Letter from Iona - Special Edition
Hi All:
We thought we'd send out a special email after our adventures yesterday. You may need to set yourself up with a nice cup of tea as it may take a while to get through this. Here's how it went:
5:30 am - We awoke to the grey, overcast skies of another cloudy day here. But, thankfully we knew that the weather could change at any minute and so looked forward to some sunshine. Prepared our knapsacks with lots of food, sunscreen, mittens, camera, batteries, coats, and other necessities for a typical day in Scotland.
6:30 am - Left the house to walk to the Ferry station. Along the way, stopped in at the bakery to grab some breakkie....Dan had a chocolate square and Katie had a maple syrup flapjack (this is all that was ready at that time in the morning!).
7:00 am - Bought our return ferry tickets and the ferry left from Iona to Fionnphort. Uneventful ride, except we met a couple from Hobart, Tasmania on our way who were also going to the games.
7:10 am - Arrived in Fionnphort and transferred onto the bus.
7:30 am - Bought our return tickets and sat at the back for extra leg room for 'Long Legs Pergau'. This is the first time we've been on board anything that moves faster on the ground than the speed of our feet in over a month!! Saw Tony, the bus driving husband of our co-worker Jean when we picked him up in the small town of Bunnessen.
8:45 am - Arrived in Craignure feeling a bit quesy from sitting at the back of the bus. This was mostly due to the crazy driving over here, dodging sheep, cows, and cars! But that quickly passed and we stopped for a break.
9:00 am - Boarded another bus, buying another round trip ticket and headed off to Tobermory. By now, the weather was closing in and the mountains were beautifully covered by clouds! But the rain was only light and we were still optimistic that it would hold off.
10:00 am - Arrived in Tobermory. Visited a nice little art shop right where the bus dropped us off and asked about all of the 'Balamory' paraphenalia that we could see around the city. Apparently, this is a kids tv show that was filmed in Tobermory about 2 years ago. Now, all the kids come to see 'Jacko's Paint Shop' and other such things and it has really changed their entire tourism focus. Tobermory is a great place for this kind of thing as all of the buildings are already brightly painted and it looks like a little kids village anyway.
10:15 am - Finally found the pipe band that was to lead us to the Games Field. We had gotten off the bus one stop earlier than we should have and so, got a little bit lost. But all we had to do was listen for the pipes, and we found the little village with them playing there. As we waited, the MacLean Clan Cheiftans started walking towards us to the beat of the music from the drums and we all fell into the parade following the 'Pied Pipers' as they were, up the hill to the Games Field.
10:30 - 3:00 pm - Enjoyed watching the various events of the games, including a lot of highland dancing, triple jump, long jump, high jump, caber toss (throwing a big log as far as you can), hammer throws (throwing a hammer as far as you can), weight toss (throwing a weight as high as you can), and lots of running races. It was great fun and the sun even came out for a while. They had an excellent turnout and had a very diverse crowd. There were scouts there from Germany and France along with cyclists and other tourists from the USA, England, and Scotland.
3:00 pm - We decided to head back to where the buses were (in the town itself) as we didn't want to miss the last ferry back to Iona at 6:30. We weren't sure what time the bus left, but we were sure that with so many people there, it would probably run fairly often. Along the way, we stopped to buy Katie new shoes (hooray!! - no more blisters!), a new battery charger (hooray!! - no more dead batteries!), and the thing that did us in was the stop for ice cream (Katie's idea:( )
3:30 pm - We slowly made our way to the buses (there were two), munching on our ice creams and enjoying the nicer weather. As we came up to the bus stop, one of the buses (that looked full) departed. There was still another bus waiting there, so we went to the door to get on it. Then disaster struck. The driver told us that the bus that had just left was the last bus until 5:50!!!! This meant that there was no way we could catch the 6:30 ferry to Iona let alone get home that night. However, the driver did give us some hope in saying that when the next bus left for Craignure at 5:50, one of the drivers took his bus to Bunnessen for the night, which is only 6 miles from Fionnphort. There is a little boat called the Volante that does a late night run for £5 each from Fionnphort to Iona. This was our best hope.
3:40 pm - Headed to bar after a slight reaction to the news. No worries though as there were no tears, only a few choice words and a few regrets for a certain ice cream stop. We figured that there were four options available to us.
1. Stay in Tobermory overnight and try to get back in the morning. This was not a valid option as we had to get to work by 12:00 pm and if we stayed, we would arrive back at 2 pm.
2. Hitch a ride to Craignure and try to catch the earlier bus that would meet the 6:30 pm ferry.
3. Go to Craignure at 5:50 and stay overnight there. Then, catch a bus in the morning to Fionnphort and get back to Iona at 10:45 am. This was a strong possibility.
4. Go to Bunnessen with the other driver and walk to Fionnphort, hoping to catch the Volante before it left at 8:30 pm.
Our first course of action was to cancel out option one. It obviously wouldn't work. Then, we saw some of the Mull and Iona Piping Society coming to the carpark after the games. If you recall, we sent pics of them from their trip to Iona last week, where Dan saw them play and talked to some of them. Being the very brave person that he is (and after much prodding and encouragement from the chicken, Katie), Dan walked brazenly up to one of the drummers and told him how much we enjoyed their music that day and then went into our sob story. Sadly, although the fellow was willing to give us a ride, there was no room in the inn as he had his entire family with him:(. So, plan number 2 didn't work. Dejected, Dan walked over to some sailboats that were moored on the land and started formulating plan number 5. Katie saw that this could lead to disaster and talked some sense into him:). This left us with options 3 & 4.
4:30 pm - Back at the bar, eating an apple, and drinking some apple juice. We called the Craignure Travel Information Centre to see if there were any rooms available that night and there were a few, so Katie took down the numbers of the establishments in case we needed them.
5:30 pm - The other buses had come in to take all of the people to Craignure. We went over to the bus drivers and met Anda who would be taking his bus to Bunnessen that evening. He said that he would be happy to take us as far as he could. Then, Katie had an epiphany. She remembered that Jean and Tony (we work with Jean at the restaurant and Tony is a bus driver) live in Bunnessen and wondered if Anda knew Tony. He did and pulled out his cell phone to give us their phone number. Katie called right away to see if they might be able to give us a ride to Fionnphort to catch the Volante, but nobody was home. Don't worry, said Anda, Tony will be home by 6:00 pm.
5:50 pm - Bus left with us onboard surrounded by a bunch of French scouts. They were rather rambunctous and loud, but they weren't that bad after a while. And then they started singing along with the elevator music playing on the bus, which included such selections as Feelings, When a Man Loves a Woman, Yesterday, and Ode to Joy. We were quite joyous when we reached Craignure and everybody but us left the bus.
6:15 pm - Reached Tony. He said he'd be glad to take us Fionnphort, just have the bus drop us off at his gate and walk up to the house. We're going to buy them a nice bottle of scotch as thanks for this.
6:30 pm - We left for Bunnessen with just Anda and us on the bus. Beautiful drive during which we saw a buzzard, two herons, 2 red deer, and lovely mountains and valleys. Also, Dan found out about a Canadian DC-3 that crashed into one of the hills during the war and there are still plane remains up on the hill. New project for Dan? Climb that hill!!!
7:30 pm - Arrived at Jean and Tony's gate. Thanked Anda and walked up the hill. We were met by Jean at the door and invited in for tea as the boat didn't leave until 8 pm. We had a nice chat with them and saw the new house that Tony is building on the adjacent property as his 'spare time project'.
7:45 pm - Drove to Fionnphort to catch the Volante. Said goodbye to Jean, Tony, and Sophie the dog, as the Volante came in. Then, the biggest excitement of the day (for Katie) happened. A huge grey seal popped his head out of the water right beside the pier!! We had heard about Sammy the Seal, but hadn't seen him. He is a massive Grey seal that all of the fishermen feed and he's pretty tame. So, we got some great shots of him in the water.
8:10 pm - Volante leaves Fionnphort pier for Iona.
8:13 pm - Volante arrives in Iona (a heck of a lot faster than the ferry!!). We disembarked and headed into the bar for some much needed food and drink. We had spicy wedges, J2O (juice), and tablet ice cream for dinner.
9:00 pm - Headed home for well deserved rest and relaxation before today's work begins.
One day, we will learn that ice cream is bad for you and you shouldn't eat it, but that day was certainly not yesterday.
Hope you enjoy this and if you need to take a nap in the middle of it, we understand as we know it's long.
We thought we'd send out a special email after our adventures yesterday. You may need to set yourself up with a nice cup of tea as it may take a while to get through this. Here's how it went:
5:30 am - We awoke to the grey, overcast skies of another cloudy day here. But, thankfully we knew that the weather could change at any minute and so looked forward to some sunshine. Prepared our knapsacks with lots of food, sunscreen, mittens, camera, batteries, coats, and other necessities for a typical day in Scotland.
6:30 am - Left the house to walk to the Ferry station. Along the way, stopped in at the bakery to grab some breakkie....Dan had a chocolate square and Katie had a maple syrup flapjack (this is all that was ready at that time in the morning!).
7:00 am - Bought our return ferry tickets and the ferry left from Iona to Fionnphort. Uneventful ride, except we met a couple from Hobart, Tasmania on our way who were also going to the games.
7:10 am - Arrived in Fionnphort and transferred onto the bus.
7:30 am - Bought our return tickets and sat at the back for extra leg room for 'Long Legs Pergau'. This is the first time we've been on board anything that moves faster on the ground than the speed of our feet in over a month!! Saw Tony, the bus driving husband of our co-worker Jean when we picked him up in the small town of Bunnessen.
8:45 am - Arrived in Craignure feeling a bit quesy from sitting at the back of the bus. This was mostly due to the crazy driving over here, dodging sheep, cows, and cars! But that quickly passed and we stopped for a break.
9:00 am - Boarded another bus, buying another round trip ticket and headed off to Tobermory. By now, the weather was closing in and the mountains were beautifully covered by clouds! But the rain was only light and we were still optimistic that it would hold off.
10:00 am - Arrived in Tobermory. Visited a nice little art shop right where the bus dropped us off and asked about all of the 'Balamory' paraphenalia that we could see around the city. Apparently, this is a kids tv show that was filmed in Tobermory about 2 years ago. Now, all the kids come to see 'Jacko's Paint Shop' and other such things and it has really changed their entire tourism focus. Tobermory is a great place for this kind of thing as all of the buildings are already brightly painted and it looks like a little kids village anyway.
10:15 am - Finally found the pipe band that was to lead us to the Games Field. We had gotten off the bus one stop earlier than we should have and so, got a little bit lost. But all we had to do was listen for the pipes, and we found the little village with them playing there. As we waited, the MacLean Clan Cheiftans started walking towards us to the beat of the music from the drums and we all fell into the parade following the 'Pied Pipers' as they were, up the hill to the Games Field.
10:30 - 3:00 pm - Enjoyed watching the various events of the games, including a lot of highland dancing, triple jump, long jump, high jump, caber toss (throwing a big log as far as you can), hammer throws (throwing a hammer as far as you can), weight toss (throwing a weight as high as you can), and lots of running races. It was great fun and the sun even came out for a while. They had an excellent turnout and had a very diverse crowd. There were scouts there from Germany and France along with cyclists and other tourists from the USA, England, and Scotland.
3:00 pm - We decided to head back to where the buses were (in the town itself) as we didn't want to miss the last ferry back to Iona at 6:30. We weren't sure what time the bus left, but we were sure that with so many people there, it would probably run fairly often. Along the way, we stopped to buy Katie new shoes (hooray!! - no more blisters!), a new battery charger (hooray!! - no more dead batteries!), and the thing that did us in was the stop for ice cream (Katie's idea:( )
3:30 pm - We slowly made our way to the buses (there were two), munching on our ice creams and enjoying the nicer weather. As we came up to the bus stop, one of the buses (that looked full) departed. There was still another bus waiting there, so we went to the door to get on it. Then disaster struck. The driver told us that the bus that had just left was the last bus until 5:50!!!! This meant that there was no way we could catch the 6:30 ferry to Iona let alone get home that night. However, the driver did give us some hope in saying that when the next bus left for Craignure at 5:50, one of the drivers took his bus to Bunnessen for the night, which is only 6 miles from Fionnphort. There is a little boat called the Volante that does a late night run for £5 each from Fionnphort to Iona. This was our best hope.
3:40 pm - Headed to bar after a slight reaction to the news. No worries though as there were no tears, only a few choice words and a few regrets for a certain ice cream stop. We figured that there were four options available to us.
1. Stay in Tobermory overnight and try to get back in the morning. This was not a valid option as we had to get to work by 12:00 pm and if we stayed, we would arrive back at 2 pm.
2. Hitch a ride to Craignure and try to catch the earlier bus that would meet the 6:30 pm ferry.
3. Go to Craignure at 5:50 and stay overnight there. Then, catch a bus in the morning to Fionnphort and get back to Iona at 10:45 am. This was a strong possibility.
4. Go to Bunnessen with the other driver and walk to Fionnphort, hoping to catch the Volante before it left at 8:30 pm.
Our first course of action was to cancel out option one. It obviously wouldn't work. Then, we saw some of the Mull and Iona Piping Society coming to the carpark after the games. If you recall, we sent pics of them from their trip to Iona last week, where Dan saw them play and talked to some of them. Being the very brave person that he is (and after much prodding and encouragement from the chicken, Katie), Dan walked brazenly up to one of the drummers and told him how much we enjoyed their music that day and then went into our sob story. Sadly, although the fellow was willing to give us a ride, there was no room in the inn as he had his entire family with him:(. So, plan number 2 didn't work. Dejected, Dan walked over to some sailboats that were moored on the land and started formulating plan number 5. Katie saw that this could lead to disaster and talked some sense into him:). This left us with options 3 & 4.
4:30 pm - Back at the bar, eating an apple, and drinking some apple juice. We called the Craignure Travel Information Centre to see if there were any rooms available that night and there were a few, so Katie took down the numbers of the establishments in case we needed them.
5:30 pm - The other buses had come in to take all of the people to Craignure. We went over to the bus drivers and met Anda who would be taking his bus to Bunnessen that evening. He said that he would be happy to take us as far as he could. Then, Katie had an epiphany. She remembered that Jean and Tony (we work with Jean at the restaurant and Tony is a bus driver) live in Bunnessen and wondered if Anda knew Tony. He did and pulled out his cell phone to give us their phone number. Katie called right away to see if they might be able to give us a ride to Fionnphort to catch the Volante, but nobody was home. Don't worry, said Anda, Tony will be home by 6:00 pm.
5:50 pm - Bus left with us onboard surrounded by a bunch of French scouts. They were rather rambunctous and loud, but they weren't that bad after a while. And then they started singing along with the elevator music playing on the bus, which included such selections as Feelings, When a Man Loves a Woman, Yesterday, and Ode to Joy. We were quite joyous when we reached Craignure and everybody but us left the bus.
6:15 pm - Reached Tony. He said he'd be glad to take us Fionnphort, just have the bus drop us off at his gate and walk up to the house. We're going to buy them a nice bottle of scotch as thanks for this.
6:30 pm - We left for Bunnessen with just Anda and us on the bus. Beautiful drive during which we saw a buzzard, two herons, 2 red deer, and lovely mountains and valleys. Also, Dan found out about a Canadian DC-3 that crashed into one of the hills during the war and there are still plane remains up on the hill. New project for Dan? Climb that hill!!!
7:30 pm - Arrived at Jean and Tony's gate. Thanked Anda and walked up the hill. We were met by Jean at the door and invited in for tea as the boat didn't leave until 8 pm. We had a nice chat with them and saw the new house that Tony is building on the adjacent property as his 'spare time project'.
7:45 pm - Drove to Fionnphort to catch the Volante. Said goodbye to Jean, Tony, and Sophie the dog, as the Volante came in. Then, the biggest excitement of the day (for Katie) happened. A huge grey seal popped his head out of the water right beside the pier!! We had heard about Sammy the Seal, but hadn't seen him. He is a massive Grey seal that all of the fishermen feed and he's pretty tame. So, we got some great shots of him in the water.
8:10 pm - Volante leaves Fionnphort pier for Iona.
8:13 pm - Volante arrives in Iona (a heck of a lot faster than the ferry!!). We disembarked and headed into the bar for some much needed food and drink. We had spicy wedges, J2O (juice), and tablet ice cream for dinner.
9:00 pm - Headed home for well deserved rest and relaxation before today's work begins.
One day, we will learn that ice cream is bad for you and you shouldn't eat it, but that day was certainly not yesterday.
Hope you enjoy this and if you need to take a nap in the middle of it, we understand as we know it's long.
posted by Daniel Pergau | 6:11 a.m.
1 Comments:
Oh my goodness what a wacky trip! Such nice people you've encountered there!
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