"Magical Moments on Mull" a Island of Mull Travel Page by nickandchris

This year, we decided to make our Scottish holiday destination Mull. We had often talked about going but never quite made it, somehow. Well, were we glad we made the effort!! It is the most beautiful location we have ever visited in Scotland and we wondered why we had ever delayed the trip.

Our holiday was purely a scenic journey, simply lapping up the glorious countryside, rather than a see and do type mission. We visited NO tourist attractions (apart from calling in at Tobermory simply to see the pretty village rather than any of it's tourist attractions,) therefore all my information is based on our motorhome holiday camped on beaches and lochsides. Maybe not everyone's thing!!!

We travelled almost twelve hours to reach Mull from our home town in Cumbria. Was it worth it? A definite YES!!!

Our first few days were free camped on Loch Na Keal and Loch Scridain, our pleasures simply boating, fishing and wildlife spotting. Absolute solitude. Marvellous!!
We also used our new motorbike for touring the narrower routes, thus enabling us to see more than would have been possible in the van. An ideal combination on Mull.

Next came camping at Fidden Farm, a site located spectacularly around lots of white sandy beaches and rocky outcrops, at the far west of the island. Once more, lots of fishing and seal watching.
Here, we learnt from a Fife man how to successfully smoke the mackerel we had caught in our newly purchased smoker. Simply delicious.

From Fidden, we moved on to Uisken, another glorious white sand beach on the south coast. We instantly fell under it's magical spell and stayed for three days, making friends with other free campers, more fishing and motorbiking. To complete the idyllic scene, we were joined by porpoises on our boat trips, literally swimming a few feet from us.

Finally, we tore ourselves away from this paradise and made the effort to see the parts of Mull we hadn't yet seen. A very worthwhile trip as apart from the stunning scenery, we realised by pure chance we had discovered the best places to stay at the beginning of our holiday. Nowhere surpassed anywhere we had stayed.

Mull is situated off the west coast of Scotland, in the Atlantic. It's the second largest island in the Inner Hebrides and also the wettest (although we had some glorious sunshine!)
The island's scenery is amazingly varied, with over 300 miles of coastline, varying from rocky shores to spectacular white sand beaches. Cliffs rise to over 1,000feet, plunging dramatically into the sea, with basalt columns very much in evidence. It's also extremely mountainous, with Ben More reaching 3,196 ft., attracting hikers of all nationalities. Rivers spill down the mountain sides and into the sea, no shortage of water here!!!

The island's industries included crofting, whisky distilling and fishing and it's population at one time topped 10,000. It fell dramatically in the late 19thC. due to the clearances, of which there is much evidence in the ruined cottages everywhere, and the potato famine in 1846. It now relies mainly on tourism with over half a million visitors a year. You will also find fish farms another source of employment today, with most sea lochs having at least one, usually mussel farms.

Most of Mull's 2,700 population lives in Tobermory,reputedly the prettiest town in all of the Hebrides.

Mull can be reached by ferry from three seperate locations on the mainland:
Oban,
Lochaline,
Kilchoan.

One day we may return. There are places we didn't get to and I feel we have missed out on not seeing all we wanted to. Our eight days was simply not long enough.