Leaving Iona and Across Mull

Monday morning it was raining on Iona, soaking our shoes which we had left out to dry! I didn‘t mind staying indoors for a little bit, we spent the time catching up a bit with our writing as well as organizing ourselves for the next part of our journey. Later in the morning the sun peeked out and I ventured out to the village to get a few things. Beth stayed back at the B&B, I think both of us were pretty worn out by yesterday’s evening hike.

Truth be told I entered the most dangerous place on Iona during this morning outing - the Iona Community Book Store. I looked through all the initial titles that caught my eye the previous day, did some humming and hawing - and came away with a pile of books, many new resources for worship at Christ Lutheran back in Regina and especially for the Mysterium Worship Gatherings. Beth and I decided that perhaps we could ship these books home from Oxford, where I also expect to get a few more titles since that is the home to Blackwells, the greatest bookstore in the world according to my Oxford taught friends Dr. Harry Maier and Dr. Bryan Hillis.

After making my purchases I headed back to gather our luggage and head down to the dock to wait for the ferry. Our Bed and Breakfast host also happened to be the local (and only) taxi driver on Iona, and he graciously offered to take Beth and I (and our growing pile of luggage) down to the ferry (thank you Lindsay!) It was beginning to rain again while waiting for the ferry (which we were doing outside as there is no ferry terminal on Iona) but fortunately we got on board the ferry and under cover before it really started coming down.

We took the bus from Fionphort across the Isle of Mull to Craignure. On this bus trip we sat in the front seat and were amazed at how the driver negotiated the single lane road. There were little turn outs all along the road probably every 200 or 300 metres, and traffic would have to figure out who pulled over and who drove through… always with a wave to each other. It was all about courtesy and patience. You could tell who the tourists were, they didn’t smile and wave, just seemed frustrated at not being to get where they were wanting to go as quickly as they wanted.

At Craignure we switched buses to head to Tobermory - the total cost of the round trip for both Beth and I was the equivalent of 8 or 9 Canadian dollars - a real deal. The same type drive on a single lane road and after about an hour we arrived at our destination. Tobermory is a beautiful, colourful harbour town. It is the setting for a BBC children’s show and I can see why it was chosen, so pretty, quaint and colourful - we were even treated to a rainbow over the harbour to add to the picturesque quality of the setting. Now we just had to find a taxi to take us to Glengorm Castle.