Tobermory to Coll Calm and sunny ( mostly) 06 August 2023

 

Tobermory harbour was mirror calm at 08.00, and stayed pretty calm and sunny
as long as we were there - until 13.00

This morning was spent walking to Tobermory lighthouse - nearly 7km (return) along the wooded slightly muddy path from the north end of Tobermory front - just past The Mishnish bar and restaurant. Fabulous view across to Loch Sunart.

Looking across to Loch Sunart.  
Just out of view to the right is the cruise ship Seabourn Quest
dropping anchor.  It had just arrived from Belfast.

One of the highlights of the walk was the large number of Scotch Argus butterflies.  Loads of them.

A dreadful picture of a Scotch Argus,
but this is one of the many we saw.

Coffee in the church cafe when we got back into town, followed by shopping for supplies in the Coop.  We’ve got two or three days to come when we will not have an opportunity to restock.

Tobermory was looking well in the sun. 
Clockwise from top left: the distillery shop was open, but after our bingeing on Islay we managed to pass it by; the Mull Aquarium was open and trying to attract visitors from the cruise ship; Tobermory harbour appears to us to be well organised, with very high daily turnover of visiting boats; and the main picture is the ‘Screen Machine’ - a mobile 80 person cinema.  A brilliant bit of kit, that was showing Local Hero last night and Spider-man this evening (pity we had to leave).

At 13.30 we set off on the two hour crossing to Coll.  The Whale and Dolphin Society shop in Tobermory had reported a Fin Whale off Coll a couple of days ago, and so with the calm sea we were hopeful of seeing something of interest.  Despite a constant lookout we had no luck. As we approached Coll there was a big black rain cloud hanging over the island, obviously very wet.

Coll is the thin strip of land below the cloud.  The actual rain was moving northward to the right of the picture as we arrived.

Fortunately when we arrived there were a couple of moorings available (you cannot pre-book them) and we quickly picked up one of them.  We now have a couple of hours to chill before dinner - we are booked into the Coll Hotel at 18.00.  We are looking forward to a good meal.

Going ashore at Coll - anticipating good food.

We wonder where we are - Coll Stores, Isle of Coll Distillery, Coll Hotel?

The boat bird list is short again, 16 species, but that includes a Hen Harrier and a Bonxie. Pretty good.

Our routes today:




















































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