Date & Time: Friday / Saturday 25th / 26th September 2009.

Location : Dervaig, Isle of Mull, Scotland. ( NM 431 519 )

Places visited : Tobermory, Rubha na Gall lighthouse and Croig Harbour.

Walk details : A round the headland walk at both places.

With : Ann and the dogs, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Still changeable, as the last few days have been.

Two more damp days but there's lots to brighten it up,

especially Tobermory where the houses were the inspiration for the kid's TV programme "Balamory".

To get there, we climb up the steep road out of Dervaig and head north and east across the top of Mull.

Where can this be with a reflection of that colour ?

[ Hold your cursor over the photo to find out children ]

The delightful seaside town and port of Tobermory struck upon a winner when they decided to paint their buildings in different colours.

It is now instantly recognisable to most folk in Britain, and to numerous people abroad as "Balamory".

The Western Isles Hotel stands on the high ground above the bay and the small ferry terminal is the last building on the right.

The harbour is home to a small but busy local fishing fleet

and somewhere in the harbour or the bay is a family of otters too . . . keep your eyes open for them.

Click here for the Tobermory website or here for this full size panorama

From the other end of the Main Street you can look back at the Tobermory Distillery.

Now there's a great idea !

They run guided tours throughout the day . . .	. . . to see inside this classic distillery.

The old Bonded Warehouse had been converted to accommodation several years back

and those barrels not stored within the distillery are now sent to the mainland for storage and maturation at another distillery.

Inside the tasting room are several interesting old photos . . .	. . . and two folk we know well.

We decided a walk was in order and with the dogs in tow we set off round the headland.

The path turned out to be rather muddy in places . . .

but the views out between the gaps in the trees were as good as could be expected today.

The Kilchoan Ferry returns from another run.	A freighter makes it's way down the channel towards Oban.

We were aiming to visit the small unmanned light that we have seen many times over the years.

This landmark has been passed on our Hebridean holidays and when we went out to Iceland.

Ben Hiant is just catching the cloud on the other side of the Sound of Mull.

It's those Stevenson men again, as on Erraid.	Leaving the light, we climbed up onto the top path.

On the way back we could see the full extent of Calve Island at the entrance to Tobermory harbour.

Follow round the fairways and find the road into town

or do as we did, take a convenient stile and then a rather steep path back down to the lower track and the harbour.

The Drinking Fountain on Main Street.	An interesting shop advert, to say the least.

I think paying for them will be cheaper in the long run !

- - - o o o - - -

Next morning it was time to pack our bags and leave the excellent Bellachroy Inn.

Loading the car, I chatted again with Linda and Geoff.

They had been staying at the hotel at the same time as us and mentioned that they had seen the Tobermory Otter in the harbour area . . .

. . . about ten minutes before we were there . . . it was born wild but has become used to the busy harbour life and is often seen in the bay.

The Otter in the stream, courtesy of Geoff and Linda . . .	. . . the dogs and I about the same place shortly after (photo Ann).

It's no good, we'll have to go and try and find one for ourselves.

This is Croig Harbour at the seaward end of Loch a Chumhainn, the loch that leads up to Dervaig Village.

The staff at the hotel said there was a family of otters down here somewhere.

Dawn and dusk are the best times to see them . . . unfortunately it's just short of eleven o'clock.

There are plenty of herons keeping an eye out for their own lunch.

The low tide, the seaweed and the rocks should provide the right conditions.

What's that ?

It's a bit far away to tell at first . . .

. . . but unfortunately it's an Atlantic Grey Seal.

Still it was nice to see him / her anyway.

" On the lookout "

Behind me and with a close up view you can see the distant island of Rhum and sunshine on the lighthouse at Ardnamurchan.

The island in the foreground seems an unusual place for a Memorial but there is also an ancient Dun (fortification) on the same site.

We've worked our way slowly round this small headland without any great success.

Still, the walk has been very enjoyable . . . and now very colourful too.

We'll leave the harbour to the grey herons . . .

. . . and make our way back to the car.

Let's go in search of that sunshine on Ardnamurchan.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon 75 or my Canon G10 digital camera.

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

This site best viewed with . . . . a real otter standing in front of us saying "I'm here I'm here".

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A previous time up here - 13th to 23rd May 2006 A Scottish Island Holiday