Argyll - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 79

Ì Ninth Wave Bruach Mhor T 01681 700757,
W ninthwaverestaurant.co.uk. For something a little
special, head to this upmarket restaurant - in a renovated
200-year-old bothy - secreted away in wonderful rural
isolation about a mile north of Fionnphort (it's well
signposted). The owner catches and then serves up crab,
lobster and other 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. Three-course meal £42.
Reservations required. Tues-Sun 7-11pm.
Seaview About 200m up from Fionnphort ferry
terminal, on the main road T 01681 700235, W iona

1

-bed-breakfast-mull.com. This conscientiously-run sand-
stone Victorian villa has five somewhat boxy, but pretty and
well-equipped, rooms adorned with splashes of art work.
They've also got bikes for hire. March to mid-Nov. £80
Staffa House 100m back along the road from Seaview
T 01681 700677, W staffahouse.co.uk. Handsome
white w ashed building with four light and immaculately
presented rooms, and a lovely glass conservatory for
breakfast. March-Oct. £70
Uisken beach Two miles south of Bunessan. Uisken
beach is a wonderful spot for wild camping, but ask
permission first at Uisken Croft ( T 01681 700307), just up
the hill.

Isle of Iona
Less than a mile of 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. This 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, “That man is
little to be envied… whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.”
Today, however, the island can barely cope with the constant flood of day-trippers, so to
appreciate the special atmosphere and to have time to see the whole island, including the
often overlooked west coast, you should plan on staying at least one night.

Brief history
Whatever the truth about Columba's life, in the sixth and seventh centuries Iona
enjoyed a great deal of autonomy from Rome, establishing a specifically Celtic Christian
tradition. Missionaries were sent out to the rest of Scotland and parts of England, and
Iona quickly became a respected seat of learning and artistry; the monks compiled a
vast library of intricately illuminated manuscripts - most famously the Book of Kells
(now on display in Trinity College, Dublin) - while the masons excelled in carving
peculiarly intricate crosses. Two factors were instrumental in the demise of the Celtic
tradition: a series of Viking raids, the worst of which was the massacre of 68 monks on
the sands of Martyrs' Bay in 806; and relentless pressure from the established Church,

WALKING IONA
Not many day-visitors get further than the village and 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 (also used as a rough golf course). On the edge of this is
a series of pretty sandy beaches, the largest of which is the evocatively named Camus Cúl an
t-Saimh (“Bay at the Back of the Ocean”), a crescent of pebble and shell-strewn sand with a
spouting cave to the south. Those 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. A short distance to the east is the disused marble quarry at Rubha na Carraig
Geire on the southeasternmost point of Iona, finally closed down in 1914.