Tag: Tobermory

50th Birthday Holiday 6: Travelling on the Waverley

An account of my voyage aboard the paddle steamer The Waverley, complete with photo gallery.

This is the sixth post in my series about a holiday in the far west of Scotland. Additionally I scheduled a post to appear this morning, on the day itself, as I could not be sure how many (if any) posts I would be able to put up during the holiday itself. My previous post in the series was about the paddle steamer The Waverley, and now I follow up with one about our voyage aboard that ship.

ABOARD THE WAVERLEY

We boarded the Waverley at Tobermory and 2:15PM on Tuesday May 27th, and were aboard for approximately three hours. In that time the ship should have travelled around the Isle of Muck and back to Tobermory. However, the sea was rather rough, and the ship’s captain wisely decided that this plan was not safe under the circumstances. The voyage took in Loch Sunart instead (Loch Sunart is a ‘sea loch’, which is the same thing as a fjord). I spent most of the voyage outside on deck, enjoying the views, though I ventured inside on a few brief occasions – making sure I saw everything of interest inside the ship, and also using the fact that engine was viewable, and that this was the warmest area on board, which meant that it was suitable when a quick warm up was needed. The voyage was great fun, even with the route having to be altered.

PHOTOGRAPHS

These are the pictures I took while on deck during this voyage…

Tobermory seafronte from the ship
A flying seabird captured from on deck.
Hardy sheep grazing the slopes above Loch Sunart.
Glenborrodale castle (two pics)
A very large, very modern cruise liner.
Back at Tobermory

50th Birthday Holiday 4: Tobermory

This post, the fourth in my series about my holiday in Scotland around my 50th birthday, is by way of setting the scene for what will probably be two posts about my voyage aboard The Waverley, the world’s last seagoing paddle steamer. Posts 1, 2 and 3 in the series can be accessed from here by clicking on the numbers.

A CHANGE OF PLANS

We were originally supposed to board and disembark from The Waverley at Oban, quite a substantial journey from Achosnich, where we are staying. However, the road closure that had delayed our arrival on Monday was just one of a number scheduled, which made the prospect of driving to and from Oban more worrying than it should have been. The alternative was to take the ferry from Kilchoan across to Tobermory, and join and leave the steamer there. This was what we chose to do, and we had a fair amount of time in Tobermory before boarding (not much after disembarkation from The Waverley.

TOBERMORY

The Kilchoan ferry is a small one, and the journey across to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull is not a very long one. Tobermory will be familiar by sight to watchers of children’s TV – the brightly coloured houses that form the backdrop to “Jackanory” are there. We had a few bits of shopping to do, which were quickly accomplished. The only other interruption to seeing what could be seen at the sea front was caused by bad weather, which at one stage forced us to seek refuge in a cafe located in a converted church. Finding somewhere to eat our sandwiches for lunch proved a challenge, and we ended up doing so while stood waiting for the steamer.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are the non-steamer photos from this day…