Ulva and Gomertra

An absolutely excellent day.  The wind dropped, the sun shone and we got ourselves over to Ulva Ferry on the west coast of Mull by about 09:15.  The ferry to Ulva takes about 2-3 minutes so we were ready for the walk to Gometra, another island joined to Ulva by a bridge, by 09:30. We'd done the Ulva trip last year and took the south road.  This time we went on the track to the north for the 3 hour walk to the Gometra bridge.  There are very few people living on either island and no vehicles so the track was a bit rough in places.  Had our picnic at Gometra and set off back about 1:00 pm. We were so fortunate to see both a sizeable herd of deer and an eagle soaring above us.  The eagle was being mobbed by two buzzards which clearly didn't like the look of the other bird.  The buzzards won and the eagle flew away.

By the ferry is the lovely Ulva Boathouse which serves beautifully fresh fish, soups and cakes.  A cup of tea there was really welcome about 3:30 pm then the ferry back just after four.  

Now I'm sitting in the garden of our holiday house in Tobermory as it is still so lovely and warm.  I hope the photograph is OK - it's so bright I can barely see it.

Ulva is a really interesting island with a lot of habitat management going on.  There are beautiful woods near where the ferry lands and many deserted settlements telling the story of the forced depopulation of the  Highlands and Islands. I had the pick  of many photos today but decided on this one of the wee ferry returning to the island and the Boathouse.