Other in Argyll And Bute

Iona Abbey on the small island of Iona off the southwest tip of Mull is one of the most sacred and historically important places in Scotland and in the story of Celtic Christianity across the British Isles. The island was chosen by St Columba in 563 as the site for his monastery following his exile from Ireland, and from this remote Hebridean community the mission that converted the pagan peoples of Scotland and much of northern England to Christianity was launched, making Iona the spiritual source of Christianity in large parts of Britain. The abbey that visitors see today dates primarily from the medieval period, but the island's sanctity rests on the fourteen centuries of religious life that preceded and surrounded its construction. Columba's original monastic community of Irish monks established a tradition of scholarship, manuscript production and missionary activity from Iona that shaped the Christian culture of Dark Age Britain. The Book of Kells, one of the supreme masterpieces of Insular manuscript illumination, is believed to have been begun on Iona before the community fled Viking raids in the ninth century, taking the manuscript to safety in Ireland. The tradition of illuminated manuscript production established by Columba's community gave the world some of the greatest works of art of the early medieval period. The medieval abbey church, rebuilt in the twelfth century and substantially restored in the twentieth century by the Iona Community, is the centrepiece of the monastic complex. The Street of the Dead, along which the bodies of kings were carried for burial on the island, and the Reilig Odhráin graveyard where forty-eight Scottish kings including Macbeth and Duncan are traditionally said to be buried, connect the abbey directly to the royal burial traditions of early medieval Scotland. The ferry crossing from Fionnphort on Mull, a short but atmospheric passage across the Sound of Iona, is the final approach to one of the most profound sacred landscapes in the British Isles.

The Isle of Mull is the second largest of the Inner Hebrides, lying off the west coast of Scotland and separated from the mainland by the Sound of Mull. Covering nearly 900 square kilometres of mountains, sea lochs, moorland and ancient woodland, Mull offers one of the richest and most varied wildlife experiences in Britain alongside a landscape of dramatic beauty that has been drawing visitors for generations. The island is exceptional for wildlife. White-tailed eagles, the largest birds of prey in Britain with wingspans reaching up to 2.4 metres, soar over the moorland in increasing numbers since their successful reintroduction to Scotland. Golden eagles are also present, along with hen harriers, peregrines and a host of other raptors that make Mull genuinely one of the best places in Britain for birds of prey watching. Otters are seen regularly along the seaweed-fringed coastlines, hunting in the kelp beds at low tide. The surrounding waters support common porpoise, bottlenose dolphins and, seasonally, minke whales and basking sharks, making boat trips from the island's harbours a worthwhile investment. Tobermory, the island's main town, is instantly recognisable from its row of brightly painted waterfront buildings reflected in the sheltered harbour waters. The town developed as a planned settlement in 1788 and has retained its compact, characterful character. It serves as a natural base for exploring the island and has a good selection of accommodation, restaurants and shops. Local boat operators offer wildlife cruises from the harbour throughout the summer season. The island holds strong historical connections. The ruined Duart Castle, seat of the Maclean clan, stands on a headland at the entrance to the Sound of Mull and is one of the most atmospheric castle settings in Scotland. A short drive south brings visitors to Loch Buie, where a Bronze Age stone circle stands in one of the most serene and beautiful settings imaginable. The Carsaig Arches on the southern coast, accessible only on foot, are spectacular basalt sea arches carved by the Atlantic. Mull is also the jumping-off point for two of Scotland's most significant island destinations. The tiny island of Iona, a twenty-minute ferry crossing from Fionnphort, was the site of Saint Columba's sixth-century monastery and remains a place of profound spiritual significance visited by thousands of pilgrims and tourists each year. The dramatic uninhabited island of Staffa, with its famous Fingal's Cave, a vast basalt sea cave whose hexagonal columns inspired Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, can be reached by boat from several points on Mull during the summer season.

The Isle of Staffa is a small, uninhabited island in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland whose extraordinary geological formations and the celebrated Fingal's Cave have made it one of the most visited natural wonders in Britain despite its remoteness and the difficulty of landing in anything but calm weather. The island is composed entirely of basalt lava columns identical in form to those of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, both having been produced by the same great volcanic episode sixty million years ago, and the columns at Staffa create cliff faces and cave roofs of geometric precision that seem more like deliberate architecture than geological process. Fingal's Cave is the principal feature, a sea cave approximately twenty metres high and sixty metres deep whose walls, floor and vaulted ceiling are formed entirely from the regular basalt columns of the island's geology. The sound of the sea within the cave, amplified and modulated by the columnar walls into something resembling music, is one of the most remarkable acoustic experiences available in the British Isles, and it was this quality that gave the cave its Gaelic name An Uamh Binn, the melodious cave. Felix Mendelssohn visited in 1829 and the experience directly inspired his Hebrides Overture, also known as Fingal's Cave, one of the most celebrated pieces of Romantic orchestral music. The island was visited by numerous other nineteenth-century figures including Queen Victoria, Sir Walter Scott, Keats, Wordsworth and Jules Verne, all drawn by the combination of the extraordinary geology and the wild Hebridean setting. J M W Turner painted the cave and its setting, adding to the already substantial artistic and literary heritage associated with this small piece of volcanic rock. Boat trips to Staffa operate from Oban, Mull and Iona during the summer months and landings are possible when sea conditions allow.

Tobermory is the main town of the Isle of Mull and its harbour front is instantly recognisable as one of the most distinctive and charming townscapes in Scotland, a terrace of brightly painted buildings in red, yellow, blue, green and pink that wraps around the sheltered bay and is reflected in the still waters of the Sound of Mull. The town was planned in 1788 by the British Fisheries Society as one of a series of model settlements intended to develop the fishing industry in the Scottish Highlands, and its planned origins explain the regularity and neatness of the main street layout compared to the organic settlements typical of island communities. The harbour has an interesting historical footnote connected to the Spanish Armada: one of the fleet's ships, the San Juan de Sicilia, was anchored in Tobermory Bay in 1588 while taking on supplies and was subsequently destroyed by an explosion, possibly sabotage by a local clan, killing most of the crew. The wreck site has been the subject of intermittent salvage attempts over four centuries, with occasional artefacts recovered from the silted seabed, and the Tobermory Galleon remains one of Scotland's most persistently discussed marine archaeological mysteries. Today the harbour serves as the base for the Mull fishing fleet and numerous pleasure craft, and the waterfront buildings house restaurants, shops, galleries and businesses serving both residents and the substantial tourist trade that Mull attracts throughout the summer. Boat trips from the harbour to observe whales, dolphins and basking sharks operate during the summer months, taking advantage of the exceptional wildlife-watching opportunities available in the surrounding Hebridean waters. Tobermory provides excellent access to the broader pleasures of Mull. Distilleries, wildlife watching hides, the walks to Glengorm Castle, trips to Iona and Staffa, and the extraordinary geological features of the island's interior and coastline all make Tobermory a natural base for exploring one of Scotland's finest islands.