Journey to Adrnamurchan
We are roasting nicely in the sun while waiting for the ferry from Tobermory to Ard.
The boots of the two cars we used to ferry our luggage are full to overflowing, not just with whalewatch-paraphernalia (binoculars, labtop, theodolite, sightings forms, marine VHF etc) and personal belongings but also shopping: Crisps, chocolate, Pepsi, cocopops, carrots (me), Nutella, Mushrooms (me), onions (me), rich tea biscuits, choc digestives, tomatoes (me), peanut butter, potatoes (me), Crunchy Nut, meats (me), kitkats, marshmallows and some fruit. You get the picture: We’ll have meat and veg for maybe two days, a bit of bread and cheese, and the rest of the time we’ll live on cocopops!
Just stop writing as we’ll have to push Dagmar’s car onto the ferry. It won’t start. It will be uphill on the way out!
It is a glorious day. The sea is calm but sadly we see no porpoises on the way, they are common here. In the distance we spot gannets and Manx shearwaters soaring just above the surface. It is going to be a great summer.
It is a nice feeling to have a rockgroup jealous of you. The “Mull Historical Society”are local boys made good. They are touring all over the world but their hearts are firmly in Mull and I bet they wish they’d be here now.
The Ardnamurchan perinsula is surprisingly hilly. A single track road winds its way through grassland interspersed with patches of heather just coming into purple bloom, ponds and brooks surrounded by reeds and yellow iris and weather beatenn trees clinging to craggy lichen-flecked rocks. Sheep graze everywhere, lazily ambling across the road. A buzzard circles overhead. We get golden eagles here as well, along with a plethora of other birdlife which I’ll have to learn to identify. And of course otters, minks, seals, basking sharks and –hopefully– loads of whales.
At last the lighthouse comes into view around a hairpin bend. In front of a steep rocky hill there is a traffic light as the narrow road clings precariously to the rocks, a stone wall protecting the cars from going over the edge into the boiling sea below. This is the only traffic light on Ardnamurchan.
And then we are there. We are staying in one of the old lighthouse keepers cottages which is large and spacious. For the first few days, we have the project coordinator and a volunteer sightings officer with us to show us the ropes. They have done this before. They produce loaves of bread and boxes of fresh vegetables. Soon the large glassbowl on top of the Victorian iron range is oveflowing with fruit. It looks great, especially with the antique teapot next to it.
“Oh — I could paint that!” I exclaim.
“You’re not here to paint,” comes the reprimand from the PO:” You’re here to watch whales!”
It’s a hard life, eh?
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Denni