Mulling It Over

Spring Break is one of the favorite holidays for students and teachers around the world. Whilst most people generally think of this as an opportunity for some much needed partying and sunshine, we've fully embraced living in England and now find excessive sunlight abhorrent -- kind of like vampires or those humanoids in I Am Legend. To that end, we found ourselves heading NORTH for spring break, about as far from sun and warmth as one can get, to the Isle of Mull in Hebrides of Scotland... There's a phrase in these parts of the world that says something like, "If you've gone as far as you can go - you're in the Hebrides". So where the hell is that?! Referring to the shoddy map above, the Hebrides are a group of island just off the west coast of Scotland. We traveled to the Isle of Mull, located in the Inner Hebrides, which is marked by the southernmost triangle on the map. Of course, being an island and all, it takes a bit of work to get to Mull or any of the Hebrides, but a good ferry service (below) and good weather, makes Mull quite accessible by car: The Isle of Mull is a fantastically beautiful place, a real haven for naturalists, especially if you're into geology and wildlife. Geologists love Mull because it has such a long and interesting history (its oldest rocks are about 2000 million years old) and it has unique structures and rocks found nowhere else in the world resulting from the complex interactions between the volcanic and glacial history of the island. For the GeoGeeks in the crowd (and we know you're out there!), you might want to check out a bit more on the unique geological history of Mull. Regardless, driving around the base of these amazing rock formations was pretty intense:

We stayed at a fantastic "youth" hostel in the charming fishing village of Tobermory, on the northernmost point of Mull. What you see in the picture below is what you get - a colorful, tiny town with an awesome Fish & Chips van! Using Tobermory as our base, we ventured off to explore the various historical sites of Mull, including old castles: Iona Abbey on the tiny isle of Iona, a 5-minute ferry ride off of the Mull mainland and the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland: The graveyard at Iona Abby - the final resting place for many infamous Scottish kings - including Macbeth! Celtic crosses on the Isle of Iona: We also visited Fingal's Cave on the Isle of Staffa, also a short boat ride from the Mull mainland. Another example of the amazing geology that can be found around Mull, the unique formations seen here resulted from rapid the cooling of hot lava and created this unique geological cave and inspired the famous symphony by Felix Mendelssohn: Although for us, the greatest highlight of the trip was the wildlife, including the guillemot, razorbill and puffin colonies of Lunga: To Kim's new favorite mammal - the Highland Cow! (and Baby!!!) Although we haven't yet purchased the new super-zoom lens (trust us, we're working on it,!!), we were lucky enough to also catch a few glimpses of rare sea eagles: eagles soaring: (yes, there is an eagle nest in the middle of the page, with a little youngster in it...) And our all-time collective favorite - otters!!! Trust us - she's there... (if you squint your eyes you'll see her climbing over the outcropping, about two millimeters in from the far right tip of the rock!)

Overall it was a fantastic vacation - a welcome break from all the city scenes we've been checking out this year. Mull is a mesmerizing place - truly at the end of the road...


We hope we'll have the chance to visit the Hebrides again before our time here is through!