Tourists wanted in Mull - Sissies needn't apply.

As we left the Ferry Terminal in Craignure (Isle of Mull) to drive to our B & B in Dervaig we just couldn't stop looking around at the gorgeous scenery!  The wind is sharp, the hills are steep, rocky and jagged and even the vegetation looks tough.   Erik explained to me that this is why the highlanders are so rugged and tough - they have to be.  But not the sweet cuddly sheep that cover most of the land, they are soft and
snuggly :)

The main "attraction" that has brought us to Mull is Duart Castle - home to the clan MacLean.  Erik's mom is a McLane (different spelling  but same thing) so we were pretty excited to see the place where Erik's maternal ancestors came from.  It was a magnificent castle in a very wonderful setting perched high up on some rocks on the coastline.  Here are a few pictures of the castle.

From the castle we drove to Calgary Beach, a beautiful stretch of white sand beach on the shores of Calgary Bay.  We had stunning weather - warm and sunny.  That is however, until we pulled into the parking lot at the beach.  My idea of the perfect afternoon, sitting prettily on our beach blanket, sipping a coffee and watching the children frolic in the sand collecting beach treasures quickly faded, and I was soon pulling on my parka and green wellies and assumed the bottoms up "shell seeking position" - because one had to keep moving to stay warm.  Regardless of the weather we had a wonderful time.  The children collected a pailful of sea shells and even explored a tidal pool with Erik.  After almost losing Erik head first into the tidal pool after he slipped on a rock, Rowan reaches down (this is one of those moments as a parent where things happen in slow motion but at the same time too quickly to react) and says "look at the pretty Sea Anemone..." then......."ouch - it is sticky".  It is embarrassing to admit but my mind flashed to Finding Nemo and the part about sea anemone and I don't think you are supposed to touch it.   After a gentle reminder and concluding that she was fine, Rowan agreed she would abstain from touching anything ever again.

The roads on Mull are interesting in a "oh my God" kind of way.  They are generally single track (about 3/4 the width of my old driveway in Canada.  But they are two-way with passing pull out lanes every so often.  So again, this theme of "hard core highlanders" creeps in. "Firrst 'ye must surrvive thee wind and coold and rroocks and mountains, and then thee rrooads!" (FYI that is not some clever scottish tourism billboard saying, that is an original with those nice rolling rr's and oo's put in and everything).  I couldn't resist videotaping a snippet of our coastal drive which I have attached below.  Perhaps more dangerous than the road itself are the Highland cattle that are often on the road!  It is amazing, but they tend to like to lull about on blind corners and blind summits and they love the ones with no passing zones.  They are large animals with enormous horns, but their faces are so cute and hairy that it is hard to take them seriously.

Don't attempt a staring contest with a Highland cow, they will always win.

At this moment I am urging Erik to roll up his window,
 and he is assuring me the cow is "peaceful".

There is tons I could write about from our time on Mull - but I need to stop somewhere.  To sum things up - Mull is amazing and I could have spent a whole week there exploring!