted words of Dr Johnson, who visited in 1773, “hat man is
little to be envied … whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.”
Few of Iona's many day visitors get further than Baile Mór, the island's village, and
the abbey, but it's perfectly possible to walk to the stunning sandy beaches and
turquoise seas at the
north end
of the island, or up to the highest point,
Dún I
, a mere
328ft above sea level but with views on a clear day to Skye, Tiree and Jura.
Alternatively, it takes about half an hour to walk over to the
machair
, or common
grazing land, on the west side of Iona, which lies adjacent to the evocatively named Bay
at the Back of the Ocean, a crescent of pebble and shell-strewn sand with a spouting
cave to the south. hose with more time (2-3hr) might hike over to the
south
of the
island, where Port a'Churaich (“Bay of the Coracle”, also known as St Columba's Bay),
the saint's traditional landing place on Iona, is filled with smooth round rocks and
multicoloured pebbles and stones.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
TOBERMORY
P.240
; BEACH, WEST COAST OF COLL
P.251
; PUFFINS
P.244
>
