After breakfast in a local place, we stocked up on lunch for the next 2 days at the Oban M&S Simply Food, then headed to the port for our next ferry – to the Isle of Mull. We had a little time spare in the harbour, so watched some of the ships coming and going.
The ferry was apparently a smaller stand-in as the “real” ferry was being maintained, but fortunately another very calm crossing so we didn’t have any issues with being on a smaller ship. Plenty to look at, but little wildlife (otters in the distance, mostly).
Once docked, we headed on our extended route to Tobermory. First stop – Loch Na Keal. Fortunately there were half a dozen cars parked alongside the Loch, some looking through spotting scopes, others binoculars, at the tree line. A pair of white tailed eagles had been spotted – you’d stand no chance seeing it with the naked eye, even binoculars were a stretch. Fortunately our camera with a long lens and extender allowed us to take pictures, and binoculars to see it from about 200m, maybe 300m away. There was quite a lot of other stuff, some apparently interesting – great northern diving something, heron, cormorant and a common loon (surely some of those names are made up).
From here we moved on a little further, before finding a couple looking at the shoreline. We stopped, to find a family of 4 otters – mother and 3 youngsters – playing in the seaweed and on some rocks. Unfortunately we didn’t see that we’d parked by a sign, purporting to be a police “do not park here” notice, because it was facing the water. The residents of the house we’d parked outside came out, turned the sign round, then went back in. I suspect the use of a home printer and laminator had been present here….however the otters were very cool and no police showed up….
Then we moved on a little further, to see a raptor fly to a tree near the road – this time we just stopped on the singletrack road and took pictures.
Lunch next, parked up overlooking the Loch, then onward to Calgary Bay (a beach) where we saw another raptor, then onto a bird hide (where we saw nothing due to the weather closing in). It’s worth noting most of the roads on the island are single track with passing places located frequently along the route – not an issue this time of year due to low volumes of traffic.
Finally, as the weather became really bad we arrived at our hotel in Tobermory. A drink in the bar to allow me to start processing 900+ photos, then dinner, then more photo processing!
Breakfast – Cuan Mor, Oban
Lunch – picnic by M&S
Dinner – Fish Café, Tobermory
Hotel – The Tobermory Hotel