Iona

Silence and solitude.

Was what I planned for the week. I wasn’t necessarily thinking wind and rain. Fortunately I don’t mind a bit of rain. The wind, however, was a bit out of hand. It was so strong that half the days I was on Iona the ferry to Mull was cancelled. I was forced to stay an extra day because of the wind, but did not mind so much.

Even when the weather was crazy there was a picture window I could sit in and experience the rain and wind without getting wet or windblown (although I got plenty of that as well, when I was outside). I had an excellent view out west to the dramatic atlantic weather and breathtaking sunsets:

Even though I was there for a full week I only really had five days outside, and most of that was still in the wind and rain. But I made it to the South, West, East and North coasts as well as the Abbey. I even visited the wee jewellery gallery, Aosdana, and met the owner and jeweller who was amazing, and I hope I will have some work to show her soon from my experience on Iona.

SOUTH

I went south first because I wasn’t keen to go into town straight away. I had just come from a very busy period in Edinburgh and was ready for some quiet. It threatened hard rain in the afternoon, so I tried very hard to make it back before being soaked, which didn’t work too well. It was a good walk to the South Coast, and there weren’t any houses after a fashion so it felt very isolated. On the coast you could see other islands farther south, mostly just Soa, but I’d like to think on a clearer day you could even see Colonsay or Islay.

I wanted to get new research from this trip, but that first day, and well, I guess the whole time, I struggled not to take photos of heather. I love heather in the autumn when all the purple has bleached out of the flowers and they start turning a light brown, and you can see the red of the branches coming through. As I’ve been leaning on the research I did during my degree for the past couple years I haven’t looked closely at heather in awhile and it was refreshing!