7 July 2019
One of my 2019 New Year’s Resolutions was to explore more of my own beautiful country. After the Easter holidays, two different people told me about the amazing trip that they had during the break – the Three Isles Tour. Convinced by their shared experience, I soon planned the same trip with a couple of friends for July.
Leaving Edinburgh on Thursday evening, we piled into Yoni’s wee car and headed West in the direction of Oban. I had booked us an apartment just outside of Oban and we were all absolutely delighted with the choice. Based right on the water, with views to Connel Bridge, it was such a perfect location. The couple who own the property were so lovely and took good care of us, even giving us a little bouquet of flowers each from their beautiful garden when we left.
Pondering whether to do the Three Isles Tour on the Friday or Saturday, we were pleased that we had decided on the Saturday when we woke up on Friday morning to a dreich Scottish day! Luckily the sun was shining on us on Saturday at 6am when we got up bright and early.
There’s a few companies offering the Three Isles Tour and we decided to go with West Coast Tours who I would thoroughly recommend. There’s an option to start at 9.30am from Oban (£71), or an early bird option, leaving at 7.15am (£65) which we selected. It was a little cheaper and we were pleased we had made the decision when we were already on Mull by 8.30am.
{Note: The tours have stopped for winter and will start again in March 2020}
Because we did the earlier trip, we were easily able to find parking in the train station car park which only cost £3 for the day. We made sure to arrive early enough to park and pick up our tickets at the ticket office. It’s recommended to pick up tickets the day before but it completely slipped our minds on the Friday. You are given a ticket for each section of the tour:
- CalMac ferry from Oban to Craignure (Mull)
- Bus across Mull from Craignure to Fionnphort
- Boat from Mull to Staffa and then on to Iona
- CalMac ferry from Iona to Fionnphort (Mull)
- Bus back across Mull to Craignure
- CalMac ferry from Craignure (Mull) back to Oban
Stage 1: Oban to Mull
The CalMac ferry from Oban to Craignure on Mull is pretty big and has both foot passengers and vehicles boarding. There’s a café and shop on board to buy coffee, breakfast, etc (the queue was huge) and you can wander out on the deck to take in the views crossing to the island. This took around 45 minutes.
Stage 2: Mull – Craignure to Fionnphort
The most amusing section of our journey – entirely down to our bus driver who makes the tour more interesting by telling stories and cracking jokes the whole way. His funny chat became apparent at the start of the journey when he said “please ensure you stay seated upstairs on the bus as we don’t want anyone crashing through the front window…because they are very expensive to replace”! The bus is actually a regular transit bus instead of a tour bus, but as the driver said “it just seems rude to sit and say nothing” so he filled the 70 minute drive across the island with facts and jokes. The Three Isles Tour doesn’t give you much time to see Mull aside from through the window of a bus but we lucked out with this driver giving us info along the way.
Stage 3: Fionnphort (Mull) to Staffa
We ended up chatting to the driver for a wee while after getting off the bus then running to catch the boat from Mull’s Fionnphort on to the Isle of Staffa – oops. The boat to Staffa was much smaller than the ferry and really let you feel the wind in your hair as we sailed along to Staffa! There was mention of water spray so I took up the offer some massive yellow sailing attire and enjoyed the sail, while looking quite like a big banana! Word of warning if you decide to opt for the same fashion choice – they are really hard to get off. An older American woman and I ended up working as a team to help each other out of them! Totally worth it though, because I know I looked awesome.
Staffa facts:
- ½ mile long and ¼ mile wide
- uninhabited
- the hexagonal columns were formed millions of years ago by volcanic eruptions
- home to Fingal’s Cave and puffins!
As with all parts of this trip, there’s beautiful scenery and you will feel totally revitalised (and weather beaten) when you get to Staffa. On arrival, the crew give you some info about the island including where to find Fingal’s Cave and (most importantly for me) where to find PUFFINS! Note that you will only find puffins on the island from May to August. We got a fantastic view of the island and Fingal’s Cave when sailing towards it.
When we disembarked the boat, we walked up the steps (that would be tricky if you have trouble walking) to the top of the island and followed the big arrow pointing towards where the puffins are. We walked for about 10 minutes, looking out for a buoy that has been placed where the puffins are. We saw people sitting around near the cliff edge and then spotted the puffins!! I’ve never seen a puffin before and was so excited! They are such beautiful birds, with their colourful clown faces. Also smaller than I expected – so cute!
Puffin facts:
- Puffins spend most of their lives out at sea. The best time to see puffins on Staffa is start May to start August, during breeding season
- They usually pair up with the same partner from the previous year
- They usually lay one egg a year and both parents share incubating it then feeding the puffling until it is ready to fledge
After admiring the puffins and taking lots of photos of them being beautiful, we walked back to where the boat was, down some of the steps and along in the other direction towards Fingal’s Cave. Walking along the stone hexagons again would be quite tricky for those unsteady on their feet although there is a hand rail to hold on to. In fact, my fellow banana sporting lady decided to stay on the boat instead of coming ashore which was no problem with the crew. It took about 10 minutes to walk from the boat to get to Fingal’s Cave. There is a section at the entrance of the cave that you can’t stand on but the boat crew advised it was ok to enter the cave if you can climb over that. It is quite magical with the water crashing into the cave.
Fingal’s Cave facts:
- A geometric sea cave of volcanic basalt columns
- Created 60 million years ago by the same lava flow that created the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland
- Inspired ‘The Hebrides Overture’ by the composer Felix Mendelssohn which premiered in 1832
After around an hour on the island, we got back on board the boat and sailed on to our next destination.
Stage 4: Staffa to Iona
The port at Iona is just across the water from where we had got the boat from Mull. The colour of the water at Iona was absolutely stunning.
Iona facts:
- 3 miles long and 1.5 miles wide
- tiny population of around 120 people
- off the southwest coast of Mull
- known as ‘The cradle of Christianity’ as St. Columba rocked up with 12 followers in 563AD, built a church then set about converting Scotland and Northern England to Christianity
There is a café where the boat docked and most people headed there for lunch when we arrived. There was a massive queue so we decided to explore Iona a little and come back later as we had about three hours to explore. There’s also a shop so we popped in there to pick up a few snacks and drinks then walked along the road to Iona Abbey. Entrance to the Abbey is £9 and we decided to go in for a look around. If you aren’t a big church fan, you can also see it from the road and go into a smaller chapel beside it.
After we had a bit of a wander, we went back to the café (now very quiet), got some food and sat on the outdoor picnic benches, overlooking the water to Mull. A fantastic lunch spot!
Stage 5: Iona to Fionnphort (Mull)
The journey from Iona to Fionnphort (Mull) is a very short and you could probably swim it if you were feeling brave and the freezing cold water didn’t stop you! The boat is operated by CalMac and was running every half hour. We got the suggested boat back but I think it would have been possible to jump on an earlier boat if you wanted to spend some time at Fionnphort – though there isn’t much there apart from a little shop, toilets and a local boy busking with his bagpipes!
Stage 6: Mull – Fionnphort to Craignure
Back on board the bus of our favourite comedian/driver, we followed the route back across Mull to the CalMac ferry terminal at Craignure. Understanding that everyone would be tired after an early start and lots of sea air, he provided less chat than the morning but still squeezed in a few jokes before dropping us off.
Stage 7: Craignure (Mull) to Oban
The final stage of the day was sailing back on the CalMac ferry from Mull to Oban. We returned to Oban at about 6pm, so the full tour lasted around 11 hours. Costing £65 per person, and including four boat rides and two bus rides, I feel we got really good value for money for a jam-packed day out.
We had big plans to go to a local pub that evening where a Scottish band were playing but were totally exhausted after a great day out and all that fresh sea air that we decided to have dinner in Oban before heading back to our lovely apartment to chill.
It was such a fantastic day and I was so happy to have seen another stunning part of Scotland. Without a doubt though, the puffins made my day!
