A picture of The Kelpies at Grangemouth.
We left Falkirk just after 9am but not before Jan had reported that the shower in our room in the Travelodge was broken. Now anyone who knows our son, Chris, will know just how good he is at complaining, we on the other hand are useless but Jan came up trumps because they refunded her the money for our room. The evening before we had a meal in a local restaurant; 2, 2 course meals (1 Sea Bass) and 2 drinks for less than £20, amazing value, in this day and age.
We returned to the Kelpies at Grangemouth to get a few pictures on the iPad. It was quite overcast but the weather forecast was for Southerly gales and torrential but it was a very balmy 17C which was not bad for the last day of October.
After doing a major shop at Stirling (where we had spent the 2nd night of our honeymoon, camping, some 42 years ago) we began our journey north to the first of our two ferries. We were a little worried about our planned ferry crossings because of the ominous forecast.
We travelled through the Loch Lomond National Park and on into the Highlands where the weather became quite atrocious. The only wildlife we saw was one lone bedraggled Buzzard. That wasn't an indictment of the Scottish wildlife but more a reflection on the weather.
We went through Rannoch Moor and Glencoe, not that you could see very much because we were more or less in the clouds, before arriving at the Corren Ferry, near Fort William. This is the last inland ferry in Scotland. We had planned to get some pictures of both the ferries we'd planned to travel on but 1. The weather was appalling and 2, With both ferries we arrived and drove straight on, being the last vehicle on both of them. The ferry crossing took about 5 minutes.
We drove off the ferry and began the 20 odd mile journey down to Lochaline. This is arguably one of the prettiest scenic drives in Scotland but not today. The journey along a mostly single track road in torrential rain took well over an hour. The rivers were in full flood and had burst their banks in several places. We didn't see much wildlife but there were some brilliant roadside waterfalls along the way. This was one of the smaller ones.
As before we arrived at the Lochaline Ferry and immediately boarded and set off. We had been particularly worried about this ferry because of the wind and secondly because the last time we travelled on it (some 24 years ago) it was nothing more than a glorified Landing Craft that carried no more than 6 cars. We needn't have worried because the Island of Mull was sheltering this particular crossing and the ferry had been upgraded some years ago to a much more substantial vessel that was capable of carrying at least 20 vehicles. The 20 minute crossing was flat calm but it was raining quite heavily. We arrived on Mull just after 3pm. This was our fourth visit to Mull in about 37 years but I found it quite moving because this time last year, I didn't think I would have another holiday let alone return to Mull an island that has had a special place in our hearts.
Our first task was to find our cottage which we did far easier than we anticipated, the second task was to waste 90 minutes before we could get into the cottage. We did this by travelling back to Fishnish and parking up on the Garmony viewpoint.
This viewpoint is quite famous for spotting Porpoises, Dolphins and even Whales and although the water was quite calm visibility was somewhat limited because of the rain. As we sat there overlooking the stretch of water between Mull and the mainland our first impression in the murky and wet conditions was that we were alone but gradually we could make out more and more birds and although it was difficult to see them clearly we made out several Hooded Crows, couple of Heron, Robin, Curlew, Sea Ducks, a small flock of small birds and one lone Redwing or Song Thrush. We couldn't identify it properly because it was partially obscured by a tree and everytime we opened the window we were lashed by the rain. The thing that made me think it was more like a Redwing than a Song Thrush was that the most prominent thing about the bird was the flash above the eye.
We eventually moved into the Lochside cottage at 5pm and spent an (eventually, because it took several attempts to light it) cosy evening around a log burning stove. Our appetites were wetted by reading the entries in the Visitor's Book: Eagles (both Golden & White Tailed), Seals, Otters, Red Deer and various birds had been seen from the cottage let alone on the Island.
As I'm writing this a real hooli of a gale has blown up but the weather forecast for the day is quite promising and I am really looking forward to seeing what the dawn will reveal in the immediate area before we begin our Island Adventure properly.
Keep your eyes peeled and good spotting.
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