"This is where the fun begins"Aer LingusDublin, Ireland: The Battle of JetLagIreland: Wicklow and the last day in DublinOur London experience...Change of plans - I'll be in Scotland 'afore ye (Part I)Change of plans - I'll be in Scotland 'afore ye (Part II)The cross country tour: Edinburgh (Part I)The cross country tour: Edinburgh Castle (Part II)The cross country tour: Journey to Thurso (Part III)The northern adventure: Thuro, Stromness, and WickEdinburgh, Glasgow: To and fro'A few randomsOban, Scotland: The AC Choir and the ColiseumCraignure, Isle of Mull: Yeah...about thatOban, Scotland: Back to Oban / Queen's HotelWestern Adventures: Mull, Iona, Staffa, & Oban (Part I)Western Adventures: Mull, Iona, Staffa, & Oban (Part II)The finale: Last morning in Oban / Last day in Glasgow
 | Zathrak |  | Ireland, England, & Scotland |  | Western Adventures: Mull... |
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May 14 2010, 11:25 AM
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Glasgow, United Kingdom
After climbing through bog and mud and up and down many hills and rocks, we found ourselves in the windiest area of Scotland (I determined that, I don’t believe it’s a scientifically proven fact even though it should be), and on the other end of the island. Surprise, surprise: there were no puffins! I’m telling you, this whole “puffin” thing is a huge ploy put on by the Scots. So we were puffin-less, quite windblown and cold, and were retracing our steps back to hopefully make it to the cave in time to (gulp) get back on our boat and head back to Iona (queeze!). Once we got back, people from our boat who had seen the cave let us know that since we had 20 minutes left to get back on the boat we had just enough time to get to the cave and back. So off we set for adventure who-knows-how-many of the day.
Now, let me paint you a little picture until you can see the actual ones. The way to get to the cave involved a walk along a cliff that was situated about halfway up the completely vertical side of this island. Below were rocks and crashing ocean waves. Above were loads of rocks and boulders (that were probably just waiting to fall on us or near us), and what we were to walk on were wet and slippery slabs of slate rock. There was one railing on the inside closest to the island, so of course you were left to fend for yourself on the sea/cliff side. All around, this is just not a safe or sane idea to try and tackle in a limited time frame and weather conditions like we had. So of course, we were off!
We did manage to safely make it to the cave, and it was SO worth that trip! It was absolutely incredible beyond words. Between the rock formations and the color of the ocean and the waves, it was all just about the most amazing site you have ever seen. I would have walked all that way on the cliff and further just to experience it. We had just enough time to take a few pictures and take it in before we needed to rush back to the boat. I really do wish we had more time there, I blame the puffins.
Once we scampered quickly back along the slippy cliff, we got back to the boat at the exact time we were due back, not a minute sooner or later. While we were the last ones to rejoin the group, we were ok with that because it meant we got the seats closest to the door so we could breathe in the fresh sea air while we counted down the minutes until we would be on dry land again. It was in this trip where I got my “sea injury”, which I swore my story would be that a band of pirates found us, boarded our boat and attempted to take us all hostage. I of course fended them all off and blocked them with nothing but my left wrist. What really happened was that both Jes and I were feeling terrible, and I had managed to find the corner seat (which was most stable and best for trying to get rid of the sickness), and Jes was just about to lose his stomach contents so he needed my spot, so I got up to switch places with him. When I was up there was a giant swell and wave that brought us down hard, and my wrist got in between myself and the metal railing. No worries though, it’s just a sprain and the pain helped to keep my mind off of my terrible sea sick stomach. Jes on the other hand didn’t have anything to distract him from the awful sea sickness that neither of us were expecting, so ended up putting himself in this nearly meditative state until the literal moment that we reached Iona at which point, we climbed off the boat with great haste.
Once we got back to Iona we were only another ferry ride, bus ride, ferry ride, and walk before managing to be back in the comfort of our dry and cozy hotel room. The ferry rides were a bit much after our boat experience, and the bus driver this time around was just terrible, but we can’t complain because they got us back in once piece (with our stomachs still intact no thanks to them), and onto the lovely land that is Oban. We decided to walk and get dinner at the seafood restaurant we had gone to the other night, and Jes has some interesting observations and thoughts on the owner/girls who work there that I’m sure he’ll have to go into during one of his random ramblings. The food was quite lovely again, and we were seated next to two Frenchmen, so I got the opportunity to hear some French and listen in on their (incredibly boring and dull) conversation. We them walked back to our hotel where we spent some quality time in the lounge. I got to have some lovely evening tea (I might secretly miss this about being in the UK) and read while Jes got some uploading time in with the awesome internet speeds(compared to what we have had throughout the trip), and we called it a somewhat early night with some Family Guy!
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