Tiree

 

Friday 9^th April

We set off from home at 8am expecting it to be 6 hours of driving to get to Oban where the ferry leaves for Tiree and Coll – 2 nights on each. We’d booked a B and B in the ferry port that allows parking on the road for free. This will change after June as it will be parking metered. There isn’t much choice in actual car parks at least not for long stay.

The snow still clung to the top of the mountains through the Lakes and the Trossachs and the sun shone most of the way though the temperature didn’t go much above 8 degrees. The end of the journey is the most hazardous as it winds from the top of Loch Lomond towards Oban and lorries seem to take up more than their fair share of the highway. We were at the guest house by 3.30 without incident.

The ferry company was causing problems however. Bob’s mobile had a message from our Tiree B and B to say that instead of us leaving at 7 in the morning as we planned (forfeiting breakfast) we could either take a ferry at 4.15am or 1pm in the afternoon. We decided to go to the ferry office and sort out our tickets, so we built the tandem and rode back into town. We couldn’t take the car as there wasn’t room. A wedding on Tiree and funeral on Coll meant there were many more cars than normal. Anyway, it cost us £10 each and the bike was free which was very good for a 4- hour trip as though not so very far, only 10 miles from Mull, the boat is old, though looking good for its age, and slow! Needless to say, we opted for the afternoon crossing preferring to get up at a reasonable time.    

It was raining when we left for dinner at the Wetherspoon and we shivered with the chilly blast of bracing wind. We soon warmed up with a huge plate of fish and chips and the bed at the B and B was very comfortable, so we were glad to get a full night’s sleep instead of an early rise. The breakfast was delicious too.

Saturday

We spent the morning buying cycle clips to hold waterproof trousers close to the ankle, wrist bands for the sea journey and visiting a table top sale at the Gaelic Centre. There were some lovely craft products and antiques. Bob found a brass shoe horn – to ease trainers onto our grandson’s feet. I found a light, small pair of binoculars that I could actually get to focus - clearly- and these proved their worth for wildlife spotting!

Ferries were continually leaving and arriving all morning. A ferry left for Mull from our docking only 10 minutes before we were boarding the one to take us to Tiree. Instead of the expected 4 hours it would take half an hour less as the boat usually went to Coll first not last, as today. The boat, The Lord of the Isles, left on the dot of one. Most of the way the sea was flat as we hugged the coastline then out past Mull and Tobermory with its harbour of coloured houses. The sea opened out a bit towards Coll and although there was more movement it wasn’t bad. We thought how lovely the sky was over the island in contrast to that behind the boat which was a dirty yellow. At first I thought it was a brewing storm until we realised it was the boat’s exhaust. Tiree, sitting low on the horizon, was more in cloud.

We were last to get off the boat as a huge hay lorry was blocking us in. We saw it the next day at a farm near the B and B. Perhaps the farmers took it in turns to bring hay over for the whole island. It was quite a large ferry office we thought for the size of the island considering some were no more than huts. There was a smell of decaying seaweed in the ferry port and quite a few cars were waiting to go on to Coll or back to Oban.

 Some of the ferry staff had been at work since before 4 this morning and they wouldn’t be back in Oban till late tonight. We were impressed with how well they seemed to deal with this. The faster normal boat was out of action with its propeller being repaired in Scandinavia. One of the crew said “so long as we get everyone home or to their island- that’s what matters”. Changing ferry times made it difficult for a lot of people especially the B and Bs, who didn’t know if people would arrive on their designated day or not.

Our B and B lady had booked us a meal at the Scarinish Hotel for 5.30 so we headed straight for that. It was tucked down by the fishing harbour and we missed the turning at first though if we had carried on there was another track to get to it. We were the first diners. There were meat and fish dishes though not many to choose from. We chose colcannon which was haddock on crushed potatoes with roasted vegetables – tasty and we demolished it! We were served by a young girl who goes to school in Oban all week, like all the older children on the island. She returns home on Saturday morning only to go back again Sunday night. Later that evening I was reading about her in an island newsletter, as the only one from Tiree to be accepted on a charity project scheme. She had run a coffee morning today and I think she said made a thousand pounds towards her trip to Thailand.

Tiree is 10 miles long by 5 miles wide with only 3 sizeable hills.

As we rode the 3 miles to Rockvale we were surprised to see drink cans and bottles by the side of the road particularly near Gott landfill site. It looked like someone had thrown them out from car windows. The landlady at the Inn had said that they’d entertained a rugby team and they were well “oiled” so maybe a lot of what we saw was from this visit. It’s a lovely island though, full of birdlife. On route we saw hundreds of barnacle and greylag geese, red wings, lapwings. There were no trees except a few in gardens and the mostly flat (though we did ride up hill a bit) terrain was boggy in parts and plant life was still waiting to be woken by warmer weather. It was very cold and Tiree is renowned for its winds. You could see that it would be pretty in a few weeks though. Some gorse and daffodils hinted that the yellows came first followed by blues, then purples and pinks of the heather.

 

It is lambing season and we saw many, numbered to match the mother. Still on route to the B and B we passed more geese gathered on a hillock against the evening sky. As we came close they panicked and flew off scaring a hare. It bolted up and over the mound clearly defined by the grey sky. There are no predators, except hunting birds, so hares are prolific though secretive and not easy to see. They were originally introduced for sport.

Rockvale is a lovely purpose- built guesthouse- the owner lives in a nearby house. Our bike went in one of the outhouses. Our room was warm, spacious and disabled friendly. Homemade cake was welcoming and a sitting room with games and books looked out onto the farm animals nearby.

I wish I had switched off the light in the office just beyond our room when I woke at 1 am. I could see stars when I looked through our window. Tiree is designated as a dark sky area. The single- track roads, in much better condition than the mainland roads, have no lighting. I was itching to see the sky in all its glory. Unfortunately, I scared the lady in the room opposite as I fumbled with our door to get to the light to turn it off. We hadn’t noticed anyone else there! She thought someone was trying to get in the front door which wasn’t locked anyway.

The stars were a beautiful sight and I woke Bob to see, but he didn’t share my enthusiasm. After a bit a cloud seemed to come up from the land and gradually put all the stars out. I looked again deeper into the night and the sky was black.

Sunday

We had breakfast at 8.30 and it was very tasty with crispy bacon and sausages from the old spot pigs near the B and B. We chatted to another guest- the one I scared in the night. She is the nanny for the children of the couple getting married today. She said she’d been on the island since Friday, but a lot of guests couldn’t get there till Saturday and it had all been a bit of a nightmare with the ferry cancellations and changing timetables. 

The day looks promising with blue sky and the wind seems to have dropped. We set off from the B and B back towards the ferry port and then we ride from Gott to Kirkapol beside the sandy expanse of Gott Bay all the way to the end facing Coll at Caolas. We passed Tilley the island’s wind turbine. There are so many birds-oyster catchers, black headed gulls, lapwings, starlings, redwings (like thrushes but with eyebrows and splodges of red at the sides of their breasts) and thousands of tiny waders on the seashore. I thought I saw a lone whimbrel. Above us larks soared and sung all round the island.

The sky became black and the sea looked dramatic with deep turquoise and mauve. The sky always seems to look interesting. Both islands would lend themselves to being painted. An islander we met at Caolas said she thought it was going to rain- the clouds were so black. In fact, we weren’t rained on the whole time we were on the islands here and generally we had a fair amount of sunshine, but I was cold most days, even with all my multi layers and thermal vests.

We rode down to Milton Harbour but there wasn’t much there. It was built in 1847 to encourage local fishing. Enlarged now, it is used by lobster fishermen. Riding back by Tilley the turbine, Bob said he read that quarter of a million pounds of the profits is being used to repair the pier in Scarinish. (Workers were busy pointing the stonework every time we were there, even Sunday!) Some must go to paying back money borrowed for the turbine’s installation and several community projects are helped financially by the efficiency of Tilley. A subsea cable takes power to the mainland into the National Grid when there is no or low demand on Tiree.

Tiree has more than 700 people living on the island with an extra 80 this weekend with the wedding. We found out that neither bride nor groom are islanders but having fond memories of the place decided to tie the knot here. It seems that travel off the island on Monday was worse than arrival as the wind made it impossible for planes, other than private ones, to land. People were travelling on our ferry back to Oban and train-ing rather than waiting for a possible flight later in the day or a definite one the next day. Around Scarinish there were more cars than expected and we did have to pull over for them as signs at the co-op said we should. The houses were dotted all over the island except for beside the airport. Many looked like they were once thatched crofts now whitewashed with domed rooves asphalted and blacked with something like bitumen. Some kept their thatch though and another unusual design were attractive stone- built houses with whitewash surrounding each stone which gave them a chequered look.

Where hundreds of birds foraged in the fields you could see shoots coming through the wet ground that would surely be swathes of yellow flags in a short while. At the field edges were celandines.

We tried to find the Bronze Age Ringing Stone with its cup markings, but it was impossible without wellies. There is a route from our B and B for walkers. Routes don’t seem to be well marked though. We tried to get as close as we could by bike taking the road for Vaul. Bob read the map and found the car park for it which was actually no more than a tiny stretch of grass. There was a sign after a little walk down through some rocks, at a stile so we knew we were on- track but we weren’t dressed for bogs!

Back at Scarinish we bought some food (from the well-stocked co-op) that we would either eat for lunch or tea depending if we could eat at the carvery, at the edge of the airport, called the Cobbled Cow. It should start serving at 2. The shop is open from 7am till 10pm amazingly on a Sunday.

Stopping at the Inn for a coffee and a warm in the bar, we discovered it was being used as a changing room for wedding guests. Luckily (or not!) they had just put their kilts on and they looked splendid in their tartans, quite unabashed by us being there.

2 or 3 miles along the coast brought us to the southern perimeter of the airport at Crossopol and a road here beside a lovely children’s playground, took us back in the direction of Balephetrish Bay. Part way along, the Cobbled cow was signposted at the same place for the airport entrance. We took it but couldn’t see an appropriate building. However, I could smell food! The smell came from a white house that had words on it but certainly not those of the Cobbled Cow. This is Tiree’s Rural Centre and the restaurant that might hold 30 people is inside it. A sign said Closed. It was 2 o clock so when I caught the eye of someone inside she came out saying they were fully booked. There was no one else around. When she saw we were on the tandem she said perhaps we could eat there if we didn’t mind taking our coffee outside as the people who booked the table would be there in an hour!  She kindly brought us iced water and we were served quickly compared to everyone else. Time didn’t seem to matter here though. Nothing was rushed. It was informal- people helped themselves to drinks ( you bring a wine bottle if you wished) There were 6 meats to choose from and you could have as much as you wanted and then go back for more. The meat was carved painstakingly with care and the hot plates wiped of splashes. The roast potatoes, Yorkshires and various vegetables were constantly replenished. It was the best carvery experience we have ever had and you could see everything was done with pride. Even the sweets were decorated to top restaurant standards.

We cycled back to the playground and then went south with the sea on our left. Gannets were diving further out and the shore became rockier with large expanses of beach beyond, We headed for Hanish, nearly reaching the headland except that our way was blocked by a highland bull. Turning around we went back up by Barapool where there was a large loch under a hill, Ben Hynish, topped by radar reminiscent of Flyingdales in Yorkshire. Sand-dunes became the dominant feature now.

 

Another hill had something like a TV or mobile phone mast on top. This one we could see from the breakfast room at the B and B with it’s crest in the clouds. Not far from here a hare with a death wish ran out in front of the tandem. We missed it and it bolted over the grass to our side. It looked enormous. We learnt from the pub landlady that islanders are legally allowed to shoot the hares for their own “table” but they are not allowed to profit by them.

After riding back to the B and B we walked across dunes to the local beach at Balephetrish Bay. We passed a small cave in the rocks. An otter ran down the sand and went into the sea, as big as a small dog with curved back. I was so glad I’d bought those binoculars!

It was a clear night and we star watched. Though it would be better later in the pitch black I couldn’t disturb Bob again! It was still magical anyway.

Monday

Another wonderful breakfast! The girl in the opposite room obviously didn’t hold a grudge as she came in quietly at 2 am from the wedding. We hope she got back alright as she should have left around 10 by plane. We saw a small plane land at the airport with several larger craft flying low over Tiree.

As we cycled 10 miles back along the coast we didn’t feel the wind was especially worse than the previous days for flights. We didn’t see seals even though the lady at the Cobbled Cow said they follow you around the beach at Belaphetrish Bay. As we passed the airport a murmuration ( they didn’t look like starlings) spiralled across and back. Surely this is bad for planes so near to a runway.

Alongside a wire fence a goldcrest hopped, seemingly curious about us. It’s the closest we’ve ever been to one.

The museum of Tiree had some interesting artefacts but we didn’t linger long there. If it had been open before, we perhaps should have made this small wooden building our first port of call to give us an overview of the island. Manned by enthusiastic volunteers it closes at 1.

The ferry leaves an hour later than scheduled today at 11.50. It will take an hour to reach Coll and we think most passengers will be going on to Oban.

Our bike was hemmed in by another large lorry. The car deck staff seemed to have forgotten us and Bob had to take the bags off and use tools to twist the handlebars so that the bike could fit through the gap left by the lorry. For a moment I thought we were stuck till Oban.

We arrived on Coll!