Memorable Mull
Like me. Stick me on a small vessel in anything but the calmest of waters and only the grace of God — and a great deal of staring unflinchingly at the horizon — will keep my breakfast and the sea from making an unexpected, unwelcome rendezvous.
Yet after about an hour on the choppy waters out of Tobermory, the picturesque main town on the isle of Mull, in the west of Scotland, I was feeling rather smug. My stomach, while not exactly elated, was in one piece, weathering the swells that engulfed our small fishing boat without too much bother. “This ain’t so bad,” I thought as I scanned the water’s surface for any sign of whales, dolphins or other cetaceans, the purpose of our jaunt on the open sea.
Just then a loud noise punctured my daydreaming. I looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of a minke coming up to feed or a bird of prey swooping low across the ocean. Instead, I found a young Italian lad in designer shades and matching jacket in the slow process of turning from dark olive to green, his eyes lolling in his head as head bounced slowly off the ship’s stern. What’s the Italian for, “I know how you feel, son”?
After more than 25 years on the seas on the west of Scotland, our captain Richard Fairbairns was decidedly nonplussed.
“Here, have a cup of coffee,” the garrulous Englishman said, thrusting a mug into my neighbour’s outstretched hands. As the colour slowly returned to our companion’s cheeks, Fairbairns, who on-deck answers to the sobriquet Popz, talked us through the specialist wildlife trips by Sea Life Survey sin the waters around Mull, Coll, Muck Eigg, Rum and the Treshnish Isles.
Essentially the journey is a research voyage with all sightings marked and cross-referenced by a crew that double up as scholars and tour guides, with paying customers on board to finance the project and increase understanding about sea life.
The rugged isles and clean seas around Mull (which is not to be confused with the Mull of Kintyre further south) provide the perfect environment for wildlife to flourish. The sea supports a huge abundance of breeding birds, seals, otters, whales, porpoises and dolphins.
Unfortunately, bar a couple of kittiwakes, an overfed great skua and myriad black-headed gulls, three hours into our eight-hour whale-watching session, the seasick Italian was the most unusual sight on our horizon.
But there’s more to whale watching on Mull than, well, watching whales. The undulating landscape, its sharp cliff edges and wide-open sea, is spectacular. The breeze built up into a fresh, wind as our boat motored in the direction of imposing Ardnamurchan Point, often said to be the most westerly tip of the British mainland (it’s not actually, the honour goes to Corrachadh Mòr, a kilometre south).
On the final stretch towards home, we finally caught sight of some big beasts. Perched imperiously on the sea wall at the end of Tobermory pier was a large colony of seals. Popz pulled the boat to a standstill so everyone could whip the cameras out, ensuring that we all left cold, tired but pretty contented after a day on the sea.
Stepping back onto dry land at Tobermory, the first thing that strikes you is how familiar this small town of 900 people is. Parents in particular are bound to recognise the brightly painted houses nestled around the sheltered harbour: the déjà vu is easily explained, though. Tobermory is the setting for BBC pre-school phenomenon that is Balamory. All the characters in the series live around Tobermory and its locations feature heavily in the programme. It’s an association townfolk are happy to play up, with arts and crafts shops offering the bona fide ‘Balamory experience’ (apparently Josie Jump the fitness instructor lives in the yellow house, though I saw no sign of her).
Tobermory has more adult attractions, too. Forty-five minutes by ferry from the mainland and a couple of hours more to the nearest city, Glasgow, Mull is not exactly on the beaten track, but its main town has a surprisingly cosmopolitan feel. There are a number of decent bars, and for connoisseurs of single blend malt whisky (note no ‘e’) the Tobermory Distillery, nestled at the edge of the bay, is a real treat. Founded in 1798, the distillery was revived more recently. As well as producing one of Scotland’s most well known whiskies, the distillery is also open for tours with free samples of the fabled ‘water of life’.
Mull boasts a number of good quality restaurants but arguably its most celebrated eatery is the Chip Van beside the clock tower in the centre of Tobermory. A greasy burger van it most certainly isn’t: the chrome-plated Chip Van boasts a prestigious Les Routiers award for the battered fish it serves straight off the boats. Rather fittingly, as I sat on a lobster creel tucking into a mouth-watering portion of haddock and chips, Fish, the erstwhile lead singer with Scottish rockers Marillion, was setting up in a bar on the main street. Life seems to go like that on Mull.
The island itself is large: from Tobermory in the north to Fionnsport in the southern tip is over 80km, and can feel twice as long on Mull’s pot-holed, single-track roads. From Fionnsport it’s a 10-minute boat ride to a place that looms far larger in Ireland’s imagination than it does in Scotland’s. Iona.
Difficult as it is to imagine today, this remote, windswept, achingly beautiful lump of rock in the Inner Hebrides was once a thriving centre for Celtic Christianity. This was in the sixth and seventh centuries, when the ancient Gaelic overkingdom of Dalriada stretched across western Scotland and the north of Ireland. St Columba and his monks set up a Christian community on Iona in AD563, which flourished until the 9th century when the Vikings invaded. The early monastery was rebuilt in the 11th and 16th centuries, ransacked in the Reformation and restored again in the 1930s by the Rev George Macleod, who left his Glasgow parish to rebuild the abbey and establish the ecumenical Iona community.
The lovingly restored abbey is well worth a visit — unwittingly I arrived on a blustery Sunday morning and caught the tail end of the colourful weekly service. But the real highlight is the stunning, secluded beaches about 30 minutes walk from the ferry terminal.
If the wind isn’t too strong take a boat from Iona to Staffa, the solid column of black basalt 13km off the coast of Mull that inspired Mendelssohn to write Fingal’s Cave. Apparently it’s quite a journey — not that I’d know myself.
Having successfully negotiated eight hours whale watching, and mindful of the three boats I’d have to take just to get to Oban, I decided to this was one boat trip my sea legs could miss out on. Maybe next time.
Fly from Dublin to Glasgow Prestwick with Ryanair from €60 return or to Glasgow International Airport with Aer Lingus from €80 return. Oban can be reached from Glasgow by car or train. From Oban you catch a ferry to the island of Mull, which takes 40 minutes with Caledonian MacBrayne ferries (01475-650100). Buses meet the ferries at Mull’s main harbour, Craignure and take 40 minutes to reach Tobermory.
Highland Cottage Hotel from €175, Cuidhe Leathain from €40 and 2 Victoria Street from €35 for bed and breakfast.
Where to eat
Fish is the order of the day on Mull. Tobermory’s Chip Van is a must. Mishnish and Café Fish in Tobermory are excellent too.
The quaint Mull Museum in Tobermory is worth a visit, as is the distillery. But Mull’s main attraction is its natural beauty. The aptly named Calgary on the west of the island boasts beautiful silver sands, while at 966 metres Ben More literally cannot be missed.
If you’re looking for high street stores and designer clobber, Mull probably isn’t the place for you. There are plenty of bijou craft shops in Tobermory selling locally produced jewellery and earthenware (alongside the Balamory tat). On Iona, the antiquarian bookshop is a great place to wile away an hour or two.
* For more information see Visit Scotland www.visitscotland.com
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