Fingal's cave

Over breakfast we made a spur of the moment decision to go on the boat trip to Staffa and the Treshnish isles - we got ourselves down to the pier in time and so had an adventure! There were about twenty folk on board the boat which was powerful and fast - we zoomed out alongside Mull and then southwards - it took about two hours to reach Staffa. Since I hadn't even read the information leaflet about the tours before we left I didn't realise that we would actually land on Staffa and be able to visit Fingal's Cave! The geology is really impressive.

On the way back we also visited one of the Treshnish Isles, but missed seeing the last few puffins which a few of our party saw. The rabbits seemed to be investigating the burrows, thinking about their winter quarters no doubt. The weather was worsening by then and a moderate swell on the sea meant it was quite tricky getting ashore via a slippery and undulating pontoon. We saw some seals on the rocks on our way back and the captain had been going to show us a sea-eagle's nest on Mull, but the weather closed in to such an extent that we could scarcely see Mull let alone a nest!

The major wildlife excitement of the day was a series of sightings of basking sharks, some quite big and very close to the boat indeed. Slightly unsettling to see those big dorsal fins sliding through the water, although they only eat plankton!

In the evening we were joined at the pub by several of the crew from the castle restoration and watched the England v Scotland match; there were probably about equal numbers of England and Scotland supporters there. Strange to say, most of the English folk there seemed to be from West Yorkshire.....

Edit, 27/08/2020: Added extra of basking shark seen on return trip.