That night the rain came but we didn’t notice. It must have been the ~12 miles we’d just walked. In the morning the ground was awash and the only suitable footwear was wellies.
The tiny burn next to our camp was a torrent, fed from an almighty waterfall just above on the hillside. Yesterday this had been hardly noticeable but now it was cascading down.
The lady in the café said, rather surprisingly, that she hadn’t often seen the waterfall like that.
There were four other camper vans with us and they were all frequent visitors to Mull and this place. The previous night though there had been another two first-timers. One couple had taken the train from London to Glasgow where they had hired a modest van for the week, that had been nicely converted, using a distressed pallet wood theme. It looked very nice.
Slowly the puddles drained and the rain stopped much sooner than expected. The plan had been to sit it out for the day but there was no need. We paid our 2 x£5 for the two night stay and drove back through Rhododendron Avenue to the main road.
Turning left we drove up and over
Glen More but there was no visibility due to cloud and rain up there and we missed any glimpse of Ben More.
We made our way slowly west along Ross of Mull, pulling in to passing places to allow oncoming traffic to pass and sometimes to allow traffic behind to overtake.
I had imagined that it wouldn’t take long to drive to the west of ROM but it seemed to take an age. At Bunnessan we bought sliced bread, rolls and milk in the tiny shop. Both bread and milk had loads of life, proving that we aren’t detached from modern logistics.
We went to Ardalanish Weavers www.ardlanish.com and spent the night at their back of the beach field (no facilities at all) and used for the first time, our 20 litre toilet waste ‘overflow’ tank which we strap to the roof.
This extends the ‘range’ of our loo, giving us longer before we need to get to a ‘chem disp’ point. We are modern and use green fluid rather than blue. This means that we should be able to drop our waste into any septic tank, as the green fluid doesn’t harm the seals, unlike the blue.
I showed the people here this detail on the green fluid bottle and they then said we could dump it in their tank. It was too late though as it was strapped to the roof rack (and no, the drain wasn’t slightly open so as to let it empty as we drove).
Anyway green not blue toilet fluid is the take-away from this post 😀
As well as a nice stroll along a deserted windy beach, I had a great chat with Adam who works on the farm, about restoring Land Rovers. Surprisingly he wasn’t aware of https://yrmit.co.uk the manufacturer of a vast array of replacement metal parts. His restorations should be a little easier from now on.
The weavers let us peep into their workshop which looks a little like some we viewed in Chiangmai Mai, Thailand. We talked to a lady about the wool dyes she was using, as she stirred four vats being warmed over propane burners.
Using flowers and seaweed, the names of which I can’t remember, she produces the dyes in the required quantities for the yarns that they will use. The finished products range from smartwaistcoats to jumpers and scarves.
We didn’t buy any woollens I’m afraid to say but we did buy some of Landyman’s Hebredian hoggett cutlets which we would eat a couple of dinners later. Yumm. That could set me off on a rant in defence of the meat industry.
What amazing animals sheep and cattle are, to be able to convert rain and boggy ground into lovely meat. I don’t care if it might just possibly ‘affect’ the climate. So does driving to sports events (for example) and no one is suggesting they should be banned.
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