Lochaline to Tobermory and the games

It was forecast to be a "double blob" day. In other words, serious amounts of rain. Actually it wasn't but the grey, drizzle and occasional showers still made it most unappealing. We needed to hang around in Loch Aline for a while to allow the tide height to build a bit, low was around 10:30am and we had no desire to get up and go a couple of hours before that in the lovely dreich weather.  So, we had a slow morning, lunch then headed off around 1pm instead. The wind wanted to keep us firmly attached to the pontoon so both thrusters were called upon to give us some "space" to nose the bow in and reverse away from the mooring. 

Heading up the Sound of Mull it was unrelenting grey, with the added fun of reduced visibility at times as areas of rain or drizzle came through. We were surprised at how many yotties were out, in full wet weather gear, looking suitably miserable. The view of the Calmac ferry Isle of Lewis was not as good as the one we had before - rather rainy windows on that side of the pilothouse:

The trip takes just under 2 hours going with the tide and is very simple indeed:

We wanted to be on a pontoon not a buoy or anchored here to save the soggy RIB trip ashore and we'd called the harbour folks in advance. We are just big enough to reserve a spot, not take pot luck, and sure enough the spot on the commercial pontoon they had promised was empty with a sign saying it was reserved for us. We almost felt important. The area behind had a sign for "HMS Magpie" but no navy vessel appeared. However Scout, a rather nice superyacht was anchored in the bay. Here is an image of her from the internet:

There were no signs of any folks being delivered ashore by tender, perhaps Tobermory isn't pretty enough (it is) or too downmarket for the rather wealthy owner?

We arrived on the day of the Mull Highland Games and it must have been a very soggy affair. We went to admire it many years ago, had a great time watching the large gents tossing cabers and throwing things, the girls dancing and the spectators filling the alcohol tent's coffers. We also met Sheila and Niall for the first time - they were sitting on the grass next to us and their dogs wanted cuddles. Have a look at the older blog post with this link.

We wandered into town just as the pipers were returning from the games arena and marching back to the large car park area next to the pontoons. The video isn't great quality but you will get a feel for the experience:

That was the end of their parade. Immediately after the video was taken, they took off their wet weather gear (yes, the rain had stopped) and they headed into the distillery visitor centre. Perhaps there was coffee on offer as well?

Since the sun was out, we have to share the obligatory picture of the coloured buildings along the waterfront:

A little leg stretch took us to this shop, who are obviously most impressed with the current performance of Calmac and the ferries to the island:

Having read about the issues with smaller substitute ships and breakdowns, we quite get the residents frustration with the rather messed up Calmac operation. At least they still have a service - Campbeltown has been abandoned for the entire summer season.