Farewell to Mull

Yesterday afternoon we left Mull so we are now back on the Mainland making our way to Skye.  We are, at this moment in time, on a lovely campsite over-looking Loch Sunart at a place called Resipole.  We stayed on this site some years ago and – yes – how things change!  It has obviously been very successful and the owners have continued to invest in it and improve it well.

Reflections of Mull

There is absolutely no doubt that Mull is a beautiful island – it has a mixture of so many different terrains:-

• stunning coastal scenery
• sea lochs
• fresh water lochs
• mountains
• moorlands
• forests
• beaches
• Fabulous, accessible wildlife

No wonder it is such a popular tourist destination.  Just a few images to share ……………………..

        

Crossing the river reluctantly at Calgary Bay.                           Mother Otter and cub.                                       Male and female Sea Eagles.

I know the wild life pictures are fuzzy – they were taken a long way away with our little, humble camera.  The thing now is to have fancy, expensive digital cameras with telescopic lenses – we have met lots of people clicking furiously away!  One nice chap we met said he will  e-mail me some pictures – I am looking forward to receiving those.

       

Stone Circle dating from 2nd Century BC.                  Maggie down a sandy rabbit hole!                                            Loch Na Keal

In one way, it’s Mull’s enormous popularity which spoils it a bit – everywhere you go there are other people!!  We didn’t have very good weather over there so, like us, visitors were driving around (£1.53 a litre for diesel!) and exploring different places.  Most of the roads, being single track and full of pot holes, didn’t make driving easy!!  Coach loads of visitors come over for sight-seeing day trips from Oban and we counted at least five different people carrier vehicles doing wildlfe/historical tours every day.  There are also plenty of sea trips to choose from – sea eagle trips, trips to the nearby Treshnish Islands, trips to Staffa and Fingal’s Cave and trips to search for whales and dolphins.  Apparently, one of the boat companies throws out fish to attract the eagles so that customers can click away with their expensive cameras.  I’m not sure how I feel about that – should eagles be encouraged to change their natural behaviour and scrounge for easy meals like seagulls do?  Is this maximising resources or clear exploitation?

It would be interesting to know the percentage of accommodation on the island that is involved in some way with tourism – hotels, guest houses, self-catering places etc.  My guess is that it is very high.

However you look at it, commercially Mull is a very successful island making the most of it’s best assets.