Wednesday 25th June

The weather today was heavy drizzle and it wasn't looking very good for the whole day.  That said, we have had rain forecast before for the day and we've managed to miss it!  But today it had set in for the day.  After Breakfast I walked around the place for 5 minutes trying to find a way to check out until I decided to walk into the kitchen where I found someone who said we could pay in full when we came back the day after today.  Very trusting of him, but fine!

Off we went, along the south coast of Mull to Fionnport.  The rain continued to come down in a steady, heavy drizzle but we carried on.  Eventually we arrived in Fionnport, passing our B&B for the night, but we parked around the corner in a free car park.  Walking down to the jetty, we knew that it would either be Staffa or Iona today.  When we got there, after having donned all our waterproofs, we found a couple of boards advertising trips to Staffa and phone numbers to book.  So we got our mobiles out and guess what?  No reception!  Fat lot of good that was.  Taking note of the number, we walked back up the hill and thought we would use the phone box, until we noticed that there were a load of coins jammed in the slot and when lifting the receiver, the text read "Emergency calls only". Dammit!  Although that didn't stop anyone phoning that phone with a spammy message about Lloyds TSB.  Yes, that actually happened while I was in the phone box...!

Anyway, I took out my phone and my reception was on and off, so I put the number in and kept checking.  Just as Mathew was getting my walking sticks out of the boot ready for Iona, I had reception and dialled.  It rang, and someone picked up.  Were they sailing to Staffa today? Yes!  Could we book onto the trip at 12:15? Yes! I gave him my name and hung up - today we were going to Staffa!


Mathew put my sticks back and we decided to drive out to a restaurant just outside Fionnport called The Ninth Wave.  Looking rather posh and as we hadn't had a really posh meal during this holiday, I called the number (in the same spot where I made the call to book onto a trip to Staffa, just next to the car park), and asked to book a table for the evening as it was apparently "essential" to book.  Unfortunately they couldn't take a booking for tonight, so that decided where we were eating tonight - The Keel Row, a pub just a minutes' walk away from our B&B.

Back at the jetty we waited in / near the waiting room and it was time to board the boat.  It was still drizzling, but we sat outside (as you do - come on, we're British!) and got  rather wet, although we both had waterproof jackets and trousers on today, knowing that we were going out despite the weather! The water was really quite calm, visibility was ok, and there wasn't much of a swell.  35 minutes and we were at Staffa looking at Fingal's Cave which was pretty awesome to see!  We moved around to the jetty and disembarked, walking up steep steps to the top.  On our way up we were able to take a good look at the crazy rocks and the formation of the cliffs - the same formation is at the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland.  We waked across the island where we could see even more of the rock and some people went off to look for Puffins at the other end of the island.

Knowing that it wasn't the best weather for bird watching, we stayed on top of the island for a short while until we decided to go down the steps towards the jetty and around the side of the island towards the cave.  The route was a little daunting but fun at the same time, I'm certainly glad of the hand rail which is there, and most people were making good use of it! There were a couple of slippery moments but nothing too major - including a moment where I helped a German or Dutch gentleman stay upright on the rocks for which he was very thankful - otherwise it was quite fun getting to the cave.  Once there, it seemed that we had been fortunate enough to time our visit right - there was nobody there but us.  We stayed a short while to take some photos, and we could go part of the way into the cave.  We saw where there used to be bollards leading right into the cave up to the very back, but now visitors can only go about halfway.  We turned back and made our way to the jetty once more, passing a few people on the way from a boat trip which had arrived about 15 minutes ago whilst we were in the cave.  Back on the boat it didn't seem to be quite so wet going back, so it wasn't too bad.  When we arrived at Iona, we saw dolphins or porpoises - finally, I actually saw some up close!  So many times I have been on a ferry when dolphins or porpoises have been spotted and I've been in the wrong place to see them.  Next time my challenge will be to take a photo!

Docked, we all disembarked, and as Mathew and I were the only people on the boat who weren't often the coach tour group, the guys on the boat gave us two tickets back to Fionnport on the ferry which had just come in - inclusive in the price of the trip to Staffa.  Thanks guys!  We made our way around and boarded the ferry immediately, ate yesterday's leftover pizza which I only ate half of and asked to box the rest up to go, and we were back in Fionnphort at 3pm.  Just in time for tea a cake perhaps?  Indeed!

We made our way to The Keel Row which did tea, coffee and cake.  We discovered that they did cream teas and as we hadn't had one here yet, that's what we ordered.  I had fun with the landlord who was trying to figure out if the coffee machine would do a large Cappucino for me, whilst trying to understand what the point was in having decaf coffee ("Panic attacks and palpitations" I said. "Don't have coffee then!" He advised. "I like the taste!" I said).  Look, I wasn't trying to be difficult, I was actually asked if I would like two pots of tea or coffee with the scones I had just ordered...!  Anyway, it turned out that a regular Cappucino was best as they didn't have a mug large enough to take two servings and it all overflowed... (!). Anyway, all sorted, our cream tea / coffee was very welcome and delicious.

Finally it was time to check into our B&B Staffa House, despite saying that we would check in at 5pm we tried our luck at 4:15 and everything was fine.  We had a short tour of the place including an explanation of breakfast and we were soon dry and warm in our room which was nice, cosy and comfortable.  A short while later, the rain had stopped and it was looking quite bright.  The weather forecast was a better one for tomorrow!

We went out for dinner at the Keel Row and I was rather surprised by the presentation of the food, making simple food look gourmet but with a twist.  I had pan fried seabass with potatoes, veg and samphire, and Mathew had venison sausages with potatoes and gravy.  It was delicious, and not too filling which of course meant we had room for pudding!  I ordered a cherry bakewell sponge pudding with custard which we shared and it was divine.  Best meal of the holiday!!