Into the Mountains

We left Ellenabaich, back over the Clachan Bridge heading toward the Trossachs. We had a stopover at a wildlife visitor centre where a beaver colony lives (wild) - this is covered in the "wildlife" entry.

A happy hedge!

Tyndrum (I love that name!) was our base on the edge of the Trossochs National Park for 6 nights.  We had an interesting trip to Hollow Mountain - which is a dam with all the electricity generation equipment actually inside the mountain. It is called Crachan Power Station and owned by Drax.

This was us all set up

Another sunny day!

Looking down the generating hall

Tyndrum is on the West Highland Way so we had a couple of hikes, one in each direction. The first hike was too hot for Purdy but luckily there were plenty of rivers for her to cool down in. And for our feet to refresh in! We walked one way to The Bridge of Orchy and got the train back. 

The Bridge of Orchy

The second was a bit chilly! We walked up towards the gold mine (yes!) and the rugged peak of Ben Lui in the background. 

Lots of cute lambs about!

An evening walk up the hills behind
 the campsite for sunset

Ellenabeich and Easedale Island

Ellenabeich turned out to be a lovely location - it is at the southern end of the peninsula on the island of Seil with Easdale Island just off the tip. We ended up staying here for 4 nights as it was such a friendly and relaxing place. We had wanted to see the Corryvreckan Whirlpool but didn't realise trips were organised from here - by the same family that owned the motorhome stopover. We immediately booked on a trip the following evening - they only go out on Spring tides as this is the best time to see it and we happened to be there during one. 

Ellenabeich is within a conservation area so completely unspoilt.

From Ellenabeich there is a regular ferry to the old slate mining island of Easdale. The slate seam (which includes 3 other little islands  - called the Slate Islands) used to be a major provider worldwide and the centre of the slate mining industry in Scotland for nearly 3 centuries. The mining stopped on Easdale Island when the mines were flooded by a gigantic storm in 1881. So now there are big pools everywhere - people swim in some of the shallower ones.

The World Stone Skimming Championships will take place on the island this September, in one of the flooded mines!

Purdy enjoying her new sleeping bag!

We had a lovely hike around the hills behind Ellenabeich, up to Dun Mor and beyond.

Easdale Island viewed from Dun Mor

The Corryvreckan Whirlpool

We were excited and dressed up ready to leave at 1930 on a sunny evening with a flat calm sea - are were really in Scotland? The trip was organised on a Spring tide when the tide was going out. 

The company had two purpose kitted out RIBs, each with two 300HP Yamaha outboards. Both were out this evening, which made for some good pics.

On the way we say a local Sea Eagle nesting on the Isle of Scarba, which was nice to see - we hope to have a closer look at some of these enormous birds elsewhere on our travels.

The Corryvrecken Whirlpool is not one big whirlpool but lots of small ones. The surface of the sea is randomly bumpy with areas of smooth which is where water is being forced from the sea bed. These vary in size and turn into whirlpools. The captain got us spinning in them; luckily you don't get pulled down the plughole! Difficult to get a good photo though.

It was a beautiful evening to be out at sea

The next day we had a hot day in Scotland (a bit too hot for our hike) and a quick dip was needed!

We loved our time here - the park up, the pubs and the people. We might call in again to catch up with Lydia, who is one of the tour guides and call in The Puffer - the pub/cafe on the island where we had an absolutely lovely meal. We might also see Josh again - he will be working on a farm in Shetland when we are there.

Blair Atholl to Mull

After leaving the Stirling area we travelled north to the Cairngorm National Park and Blair Atholl, where we stayed on the estate of Blair Castle. The campsite was big but had nice walks, free entry to the castle grounds and discounted entry to the castle.

An interesting fact about this castle - it has its own private army - the only one in Europe - the Atholl Highlanders.

Lots of wild flowers that I haven't seen before

Some pics from inside the castle.

Amazing weapons collection!

This dress is over 270 years old! So around 1753!
Is hand painted Chinese silk with gold thread 

I quite like a fan!

We even learned about the language of the fan!

We left Blair Atholl for the Island of Mull and had a lovely drive along a small road where we stopped for a walk and a cuppa.

However, before we reached Oban we had a text telling us that the dock at Craignure (on Mull) was faulty so vehicles could not be accepted. One option was a 3 hour detour to another ferry or do something different - we decided on the latter.

After a night in a small layby along a narrow road we decided to carry along that road over the old Clachen Bridge and on to a place called Ellenabeich. The Clachen sound is connected to the Atlantic at both ends so the bridge is known as 'The Bridge over the Atlantic'. For two weeks a year it is covered in purple flowers which have been decorating the bridge since it was built in 1792. When it was renovated, the flowers were removed and local people planted them in their gardens before they were replanted in the bridge.

Fairy Foxgloves on the side of the bridge

When we arrived we realised that we had found a little gem in a tiny little village with a tiny island you could get to in a beautiful bay overlooked by cliffs. We immediately decided to stay for at least two nights, as the village also had a motorhome park up area. This morphed into 4 nights! Mull could wait.

This is where we stayed (below), more in the next post.