Scottish Isles: Mull and Iona

Our home base on the west coast of Scotland for three days was actually on an island, the Isle of Seil. It is separated from the mainland by a beautiful stone bridge with the dramatic name "Bridge over the Atlantic."








The Isle of Seil was a beautiful little spot, and we wished we had had more time to just stay there and explore, but we had several adventures already planned in the area, so we enjoyed staying in the village of Ellenabeich as a base for some exciting excursions.

One of the most anticipated destinations for me on the full Europe itinerary was the Isle of Iona, a small island off the coast of the larger island of Mull, and famous as the 'birthplace of Christianity in Scotland.' The island and its abbey are intricately connected with the history of Celtic Christianity and the interweaving of kingly power and spiritual life in the middle ages. The
cematery at the abbey was traditionally the burial site of kings of the Scottish kingdom of Dalriata. It is also known to have been a sacred site for time stretching long before Christianity.

To get to Iona, we had to drive from Ellenabeich to Oban (half hour), line up for the ferry to the Isle of Mull (not realizing how important it would be to have reservations, we barely got on the ferry), drive over an hour across the Isle of Mull, and catch the ferry to Iona (a short, 10 minute ferry). The drive across Mull was more beautiful than we could have imagined. Dramatic hills, mountains, and waterfalls surrounded us throughout the drive. The land was spotted with the roofless remains of stone houses, probably evidence of the land clearances that affected Mull as well as the mainland in the 1850s. We saw stone bridges in the middle of seemingly empty fields, begging us to imagine the history of those places, the people who had lived in those houses, painstakingly built those bridges and walls, and how they had lived in this land that now seems so largely empty of human habitation. We did see many, many sheep, often alongside the road with no fences in sight.















As we were driving through Mull, we saw signs on the roadside for "Ardalanish Weavers" and couldn't resist following the signs. We ended up driving a couple miles down a bumpy, single lane road (which is what all the roads on Mull basically are) to a farm on a stunning white sand beach with a small weaving mill and retail shop. The farm is all organic, they raise heritage hebridean sheep and highland cattle, and use all primitive breeds organic wool in their weaving. Any dyes they use are natural.

- Posted by Heather

Location:Chicago,United States