From Scotland with Love: Part I: Iona (and Glasgow)

This was our first few days (Sunday to Wednesday, essentially). We took the bus down to Glasgow on Sunday which was, as always, a treat. We met up with Amanda and did a tour of the city, sort of, and then dinner. Skye was in London for the week before so she met us later in the day for dinner. But it was really fun. The next morning we went to Iona, stayed for Tuesday, and came back on Wednesday.

When we got to Glasgow, we first went to see Strathclyde, the cathedral and the necropolis. Unfortunately we couldn’t go down to see the lower rooms but the upper floor was more than enough. We took a break at the necropolis and just kind of appreciated the city because it was a stunning day. Then we went downtown and took in some of those sights, including a beautiful park with some blossoming trees. We had dinner at a place called Nandos and then went back to our hotel to crash.

The hotel was really nice. It was on a main street but connected off a side one because its street was blocked off at the bottom. So we, of course, followed the winding driving directions only to find out we could have gone up a simple set of stairs right at the main road. On our way out, though, we took the easy way. It was kind of hard to find generally because even the taxi driver who took us back after dinner ended up getting lost. We had a three person room with amazing beds. It was also only 16 pounds for the night and that included a full breakfast. After we got a good meal, our journey began.

It basically went train to ferry to bus to ferry. The train from Glasgow to Oban took about four hours but was absolutely breathtaking. When we got to Oban we had to catch the ferry right away otherwise we’d miss our bus and be stuck on Mull for the night. It went from Oban to Craignure and took about 45 minutes including docking and that kind of thing. We caught a bus in Craignure that took us to Fionnphort. When we got there we could see Iona. And when I say see Iona I mean we could see literally the entire island since it’s only about three miles long and one and a half wide. It was only about twenty minutes between when we got off the bus and when we caught the ferry to Baile Mur, on Iona. When we got to the island we popped into this little restaurant for a late lunch and I got a delicious soup called a Cullen Skink and a divine scone. There was real whipped cream and also apricot jam…from France. I say that because that’s how the waiter introduced it to me and it was kind of funny. We had to stop and get groceries except we got to the Spar about ten minutes after it closed. The lady was kind enough though to let us pop in and grab something. The end result was a dinner of dry toast and macaroni made without any milk or butter. Moral of the story: don’t make macaroni and cheese from the box without milk and butter because it’s gross. On Tuesday morning we got up pretty early because we were able to go out and feed the sheep. The hostel where we stayed was on a working croft so they had a whole flock. They were really nice and a few even came to eat out of my hand. The rest of our day was filled with two long walks and visit to the abbey. First we tackled dun-I (pronounced dun-ee) which is the highest hill on the island. It was sublime. We got to the top and just sat there staring out across the water for a while. We could see some of the other islands but also open water; it was amazing. After that we went to the abbey. The main part had been rebuilt but they also had some older sections and some artefacts like old crosses and that sort of thing. We went to the Spar after the abbey because we wanted to eat something other than dry toast for dinner. We dropped our groceries off and then went for a beach walk. There was a section that was really rocky so we started playing a little game called don’t touch the water. It was epic fun and really just made me feel seven years old again, which I never really mind. We didn’t get too far around the island but we found this beach that was flanked with cliffs and almost looked like a small bay. We camped out there for a bit before heading back to make dinner (which was mushroom chicken, vegetables and mashed potatoes.)

Wednesday was a travel day. We left the hostel around 7:30 to catch the bus. The weather had been lovely on Tuesday but that was clearly because it was saving itself to be horrid on Wednesday. Since we had to walk there we all ended up looking like wet dogs when we got on the ferry. We stayed that way until we got on the big one in Craignure and then we could change footwear and that kind of thing. We had the afternoon to spend in Oban which was nice. It started with a delicious seafood lunch which was followed by a visit to the distillery. It was great because it cost seven pounds but that included a free glass (which was 6 pounds in the shop) and some samples. We caught the train back to Glasgow around six and had to transfer once we got there to catch it back to Aberdeen. In the end, we got in around midnight which made me super happy to actually see bed. Thursday, then, was preparation day for Spain.