Yesterday was a long travel day and we left Scotland on the beginning of a slow trip home. It took a full day to travel by train from Oban to Glasgow and then by air to Dublin. We scheduled our last full day to enjoy a few sights in Dublin before flying home on Friday.

Our AirB&B hostess directed us to a bus that took us to the Dublin city centre. To say Dublin is a hopping city is an understatement. The city centre was bustling with activity so we took on the challenge to glean the best of this magnificent city in just one day.

At the top of our list to ‘must sees’ in Dublin was the Book of Kells and Trinity College library. The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript of the 4 gospels reproduced with highly detailed, artistic and ornate artistry.

It was created around 540 AD by monks on the Isle of Iona. Because of the Viking attacks and other dangers, it was moved to Dublin where it continues to be an Irish national treasure.

Just as seeing Iona was as much a religious pilgrimage as a historical site, this moment was very spiritually moving.

The Book of Kells is housed and preserved at Trinity College Library, so at the end we moved directly into the library. Now the the room we entered was so overwhelming that I was not sure my jaw didn’t drop. The hall was huge and long with racks towering 2-3 floors with majestic busts of masters of knowledge down through history.

This seemed to us as if it were a cathedral or shrine to the written word. Time seemed to not exist while we were in there. Upon the completion of our visit we felt we had satisfied our objectives for this city. However, the city had so charmed us that we decided to see Dublin Castle, just a short walk away.

Dublin Castle was and is the center of royal activity for Ireland since the Middle Ages but now it is more of a palace than a castle. Nevertheless walking through it was like being in a very special place indeed.

After our tour we began a leisurely “wander” both to find a place for dinner and to just let Dublin surprise us.

Our wanders took us by the location where Handel’s Messiah was first performed. It was not far from the majestic and beautiful Christ’s Church Cathedral.

This cathedral dates to the 11th century and extensive archaeological work has revealed evidence of an entire Viking village in the shadow of the church.

As we admired the church, we were privileged to a special musical celebration of the Feast of the Ascension being performed from the roof of the cathedral. That was the perfect surprise to bless the end of our Ireland, Scotland adventure for this year.

This was our last full day in Oban and probably in this area of Scotland but we made it a good day. Staffa and the Treshnish islands are the furthest we could reach on a day trip. All total the trip ‘there and back again’ took about 12 hours.Departure by ferry from Oban was at 7:30 am. For me, the time at sea was as fun and exciting a vacation memory as the destinations. As before, we first ferried to Mull then travelled by bus to the far end of Mull to catch a ship to the Treshnish Islands of Lunga and Staffa.Lunga is the larger of the two islands. We set out on about a 75 minute boat trip from Mull with the objective of seeing puffins. The cute little penguin like birds were abundant, active, adorable and quite comfortable with people. Apparently they like visitors because we keep predators away.Like Kerrera, Lunga and Staffa were undeveloped, primitive and remote. That added to the adventure. Exiting the boat, we and about 40 others scampered across rocks to a steep and difficult climb to see the puffins.We were on a high place above a cliff and the birds were flying in toward us. That was very cool, but we decided to find a different angle. Climbing back down, we found a spot looking up to the magnificent cliffs as the puffins and other birds soared out in waves flying over the sea and back to the cliffs over and over and over.Back on the boat, we enjoyed a 25 minute journey to the uninhabited island of Staffa. This island was formed by volcanic activity, wind waves and time into huge caves. One cave opening in particular is named Fingal’s cave and that was our destination.There were more puffins there as well but Fingal’s Cave was not to be missed. The approach was a bit treacherous walking along a narrow rock path pressed up against the cliff wall. With great care and some fear we made it and stood in awe at the great cave.The exit from the cave area was similarly tricky but soon we were on our way back after a brief stop at Iona and then back to back to Oban to rest and then prepare for departure.

The new day brought beautiful weather another island to explore.

Kerrera is relatively close to the mainland and has another castle that was part of the empire of the McDougall clan that we learned about at Dunollie castle a few days ago.

Unlike other island explorations, we were able to reach Kerrera island via a 10 minute ferry ride. However the dock for the the ferry was 2 miles outside of town. So we walked there and took that short ferry ride.

Unlike Iona and Mull, Kerrera is only sparsely developed. Vehicles are limited to the few dozen residents. Gylen castle is two miles from the ferry dock along a hilly gravel trial. We walked that trail past mountain streams, waterfalls and so many sheep.

Gylen castle is in ruins. Attacks by various enemies amd rival clans resulted in devastating damage to all of the castles scattered around Oban. But despite the damage and the steep climb up to it, the castle was striking and begged to be explored. The views were amazing and it’s fun to try to gaze back in time to how medieval life was in these castles.

The hike back went slower but we made it back to Oban for a fine dinner and rest. All totaled we hiked over 8 miles for this adventure. Looking back, it was well worth it.

We have discovered on these long trips that nonstop sightseeing can wear us out. It was cold and windy Sunday so we decided to just get local with Oban. We have 2 big days of island hopping planned Monday and Tuesday so Sunday, we became Obabians.

Being Sunday we set off to enjoy the lovely liturgical service at Saint John’s Episcopal Church in the heart of Oban. The service was good and the setting in yet another historic Scottish cathedral which fit our trip perfectly.

After church we found our way to a small venue called simply The Oban Fish and Chips Shop that was much talked about as the best in town.

We shared a table with a couple of lovely American kids associated with the military who were in Oban on holiday. An interesting thing about Oban was that we met many people from America, England, Canada and other places, but rarely a Scot.

McCaig’s tower is monument/castle that stands high over Oban.

The story goes that a wealthy Obanian set out to build a magnificent tower but died before it was finished. It is quite impressive none-the-less, so we set out after lunch to see it up close.

It was quite a climb to the top of the hill where McCaig’s tower stands, but up we went. The arches provided terrific views. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would have looked like if he had finished it

We noticed this serene looking cat on a bench as we approached the tower. On our departure, he allowed us to share the bench and he took quite a shine to Jane. Who can blame him?

It was a bit of a slow day but more excitement is ahead.

We decided to take a day or two and relax and explore Oban. The tours were great and we have one more island outing in mind, probably on Tuesday.

The weather forecast was for rain so naturally, we decided to take a hike. Not far from our bed and breakfast we found yet another historic site called Dunollie Castle. This was a central castle of a network that dotted all around the islands near Oban.
It is also the historic home castle for the MacDougall clan and clan members live on the property to this day. We enjoyed exploring the castle, the museum and grounds, including the fairy tree. No fairies spotted.After tea and scones from the refreshment stand, a cool rain began to move in. We are well fixed for rain gear due to Jane’s extensive preparation but we decided to just shop and explore Oban for the remainder of the day. We popped into a war memorial museum and took our time shopping. We are on vacation so even a grumpy old man like myself can enjoy a wee spot of shopping in a charming Scottish port town.The day ended with a leisurely dinner at the Oban Inn (1790).We had great food and great conversations with some friendly folk from various parts of the UK.

Today the Malcolms took to the sea to visit the home island where Saint Columba birthed Christianity in Scotland. We went to the small island of Iona and it was quite a journey.

After an amazing breakfast at our bed and breakfast, Kilchrenan House we went directly to our ship that took us out to sea from Oban harbor. I loved seeing the shore disappear and the north Atlantic surrounding us except for the highlands in the distance.

Our first stop was the big island of Mull. We had to traverse Mull by bus to board a ferry to Iona. The bus ride was a bit bumpy but the driver amused us with cute and sometimes interesting trivia about Mull. All went well except for a herd of highland hairy coos who thought they owned the road. They were eventually persuaded to move on so that traffic on the single lane road could resume.

Iona was Columba’s base camp for evangelizing Scotland. My last name, Malcolm actually means “follower of Saint Columba”. This pilgrimage was special to me in several ways.

Iona was just as special as I had expected. The combination of the beauty of the Abbey, the spiritual legacy of Columba and that this was the point of origin of the Book of Kells made this as much a pilgrimage as a tourist stop.

I had thought we might get out and walk Iona but once the aura of the Abbey began to kick in, our time there flew by.

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The bus trip back through Mull convinced us the we were about ready to be done with tours. But we enjoyed the sea voyage back and a fine dinner so all is well with the travelling Malcolms.

Oban is a small city on the western coast of Scotland in the highlands. We booked ourselves in Oban for a week to explore the vast islands up and down this side of the country. We have not staked out here before so the adventure aspect of this leg of our trip is high.

Today was yet another travel day from Glasgow to Oban we bid farewell to our lovely AirB&B hostess Lindsey and her sweet dog Lexi and were on the road again.We splurged on an extra nice bed and breakfast with a view of the sea. Oban is a busy seaside town and we are already enjoying some great sea food.There is much to explore here starting tomorrow with tours of the islands of Mull and Iona.

We rose early a were greeted with a full Scottish breakfast prepared by Sandra our AirB&B hostess in Skye. We bid her fond goodbye and joined our tour bus for the journey back to Glasgow.

We had a busy agenda of highland landmarks to see before the end of this leg of our adventure is over. The next stop at Loch Ness was a big one.

Allen our guide and driver was also a great teacher of all things Scottish. We learned that due to the depth of Loch Ness, it has more water than in all of the more than 31 thousand lochs in Scotland put together. The big shock is that to this day even the experts are not certain whether or not the Loch Ness monster exists. We did not see it, but we understand she is quite shy.

There was a lot of driving to get us “home” to Glasgow but we did fit in another short hike to see a breathtaking waterfall called Strath Mashie.

Before heading back to Glasgow, we swung by Stirling to look at Stirling castle. While we had seen the castle last year, it was still exciting to see this centuries-old castle close up again.

Finally back in Glasgow, we thanked our good guide Allen for a great tour of all things highlands and returned to to our AirB&B to rest up for our next adventure. Oban here we come!

For seeing Skye and the highlands, we decided to use a tour service called Rabbies. Early as we were planning this adventure, Facebook groups about Scotland said you cannot see everything on the isle of Skye in one day. Well Rabbies did all they did to show us everything and the result was a busy but exciting day.

The first stop was a beautiful mountain steam with a waterfall called The Fairy Pool. We saw dozens of such streams flowing out of the highland mountains but it was fun hiking an exploring one.

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From there we went to a small bay called Loch Brittle where we walked on the beach. We have a tradition of touching the ocean or a body of water wherever we go but this beach was too marshy for that. Toward the end of this stop we heard a cuckoo bird singing out which was great fun.

While we saw no wild creatures so far an ever present population were the sheep. They are everywhere seemingly wandering free. Over lunch however, a bold seagull awaited (and received) his handout.

Skye is very much like another world for sure but in many ways it is like another time. Our last few stops were my favorites as we found stunning views across to the Scottish mainland and phenomenal cliffs that I loved.

After another fantastic dinner we retired, exhausted but happy.

The change between the urban world of Glasgow and the stunning natural world of the Scottish highlands could not have more dramatic. Not long out of Glasgow, our tour took us to Loch Lomand. This huge lake surrounded by the massive mountains of the highlands was breathtaking.

The drive through the highlands was amazing and I felt I could not see it all fast enough. Glencoe is another huge national treasure and a number of movies have been filmed there. The story of The Glencoe Massacre as told by our tour guide is upsetting again even though I have heard it before.

We saw many serious long distance hikers in Glencoe. Small wonder as it is a sprawling mountainous area that begs to be explored.

On we went, enjoying just a few of Scotland’s 30,000 lochs along with glens and even a few castles and each of them coming with a fascinating story.

After a full day of touring we have arrived with excitement in Skye. Much to see here but that is for tomorrow.