Lochbuie, Isle of Mull

An early start today as we wanted to take the ferry over to Kintyre before it became to windy.

At Tarbert we stopped for coffee and to decide exactly where we should head to, as the forecast until late afternoon tomorrow is terrible. But we were distracted by three young American cycle tourists and of course we just talked with them about cycle touring. We left them to head to a hostel in Campbeltown, and us to drive up to Oban away from the worst of the weather. As promised the rain persisted. So much rain is probably responsible for the road subsidence and land slips here. At one point we had to follow a convoy vehicle as the road was reduced to a single lane.

Early afternoon we were on a sailing to Mull. 

The ferry now noticeably busier than last time. We sat opposite a couple of ladies who'd been in Edinburgh yesterday attending a garden party at Holyrood House. This year celebrates two hundred years of the RNLI a charity these ladies have been collecting for over forty years. They'd seen the King and various other members of the royal family. We were shown the photographs taken at the event, but they played it down a little. One of the women telling us when she was younger the Royal Yacht Britannia used to drop anchor right in front of her house on Stornaway ( Isle of Lewis). They also made us smile when we discussed the terrible weather, telling us they'd 'not had a chance to bring out their summer clothes'. We've been told summer will start mid July in Scotland. That's good to know, we'll be back in England!

Arriving on Mull we headed straight to Tobermory to take a shower and fill out bellies with fish and chips. We felt better for both experiences. We'd intended to stay overnight in the town but the wind will be at 40 plus miles per hour first thing tomorrow so we crossed to the other side of the island to Lochbuie. Of course we did. Angela's fixated with the place. She feels the same about Avingon in France. It was just after eight when we reached Lochbuie.

The long winding road down seemed to take forever, but as always it's worth it. The wind blew, the rain fell and then the rain ceased the wind dropped and a beautiful rainbow smeared itself over the mountain opposite before the clouds moved away revealing a clear blue evening sky.

The weather here is mad. In a weeks time we will need to be on our way back to England. For now, Mull's our home. We can't tell you how good it feels to be back here.