Here’s another pretty little waterfall beside the road… The church has a bench and chairs on a little balcony outside, and I wonder if it’s been converted into a holiday home. Beside it is a war memorial, and a tarpaulin has been tied around the memorial with rope. Maybe to protect the inscription from the weather? Or maybe to protect the poppy wreaths? I pass a church that isn’t marked on my map. This Morvern air must be especially pure. They say when you see a lot of moss you know the air is very clean. I notice moss growing profusely on the wall beside the road, forming a patchwork collection of little green cushions among the stones. This plethora of names is very confusing, especially when trying to work out bus routes! Only two and 1/4 miles to Bonnavoulin, it says.īonnavoulin? The name Bunavullin is printed in largish letters on my map, although everybody calls the place Drimnin. Love that name.Ī roadside mile-marker is set very low beside the road. (One of the joys of retirement is being able to make last-minute plans!)Īhead, across the Sound of Mull, I can see the brightly-coloured houses of Tobermory. Of course, I’m not really ‘lucky’, because I plan my trips based on the weather forecast. My landlady at the pub seemed surprised by the good weather, and said I was very lucky. Oh, how wonderful to be walking in February in the sunshine. I get a good view of the Isle of Mull ferry, heading back towards Lochaline. The road has risen and is running a few hundred yards inland of the sea. Sadly that fire seemed to have been started deliberately. I wonder how often they are troubled with forest fires here? And are they deliberate? It’s hard to believe that anybody would set out to destroy this beautiful woodland. I pass a gated track, one that is well-equipped with a host of fire-fighting brooms.ĭuring the long hot summer last year, Saddleworth Moor, just above Manchester, burned for more than 3 weeks . It looks like the sort of private burial ground you sometimes find on large estates. My map suggest there was once a chapel here, but doesn’t mention the cemetery. There’s even an old post box, stuck somewhat randomly in the middle of nowhere.ĭown below the road, on my left, I spot an old cemetery with tomb stones enclosed inside a railing. So I pass a number of driveways and buildings. Hard to read without my glasses, but I think that ruin is called Caisteal nan Con.Īlthough the Morvern Peninsula is very empty, the 300 or so residents live, mainly, along the southern shore. OS maps show the names of castles in a weird gothic script, for some reason. If it was a treasured toy, some poor child must see it hanging there every time they pass along this road.įurther along is a promontory – almost an island – dominated by a ruined building. I check my map. Turns out to be a stuffed toy with giant googly eyes. How did it get up there? At least 20 feet high, so someone must have hurled it into the air with great force. I see something weird dangling from a tree. Must be some sort of fishing farm, I suppose.
Out in the Sound of Mull, I spot a really ugly boat. The dark clouds from last night are drifting away, and the landscape is lit by a low, February sun. I head down the road, past the Wishing Stone and its ancient cairns.Īh, this is lovely. It seems to attract dark clouds like a magnet. It’s a beautiful spot, and the sun is shining after a night of rain. This morning, I must drive back to the parking place near the Wishing Stone. Oh dear, I seem to take ages to get anywhere! If only I’d caught the bus yesterday, I would have already completed today’s walk and be further along the coast. Whatever the truth of its origin, we believe a witch saved from drowning revealed its power to the MacCarthys.I’m feeling rather cross with myself. A few claim it was the stone that gushed water when struck by Moses. Others say it may be a stone brought back to Ireland from the Crusades – the ‘Stone of Ezel’ behind which David hid on Jonathan’s advice when he fled from his enemy, Saul. When Cormac MacCarthy, King of Munster, sent five thousand men to support Robert the Bruce in his defeat of the English at Bannockburn in 1314, a portion of the historic Stone was given by the Scots in gratitude – and returned to Ireland. Legend says it was then removed to mainland Scotland, where it served as the prophetic power of royal succession, the Stone of Destiny. It was also said to be the deathbed pillow of St Columba on the island of Iona. Here it became the Lia Fail or ‘Fatal Stone’, used as an oracular throne of Irish kings – a kind of Harry Potter-like ‘sorting hat’ for kings. Some say it was Jacob’s Pillow, brought to Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah.