Mull - Scotland in Spring

Written by Jono Hawkins on 19 Apr 2025

• Ready, set, Kendal
• Onward to Oban
• Nice to see you, to see you Treshnish
• Never mind the rain, it’s geomorphology time
• Island hopping
• Faye’s fish and chip review
• If only there had Beinn Mhòr
• All quiet on the avian front…
• Southward bound

Ready, set, Kendal

Friday / 2025-04-18

I missed out on last year’s trip to Scotland (because I was on field course in Norway, boo hoo), so was very excited when the prospect of a trip in 2025 arose. Plans were made to spend a week on Mull over Easter and accommodation was swiftly booked in Dervaig, a small village on the northern side of the island. April came around quickly and with that, on Friday night, Rory and Siân arrived in Kendal to stay overnight with Faye and I, while Zoë and Meg stayed at Zoë’s family home in Kirkby Lonsdale. Ahead of us, we had a week of coastal walks, boat trips, good food and dare I mention… eagles?

Onward to Oban

Saturday / 2025-04-19

In order to balance the baggage between the Rory and Zoë’s trusty Citroën C1s, we had a brief logistics rendez-vous before heading off - I was in a car with Rory and Siân, and Faye was with Zoë and Meg. With what felt like plenty of time for our ferry sailing at quarter past five that evening, we left Kendal at eight-thrity sharp. Over the four hour drive to Oban, we didn’t meet each other en route or stop for lunch and arrived hungry. This wasn’t helped by the fact I had been extolling the culinary delights of the Green Shack from when Faye and I had visited on our last trip to Oban. Unfortunately, the queue stretched down the harbourside and our stomachs couldn’t face the wait.

Overlooking the harbour with a mediocre mozarella, tomato and basil panini, we ate lunch as a reformed group of six. Perhaps having spent a bit too long eating and enjoying the Oban air, we made our way over to the supermarkets, divided up the shopping list between the us and got to work finding a week’s worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner supplies. The boarding time for the ferry came around quickly and we were soon in the queue of cars to board the MV Loch Frisa. After an hour’s crossing, we drove out onto the pier at Craignure, then turned north to head across Mull and towards Dervaig to our home for the week.

Not long after we arrived, Meg whipped up a wild garlic pesto pasta dish for dinner which went down very well after a day of travelling. We settled into the accommodation in the comfortably furnished lounge - hiding underneath the coffee table was a wooden train set. “What is the highest ramp you could make with this train set?” I hear you ask. The evening’s entertainment was sorted (for me and Rory at least) and we made a vague plan to go for a short walk along the Treshnish coast the following day.

Nice to see you, to see you Treshnish

Sunday / 2025-04-20

The steep moor road over to Treshnish provided an early morning test of the C1s engines, so en route to our walk, we made a stop at the “The Black Beach”. Parking in a lay-by near the Allt na Cille, we headed down towards the sea and walked into a field scattered with ultimate frisbee goals. These make convincing cattle feeders and for a seemingly out of the way field full of Highland cows, I’m still not really sure which of these purposes they were intended for. There was also a rope swing hanging from a tree at the side of a stream running through the field. Everyone had a turn and it was even strong enough for two of us at one, if with a little added difficulty when dismounting. It was overcast (more “black beach” and less “black sky” please!), which cast a dull and serious light across the strait that separates Ulva from Mull.

We made our way back up to the rested Citroëns and continued along the coastal road. Not long after, I called out from the passenger seat of Rory’s car - we made an abrupt stop and in the sky on the horizon was an eagle being mobbed by a murder of crows. We watched the eagle swerve and dive to avoid the defensive swoops of the crows, until it settled into the heather on a prominent section of cliff. In the car behind us, Zoe, Meg, Sian and Faye stopped briefly and then drove further along the road to have a look for themselves - it really was an eagle, confirmed!

Further down the road, we parked at the Tin Shed Gallery and poked our heads through the door. Faye and Siân immediately identified plenty of the ‘tiny things’ (and wonderful artwork) on offer inside. Along the track, we passed the old township of Clac Gugairidh which has been in a state of disrepair since the 1870s when Ordnance Survey surveyed the area. At the foot of the track, we came across a group warning us of an adder further along which we then stopped to have a look at - the first time I’d seen one alive. It was beginning to approach lunchtime and we stopped underneath a small crag to have the first round of our cheese and pickle sandwiches for the week.

After we had refuelled, scrambled on the crag and watched a Wheatear flit across the top of the cliffs below us, we coontinued to walk along the coastal path. Eventually, the it brought us back inland along a small farm track and eventually joined up with the coastal road. We followed this back to the the cars then continued on clockwise along the road to stop for a swim at the magnificent Calgary Bay. The water was fresh (read: freezing!) and it took some time to become accustomed to the temperature - tricky in what is quite a shallow bay… It was my turn to cook dinner that evening - on the menu was a lentil chilli, which Faye had been asking me to cook for the last week.

Never mind the rain, it’s geomorphology time

Monday / 2025-04-21

The forecast for Monday was rain, so we planned a driving tour of Mull in order to escape the worst of the weather. On the way to our first stop, having heard that these had proved popular on last year’s trip, I suggested we pull over to the side of the road to have a look at a ruined Broch which was listed on the OS map. By chance, this happened to be down the road from the Lip na Cloiche gardens. We parked up both cars and toured the impressive gardens which are well worth a visit (and perhaps a better recommendation than the broch…).

The next (and originally first) stop on our tour was the Eas Fors waterfall. The falls are impressive, and actually extend all the way to the loch below, as we would see later in the week. Rather than head down, we walked up and above the main waterfall. While Siân and Meg swam, the rest of us watched an eagle overhead and skimmed stones along one of the flatter sections of the river. As the rain began to set in, we jumped back in the cars and continued along the coastal road to the car park Killechronan where we met up for a weather-induced car-based picnic.

To the excitement of the glaciologists in the group (who will remain nameless), the next location on the itinerary introduced some much needed geomorphology into the day’s sightseeing tour. For some reason, traipsing across the basalt shores of Loch na Keal in the rain looking for slightly different bits of rock didn’t appeal to the wider group, but eventually we found some of what are described as the best examples of p-forms on the British Isles!

Winding along the shores of Loch na Keal was a highlight from our Inner Hebrides cycle two years before. As we followed the same route, and despite the rain, the coastal road still impressed everyone as we drove towards Balevuin, tucked between the cliffs and lapping waters of the loch. We ended up in an agricultural traffic jam behind a herd of heavily pregnant cows as we drove down the other side of the pass - only building anticipation of whether we might see an eagle in its nest in the hills above the road. Karma came out in our favour to make up for the rainy weather and indeed, sitting amongst swaying pines, was another white-tailed eagle.

Originally, we had planned to go on to Lochbuie to see the standing stones and if the weather allowed, some of us would run there from the Three Lochs Viewpoint in Glen More. However, by this point, the rain had really begun to set in and time was also beginning to get on. Meg and Zoë headed back to our accommodation, while Rory, Siân, Faye and I continued on for a brief detour via Duart Castle, before joining them. By the time we made it back to Dervaig, Helen and Lucy had also arrived. To round off the day, Rory and Siân made a delicious vegetable traybake and we fixed our plans for the following day.

Island hopping

Tuesday / 2025-04-22

It was Helen’s birthday, and to celebrate we had booked a boat trip around Staffa - a volcanically formed island off the western coast of Mull. While there were renovation works underway on the jetty it was not possible to land the boat at Staffa, so the tour would instead involve circumnavigating the island. We drove from Dervaig down to Ulva Ferry, the namesake of the short connecting boat ride from Mull to Ulva, for a ten o’clock departure for Staffa.

As we left Ulva Ferry and rounded the south west corner of Ulva, through Loch na Keal and out into the Irish sea, we passed an extraordinary set of basalt columns, which foreshadowed those we were soon to see on Staffa. On the hour long journey, we were spoiled for views of the western coastline of Mull, Eagles (more!) and an assortment of sea birds. Before long, we approached the headland of Staffa and were presented with the classic view of Fingal’s cave. Out of the shelter of Staffa’s east coast, we were exposed to the force of the wind coming across the sea and watched as huge waves crashed into the opposing basalt cliffs.

We passed back by the rafts of puffins that rested in the sheltered water to the east of the island and began our journey back to Ulva Ferry. Pairs of gannets and gulls flew past the boat and gray seals appeared fleetingly in the distance between the waves. The first land we neared on our right hand side was the island of Goemtra, a private island owned by the environmental campaigner Roc Sandford. His website for the island, and in particular the history section gives a taste of the eccentricity that might be expected from someone who buys their own remote island.

On our return to Ulva Ferry, we took the ferry itself across to Ulva and ate lunch and Helen’s birthday cake at the quayside. For the next few hours, we ambled about the island and enjoyed the views across the sea back towards Mull. When we returned to the quay, we stopped for a drink in the newly opened Boathouse which had been serving delicious looking seafood at lunchtime. We crossed the ferry once again and made our way back to Dervaig, via Calgary bay for another quick swim.

Faye’s fish and chip review

Wednesday / 2025-04-23

Far across the Isle of Mull, at the very end of the Ross of Mull lies the holy island of Iona. The Cirtoëns were fired up and we made the nearly two hour drive to Ffionport where, after catching up with everyone and having a quick spot of lunch, a brief ferry trip took us across to Iona. Unfortunately, the promise of dolphins by the ferry crew on the crossing wasn’t realised, however we couldn’t have asked for more glorious weather as we were dropped off. After we visited a small gift shop (of small things), the next stop along the main road on the island was the ruined nunnery, followed by the abbey itself.

Helen and Lucy continued on to Tràigh Bhàn (White Beach), while the rest of us took a tour of the abbey. It dates back to 563 AD when it was founded by St Colunba and his twelve companions, starting off as a settlement of primitive lodgings and over time expanding into the impressive buildings and grounds which make up the abbey today. As we wandered around the grounds and followed the audio tour, there was a wedding taking place for a couple who had met volunteering as members of the Iona Community.

Afterwards, we joined Helen and Lucy and the beach and under the auspices of an Ionan blue sky we took a dip in the ‘refreshingly cool’ and beautifully clear sea. The beach had amazing views back over to Mull and we were able to make out the outline of the Fossil Tree in the distance - something to see on a future visit. After drying off, we tramped back to Baile Mor to catch the penultimate ferry of the day back to Ffionport.

For the whole week, Faye had raved about the fish and chip shop on the pier and for dinner was finally able to make her own review (“fresh fish with tasty herb flecked batter, left wanting by the chips”, you read it here first). As the sun began to cast a softer and softer red light across the bay, Rory, Siân, Faye and I stayed on to sample some of the bouldering on the beach in Ffionport. Zoë, Meg, Helen and Lucy drove back to the accommodation and were treated on their way back to the sight of a family of otters swimming on the shore of Loch Na Keal. Despite their advice, we had no such luck by the time we made it to the same spot, instead only managing to scare off a flight of woodcock into the looming dusk.

If only there had Beinn Mhòr

Thursday / 2025-04-24

With the best weather of the week forecast, Thursday had been designated the day that we would tackle the lonely Munro of Beinn Mhòr (Ben More). There are only a handful of popular routes to the summit of Mull’s sole mountain over 3000 feet: a trusty ‘tourist track’ which follows the northerly slopes to the summit, and the more scrambly horseshoe via Beinn Fhada and A’Chioch. Lucy and Helen made a later start to follow the more straightforward route to the summit, while the rest of us engaged in some vehicle shuffling of the two remaining cars so we had a one strategically positioned at the start and end of our walk.

We were soon on steep slopes as we started to wind our way up the grassy side of Beinn Fhada. Despite the blue sky, there was still a stiff and cold breeze which nearly saw us lose Rory’s sit mat as we sat down for a quick break. After an hour or so, we reached the subsidiary ridge of Beinn Fhada and began to follow the undulating path towards its summit and further along Beinn Mhòr’s horseshoe.

On reaching the first summit of the day, we treated ourselves to lunch with a view, and looked back along the slopes of Beinn Fhada to Loch Na Keal. To our left, the summits of A’Chioch and Beinn Mhòr made sure to let us know that there was still plenty of walking left to do that day. Perhaps a bit reluctantly, we pulled ourselves to our feet and began the descent down into the saddle below. As we clawed back the meters in elevation that we had just let go of, we followed a slight scramble on the southern face of the hill to its summit. We looked across to Beinn Mhòr and could make out the silhouettes of two figures at the summit cairn. Despite grainy photo evidence, we couldn’t clearly tell if this was Helen and Lucy - they later confirmed it was indeed them.

It took another quick descent into a saddle before we could start the Grade 1 scramble to our final summit of the day. Despite our concerns from descriptions of the route online (unpleasant and loose), following the crest of the ridge closely gave way to a pleasant scrambling line that quickly led us to the summit cairn. Peering out from the stone walls at the top were Helen and Lucy who had decided to wait for us to meet them. After another brief pause, we made our way back down the track to the cars. About halfway down, we veered off to the right of the track and found a beautiful pool tucked below a shallow waterfall. It beckoned to us to go for a swim and in the glare of the sun and promise of some shelter from the wind, we obliged.

Eventually, we found ourselves back on the shores of Loch Na Keal and divided ourselves into cars to head back to Dervaig. With a brief detour via Tobermory to pick up some supplementary items for dinner and desert. Helen and Lucy put together a delicious mackerel Kedgeree, and I cooked profiteroles for desert to round off the evening.

All quiet on the avian front…

Friday / 2025-04-25

Our luck from the previous day had come to an end and as we woke up on Friday the weather had come in. After our Ben More day, we had a quiet morning planned anyway. Rory, Faye and I ventured out after lunch for a drive with the intention of seeing the eagle that the others had caught on their way back the previous day. We were in luck to see a few birds on the road between Dervaig and Salen but, perhaps sensibly, it seemed that the majority had decided to hunker down and stay out of the worst of the wind and rain. We stopped in Tobermory before continuing back to the cottage, via the hide at Loch Torr. Again, all quiet on the avian front…

Before dinner, we made one final punt to spot an otter along the coast from Croig. It was dreich and didn’t take long for us to turn around when the rain had properly set in. Dinner that evening was pizza from The Piece Box in Dervaig, a prelude to Zoë’s update about her travels, Rory’s presentation on his definitive set of hills in England and Wales and the rest of our (slightly sillier) presentations.

Southward bound

Saturday / 2025-04-26

Unfortunately, Saturday was our last day on Mull and that morning we checked out of the cottage in the nick of time. Our ferries back to Oban weren’t until after lunchtime so we had some time to kill in Tobermory and along the coast back to Craignure. The ferry journey soon came and went and we headed back south, interrupted with a stop in Crianlarich to rearrange car passengers. After not too long, Faye, Zoë and I were back in Kendal having had a splendid week on possibly my favourite of the inner Hebridean islands so far, and we even saw some eagles!