Isle of Iona

My goodness it was a long and winding drive down from Glengorm to the port of Fionnphort! It was from here that we needed to take the short ferry journey across to the 'Cradle of Christianity' as Iona is sometimes known. Iona is a tiny island off the southwest coast of Mull in the Inner Hebrides. It is only 1.5 miles wide by 3 miles long, with a population of around 120 permanent residents. Our original plane was to catch a boat from Iona up to Staffa to see the Puffins and Fingals Cave. However the weather had other ideas, it was so rough all boats were cancelled. There was even some doubt as to how long the ferry would keep going as the forecast was set to deteriorate throughout the day.

This Scarecrow summed up the weather !

  Our first port of call on Iona was the famed Abbey founded by St Columba in 563. The Abbey was a focal point for the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland and remains a popular site of Christian pilgrimage today. Several high crosses are found on the Isle of Iona. St Martin's Cross (dated to the 8th century) still stands by the roadside. A replica of St John's Cross is found by the doorway of the Abbey.
  Another interesting place is the Augustinian Nunnery founded at the same time as the Benedictine Abbey and is one of the best-preserved medieval nunneries in Britain. The first prioress was Beathag (in English Beatrice), sister of Reginald who founded both the abbey and nunnery.

Sheena-Na-Gig

 

 As we walked through the ruins of the old nunnery it was a little shocking to find out that buildings such as the Nunnery often had a carving of a naked woman with her legs apart, called a Sheena-Na-Gig, to drive off evil spirits . Fortunately this carving was well worn so it does leave a little to the imagination .... By now we were both very wet and getting colder by the minute, nothing for it but to disappear into the heritage centre and a warming bowl of soup. The worry was that if the ferry was cancelled we would be left high and not so dry on Iona. We decided for safety to catch the next ferry back. As they are frequent it wasn't a long wait thankfully.
 

 Sadly we didn't get to see the highly acclaimed beaches , all accessible by foot, and all them enjoy the endless changes of colour in the landscape and the sea. On warm summer days the sunshine, sand, and crystal clear waters are said to make Iona appear positively Mediterranean. We were just thankful to get back to the sanctuary of the car. Driving back we did make a slight detour to the Ardalanish Weaving Mill and farm. It was an interesting place but the finished articles were not cheap. It was more inclined to walk through the nearby fields to look at the beach. Behind the beach was Machair grassland, which is a protected habitat and gives the beach a sheltered feel thanks to the grassland and dunes.

 

There were some large flocks of Oystercatchers on the beach which took great pleasure in avoiding me just as I tried to take the photograph. To say the beach was bracing would be an understatement so I made my way back to the warmth and noise of the mill.

The long road back to Glengorm