Dolphins sighted between Lismore Lighthouse and north end of Kerrera

On our way back from the Mull Mòd on the 7pm ferry we were delighted to see many young bottlenose dolphins cavorting in the bow waves. There was quite a strong tiderace in the narrow passage between Mull and Lismore, which must have attracted these predators for a feast on disoriented fish.
I'm saying "young" dolphins because they looked quite small. How many? Hard to say because we couldn't see under water, of course. But I'd guess at least six, maybe a dozen, maybe even more. At any one time, three, four, five of them would jump out of the otherwise very calm sea.
A fantastic end to a great day.

A kind of anniversary

Hiya again
It's been exactly four years to the day that I met someone who was to change my life in unexpected ways. One of them was being introduced to the joys of blogging. I resisted for a while but, as you can see, I have since become quite seriously addicted (I'd like to say "developed to a fine art", but there are so many blogs out there that are much better organised, much more aesthetically pleasing, much more like what I'd have if only I really focused on this -- but there you go: I'm me, a bit chaotic, a bit obsessive, but basically quite harmless).
Even if comments to my musings and photos etc are sparse, I do know that there are quite a few people out there who click into this blog from time to time.
I thank you for your interest, and I thank R.A.E. for having inspired me to take up this hobby, for helping me stretch my wings as a photographer further, and for being a great friend since those chance encounters on our way by CalMac ferry and bus across Mull to and a week later the same way back from Iona.
To you all I dedicate this photo showing my favourite flower, ever, the elusive fritillary, which I first encountered on Iona in April 2004, two years before I took this photo.

My last visitors... for now

Hiya again
My latest visitors are on their last few hours in the Oban area. They've not had much luck with the weather, unfortunately; good job they came by rental car, which at least provides some shelter. However, we saw a few rainbows, …… did a bit of exploring along the Esplanade, …
… they got to hear me sing with the Oban Gaelic Choir at Oban's Skipinnish Ceilidh [say kAYlee] House…
… and we all had a brilliant day on Lismore yesterday, with gorgeous sunshine and a lovely breeze, despite a rather poor forecast. Picture-book perfect it was, just as the website says, "Easy to reach by boat from Oban, Lismore is a lovely location to get away from it all."
As things go, we also learnt a few lessons along the way.

The crossing promised better things that the Scotch mist that greeted us at the ferry pier.

The sky above Port Ramsay, on the north-west of the island, was gorgeous when we arrived there in the early afternoon:

View from the top of the now defunct limekiln at Port Ramsay.

The defunct limekiln pots at Port Ramsay are being abused as rubbish dumps -- what a shame!

Bright red mushrooms grow all over the meadows – these we found at the limekilns at Port Ramsay.

We found the island uncommonly quiet all day, with just the three of us in the beautiful Lismore Café and Visitor Centre at 3:30pm, when on previous occasions I've always found it jumping with visitors, especially on a Saturday.
On our way back, we paid a visit to Tirfuir Broch on the east shore:When the 6 o'clock ferry didn't show we began to realise why there were so few people.
That's when we learnt lesson number one: getting off the island by car may be a bit tricky when the CalMac ferry has a problem. That was the case: the "Eigg" had broken down and didn't do any of the afternoon or evening runs from Oban to Lismore or back.
Being stranded on the island on a Saturday is a very interesting experience and you learn lesson number two: you call Caledonian MacBrayne, the ferry company, only to find that maybe you're talking to someone based in Uig on Skye who has no idea what the setup in Oban/Lismore looks like.
The person at the other end of the line gives you a local telephone number but when you call it, at round about 6:25pm on a Saturday, the Oban CalMac office is closed.
Everyone is really friendly, and getting to speak to a real person is a lot quicker than if you call BT, SouthernElectric or Scottish/BritishGas, but help is not forthcoming, nor can anyone tell you when a ferry might run again.
What we did learn, however (lesson no. 3), was that the Lisiachs, as the islanders of Lismore are called, are uncommonly helpful, generous and hospitable -- and quietly angry with CalMac for letting their visitors down.
There were five of us trying to catch the 6 o'clock ferry back to Oban, and as many locals gathered round at Achnacroish pier chipping in with ideas: a lady who offered her B&B at £35 per person for dinner, bed and breakfast, which we might have gone for if she had been willing to take a credit card but she insisted on getting cash. There was a gentleman with a largeish car who offered to take four of us to Point, the northernmost tip of Lismore, to catch the pedestrian ferry that goes over to Port Appin. By the way, that ferry is operated by Argyll & Bute Community Council!
Finally, someone who is sort of an official taxi driver for the island, was called in and, when he arrived, offered to take all five of us to Point in his station wagon. We deliberated and waited for news and were hoping that there would be a car ferry at 8pm, as per information passed down the Lismore grapevine (obsolete but also on my answering-machine when I got home much later) but the lady on Skye was clear: there would be no ferry, even though the "boys" had been working their socks off all afternoon. She did assure me/us that the ferry would be worked on into the night in an attempt to sort things out.
Lesson number three: CalMac would have to foot the bill for the journey up the island and down to Oban by taxi. That made it easier for us to decide that we wanted off the island because my visitors were taking a plane out of Edinburgh first thing Monday (i.e. tomorrow) morning.
At least we would all be back in Oban and our own quarters with landline phones and e-mail access and buses and a train or three to get eastward. We therefore left the car at the Achnacroish car park – if the worst came to the worst, someone from CalMac would simply have to get it across to Oban and thence back to Edinburgh or wherever.
The Lismore taxi driver took us to Point, stopping at his house half-way along the journey, where his wife was waiting with tea and the freshest, crumbliest home-made biscuits I've ever tasted – bless them! It was lovely to sit in a warm room by a lit grate, sipping tea, munching her delicious custard creams and blethering away in comfort until it was time to catch the 8:15pm ferry from Point to Port Appin. Lesson number four: island hospitality is unbeatable!
We were expecting a big taxi from Oban to take us "home", but it was a normal sedan waiting. My mistake, I suppose, for not speaking up when the question of taxis from Port Appin was discussed by the locals (lesson number five).
It was already half-past eight, anyway, and our stomachs were rumbling, biscuits and tea notwithstanding.
So, the three of us …… decided to change plans yet again and have dinner at Port Appin Pier House while we waited for a cab to run up from Oban.
The meal was delicious if a bit on the pricey side, the room very warm and cosy, and the taxi collected us a little over an hour after we sat down to eat – just right.
We got in at about 10:30pm, well tired, and not a little worried about whether the ferry would run today.
At about 9:15 this morning, a call came in from CalMac to tell us that the ferry would sail from Oban at 11AM. My god-daughter is coming into Oban on the ferry with the car (a very rough ride) as I type these lines, while S. has just got back from a guided tour of the Oban distillery. It is bucketing down and windy.
Still, all will yet be well and my lovelies will be able to catch their plane first thing tomorrow.

However, they've had to change their plans considerably as they originally wanted to leave Oban very early this morning to have time for a visit to the distillery at Aberfeldy before making their way to Edinburgh, where their hotel room is waiting for their last night in the country.
Ah well, when you travel, I suppose, you have to be flexible – and that is the biggest lesson of all.

Passion flower – one of many – at Lismore Café.

My first "real" visitor :)

Hello again

Time flies when you're having fun, and the last few weeks have not been all work and no play at all, although the ratio of work:leisure has been less than well balanced...

Last Friday evening, my new friend from Oban, E.C., offered to assist me in meeting my old friend from Switzerland, T.B., off the bus from Glasgow. We were expecting a full bus and people scooting across the street to snatch taxis from under each other's noses. The bus pulled in right on time, and its two passengers (!) disembarked. T. was all smiles and so was I. But I felt comfortable in the July non-summer, while T.'s teeth were soon chattering with the unwonted frigid temperatures -- after all, that morning she boarded her plane in Zürich that was groaning under a heat wave!

E. drove us to my still-rather-new home in an old house (creaky, draughty, and noisy, but it's got character!) and left us to catch up with each other.
Five nights later, we have just about managed to tell each other all the stories we had saved up for this occasion. Weather wise, it could have been better. Poor T. has had to wrap up warmer than she would have liked. Still, it could also have been worse.
We had a good Sunday, which we spent on what's called a "Three Islands Tour": some 40 minutes by ferry from Oban to Mull; then some 90 minutes by coach in the sunshine along the southern arm of Mull to Fionnphort; from there by boat to …
… Staffa (duration of the crossing: approx. 30 minutes). The sea was calm, Staffa lies aslant as always -- this was my fourth visit; I'm getting hooked, would still love to visit by sail boat.

… a quick hop and skip up the steps, snapping at some of the quirky basalt formations to the right before reaching the top of the island in the sun; a quick explore the beautiful grassy , flowery meadows … … a look down onto the Staffa end of the Giant's Causeway that begins over on the northern shores of Ireland… … and back down again to visit Fingal's Cave behind those basalt steps when almost everyone else had left; …(Photo: Th.A.-Bi.)

... back south by boat, …
… landing on Iona; about two and a half hours on Iona, where the first hour was lovely, warm and sunny, with the Argyll Hotel organic garden sporting a superb flower medallion:Glorious! I enjoyed a generous cup of tea at the Argyll, where I was gratified to find J. still working; she's a very friendly waitress who has been there for the past six, seven years. When T. was finished giving the Abbey a quick look, we marched to the Bay at the Back of the Ocean (western shore) …
…and made it back to the coffee shop with only our hair wet from a sudden bout of Scotch mist, very fine drizzle. The trip back to Mull by the big ferry (Loch Buie) and back to Craignure by coach was completely uneventful, not to say boring: everyone was quite tired by then, and the wet weather and grey sky didn't exactly brighten the spirit.

The small island of Kerrera, to the south and west of Oban; the monument is in memory of David Hutcheson, the
man who established the first ferry service in the Western Isles of Scotland, which is now CalMac (Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd.).

But the whole trip was well worth it: I saw nesting and chick-rearing seabirds galore (black guillemots they were) that dipped and swooped and screeched at me from very close quarters. I saw three gannets arrowing into the sea. The flowers and grasses stood tall and fragrant. Staffa is a glory of a very large variety of camomile. The ubiquitous Canadian fireweed hasn't quite made it there, yet, but there were a few foxgloves here and there.