Whale meet again,don't know where,don't know when!

Today was the perfect day for whale watching. Flat calm, no rain and gentle sunshine. Having brought our car over yesterday, we left Bunessan at 7.15am, picking up our daughter's friend en route, and drove the whole length and height of Mull through Craignure and up to Tobermory, most of it on single track roads. For those who don't know the island, that's more than fifty miles. Fortunately at that time of day the roads were pretty quiet.
 
We arrived at the departure point, but were surprised to see no boat. Then a young lady came up to tell us that the four-hour whale watching trip was cancelled - the boat was out of action! We could hardly believe it! 
 
Having got over our surprise and obtained a refund, we decided to spoil ourselves with coffee in the conservatory of the Western Isles Hotel, that famous establishment overlooking Tobermory harbour and the Sound of Mull. To quote their website, “In an age of standardisation and uniformity, The Western Isles stands out as an individual, a grand old lady looking out imperiously from her headland over Tobermory village, harbour and bay to the Sound of Mull and mainland Scotland beyond, as she has done for nearly 150 years.” However today there was nobody on the desk and no customers in the conservatory, but we chose the table with the best view and went in search of a member of staff. Having found somebody and asked for cappuccinos and hot chocolate, we were told ‘You can have either cafetière coffee or tea.’ We left them to it and had much better service and a great choice of drinks at the Tobermory Scullery on the seafront!
 
We spent the rest of the day enjoying the weather and wonderful views. We drove up to Caillaich Farm overlooking Caillaich Point and watched a sea-eagle on one side and a golden eagle on the other, though unfortunately no whales! Rum and Eigg can be seen hiding on the horizon in my Blip. 

After lunching at the Calgary Farmhouse we walked on the beach at Calgary Bay with ice creams before returning to the ferry and coming home. A disappointment initially, but a good day nevertheless.

My extra is a farmhouse with a monkey puzzle tree in the garden - and the 'Clansman' coming home from Tiree in the background.