Hebridean Summer 2003

An adventure cruise amongst Scottish Islands

The Cottage, and  the view up the Buttermere Valley
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Time and place : Summer cruise, through the Western Isles of Scotland - page 4 - Treshnish to home

After leaving Canna, and its dolphins, we passed the island of Coll and on to the Treshnish island chain off Mull.

This dramatic string of volcanic islands stretch south west from to top of Mull towards Iona. The middle one, Lunga, was our next landfall.

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Cheerful faces as we disembark. These remote islands can only be visited by small boat, so the locals seemed unfazed by human contact, and allowed us to sit or stand within feet of them.

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Lunga's Puffins often live in old burrows originally created by the other island's other inhabitants.

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Harp Rock, or Dun Cruit, was home to literally thousand of noisy Razorbills, Guillimots, Fulmars and Kittywakes, all shoulder to shoulder on every available perch on this rock stack.

Below is a closer view of the central rock ledges.

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Crowd scene !!! Razorbills, Guillimots, and out of picture, Kittywakes, Shags and cormorants.

Razorbills on Harp Rock.

The highest point of Treshnish, 325 ft on Cruachan summit.

After a night anchored in at the island of Ulva, we made our way round Mull, here passing Staffa.

To the right, in this impressive basalt cliff, is Fingles Cave.

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Iona Abbey and its island ferry, as we pass through the Sound.

The fore-deck was always a popular place to be, both for relaxing and "spotting".

(left to right) Ann, Kirsty, Malcolm, Mark . . . Mark, Chris, Archie and Annie.

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The workers, posing at Carsaig Arch. Jane, Mark, Alice and (second picture) Chris our skipper.

Landing at Lochbuie.

Time for a walk, to work off lunch.

The panorama of the bay, with its memorial stone obelisk. We left the boat to motor round the headland, as we walked the seven miles cross country to its next port of call.

Peaceful Loch Uisg.

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Lock Spelve old jetty, on southern Mull, as we awaited the arrival of Chalice but two of our number were missing !!

Having gratefully accepted a lift up the last steep section of road walk, John and Sheila were to be found waiting on the other jetty opposite. Not quite the plan !!

Evening sun on Beinn Bhearnach, Loch Spelve, Mull.

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Another fine meal, and another magic card trick from Archie, a fellow guest. (and, we discover, a member of the Forth Valley Magic Circle) No matter how hard we tried, he beat us every time !!

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Ann and the girls (Sally, Hilary, Kirsty and Annie), and sunburnt Ann and myself (in well earned St Kilda t-shirts)

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Return to Oban, to the jetty and Mc Craig's Tower . . . which is where I think we came in . . . just nine days ago.

The end.

Go on, book yourself a trip - go to - Northern Light Charter Homepage

(Click here for Hebrides map)

Post script:

With the assistance of our expert wildlife guide and crew member for this trip, Chris Gomersall, we managed a very respectable total of over 70 bird species, including Sea and Golden Eagles, St Kilda Wrens, Manx Shearwaters and all the popular sea birds. Other sea and land sightings included brief glimpses of Minke Whale, Porpoises, Otters, and of course those faboulous Dolphins off Canna. Click here for the Chalice Bird List

Go to page - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Technical note: Pictures taken with a Cannon IXUS 400 Digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

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