Round the Isle of Mull and Iona

We took advantage of a settled spell of weather to cruise round Mull, starting out along the rugged south coast past the Carsaig Arch and cliffs formed from the old lava flows that cover most of the island.

Our first night was at Ardalanish on the Ross of Mull, famous for its pink granite used to build the Albert Memorial in London, then on to Iona, with a view over the Cathedral and Iona Sound.

We spent our next night in Loch Scridain off the old settlement at Tavool. Ruins like this are a common sight, crofts abandoned in the late 19th C as potato blight, failure of the kelp industry and the notorious clearances emptied the population from the west coast.

Cragaig Bay, off the small island of Ulva, was our next stop.

Carpets of Bluebells were covering the areas once cultivated by the crofters.

The island of Inchkenneth, at the entrance to Loch na Keal, was second only to Iona in importance as a monastic centre in the 6th C, and the ruins of a later chapel contain this beautifully carved burial slab of a Maclean chieftain.

After another stop in Loch Tuath we sailed past the Treshnish Isles and stopped at Tobermory.