Puffin Paradise

Dear O'H dear and Lovely Tea Jenny,

We headed off on a boat trip to Staffa to see Fingal’s cave which is quite spectacular. It is formed from hexagonal columns formed 50 to 60 million years ago by volcanic eruptions and a blanket of lava that spread into the Atlantic Ocean. You have to walk across a path of slippery rocks to get close to it and It feels very other worldly. I half expected Game of Thrones characters to jump out at me. Fingal went to quite a lot of trouble to hide his man cave. It must have been a huge hassle getting his pool table and darts board out there.

After Fingal’s cave, we sailed to Lunga. When we arrived, there was a grey seal having a lovely snooze in a dinghy tied to the pontoon! We walked up the hill where we died and went to heaven. PUFFINS EVERYWHERE. So many of them and they are ridiculously cute. They like humans coming to the island as we scare away their predators and will happily strut within a couple of metres of us. There is a large sea stack just off Lunga called the Harp Rock which is covered in birds and we sat for ages surrounded by puffins and razorbills watching them. It was quite mesmerising.

On the way back to the boat, I pointed out to a bird to The Youngest Mini Princess. “That’s a shag,” I told her. She refused to believe me until it was confirmed by The Explorer. Last time I try to educate her!

We went to The Tobermory Hotel for dinner. The young ‘uns headed home as they were tired but Saturday night is obviously party night in Mull and the ‘grown ups’ ended up at the disco in the Mishnish and getting home about 2.30 am. It was a great night. The Explorer asked the DJ/Karaoke singer if she could request a tune and all he could say was “I can’t. I’m absolutely reeking” before staggering out of the pub leaving all of his equipment abandoned!

C