One feels that the choice of Craignure as ferry terminal on Mull is commercially very sensible. It is a three quarters of an hour crossing from Oban, which, with loading and unloading makes it possible to have just the one ferry and maintain a service every two hours. Keeping to time is a slick operation.
It was good to get a view of the familiar Oban places from the water. McCaig’s Tower, that Victorian, philanthropic folly stands above the town. The red brick building with the chimney is the whisky distillery.
From the port side I could look out at the Kerrera yacht area. One of the yachts proved to be a sea-plane.
The monument on Kerrera. This giant obelisk was built in honour of David Hutcheson in
1883; he was a manager of the Burns shipping company that ran the first steamers
up the western seaboard, beginning in 1835. Later his brother in law David
MacBrayne continued to develop the services, and though the days of the Glasgow
steamers are long gone, Caledonian MacBrayne still today runs the ferries to
most of the Hebrides.
The
waters were calm, but navigation must be tricky for large vessels.
Our
route, on the largest ferry, Isle of Mull, came very close to Kerrera and the
yacht basin.
But
it was not far from Dunollie, on the starboard side, either.
The
Ardnamurchan area of the mainland looked cloudy, but our ‘red duster’ had a
blue sky with thin cloud as a backdrop.
And
this was Mull. This island had often been in our sights and almost always was
wearing a cap of cloud.
The long thin island of Lismore stretched away to the north. The lighthouse is actually on an islet off the southern end of Lismore and was receiving a new coat of white paint at the time. It had areas of new, pristine white and other sections of what looked grey by comparison.
The sea is very protected in this area. We cleared Lismore, but were still in a channel between Mull to the south and the Ardnamurchan peninsula to the north.
Mull, wearing its cap, had a castle by the water side. This is Duart Castle, once the home of the MacLeans.
This was the view across to the mainland, shortly before we arrived at Craignure.
Our onward journey was by bus but we still had the views across the Sound of Mull to the Morvern area on the mainland.