Pulpit Hill car park, Oban, Argyle & Bute.

Angela didn't sleep well last night, it was too quiet. Honestly, there's no pleasing the girl. We have stayed at Lochbuie many times now, and we cannot remember there being so few people here overnight. The wildlife must have noticed as well. There was not a hoot from an owl, a screech from an oystercatcher, or any shuffling from the sheep as they grazed nearby. Even the waters of the loch were still. By dawn it was situation normal. The oystercatchers noisy, argumentative and busy. The drone of bumble bees as they searched holes and hollows. And the reliable alarm call of the cuckoos rang around the mountains. The sun was up, and the day already warm. The weather on Mull has been amazing whilst we've been here. The area benefits from localised microclimates. So lucky us. John was out of sorts yesterday evening, retiring to bed by eight thirty. So we decided to stay put at Lochbuie and plan where we wanted to travel to next. We decided it would be the outer Hebrides and that we would take a ferry from Oban to Castlebay. So Angela booked a return ferry to Oban for tomorrow lunchtime, and then realised the only available sailing to Barra in the next few days was tomorrow lunchtime, so we telephoned Calmac ferries and rebooked on the seven twenty five ferry back to Oban this evening. And then a text message came in from Calmac saying tomorrow's ferry was now delayed by two hours. You couldn't make it up.

Anyhow, we're back in Oban now, staying the night on top of Pulpit Hill.

There's us, a French and German van, and a girl sleeping in her car. We decided not to put our pop top up, and for the second time are going to sleep downstairs which will be cosy. It is also a practice for our first night on Barra, where the winds are forecast to be 27 mph. Could be interesting. So in preparation for our trip out to the islands of the outer Hebrides, Barra, The Uists, Harris and Lewis, we will do a big shop in Aldi. It's difficult to buy fresh fruit and vegetables on the islands, and in the past we've visited small community shops and all they've had to offer is lager, cakes and sweets. To some this might seem a balanced diet. So stay with us, whilst we take Muddy Marge through her paces through these beautiful islands with their white sand beaches and rugged landscapes.

Before we left Lochbuie we had a walk out onto a nearby island which can be reached at low tide, Angela discovered a Greylag goose nest just before she stepped on it!