That evening was another 'inside' one, as the rain came in squalls and the wind didn't relent. It's our fault for camping at such a superb spot. If it were warmer, the wind wouldn't matter. If it wasn't so windy the cool wouldn't matter. At least there are no midges at Fidden.
However we decided that all good campsites need to come to an end when you are on a road trip with no advance plans and it was time to drive north.
This being the Ross of Mull, you first have to drive a long way east, on the road that serves as an artery here. The mist was low as the northern shore of Loch Scridain got nearer and then we turned left around the head of the loch and took notice of the sign warning us of otters crossing for six miles.
This road is narrow, uneven and skirts the southern flanks of Ben More, the highest mountain on the island (966m). Unfortunately the skies were grey and so views upwards were limited.
It's certainly dramatic and the crags tower over the road which hugs the shore, either along or above, especially once the Ardmeanach peninsular has been crossed.
There are few road edge kerbs on Mull and the road thickness that has built up over the years has produced some significant wheel-swallowing verges that even the 235/80 R16 tyres should not drop onto. Many years ago, I was a passenger in a car, a Ford Granada, when the driver caught the near side edge of a country lane in the Yorkshire Dales and couldn't steer back onto the tarmac. The car was drawn into a deep ditch, and turned onto it's side (my side). When we came to rest, the driver was still sitting there above me and we climbed out of his door as if we were exiting a hatch on a boat.
The take away here is to keep your eyes on the road and be sure there's no slack in the steering components (there isn't).
We stopped under the cliffs and waved as a campervan we had seen at Fidden drove past, followed by another that we had seen at Loch Buie. Mull isn't busy yet.
We passed the cars parked at the spot from where an ascent of Ben More would start but my days of walking up into cloud and rain are few and far between. We weren't prepared for that sort of walk.
So on we drove, into the head of the sea loch, Loch na Keal and then we darted over the narrow strip of land to the other coast at Salen but we didn't stay.
Continuing along the west coast we came upon a waterfall but missed the pull-in. At the top of the next hill we found another, from where we would walk back to look. At that point I grabbed a nice angled pic of the Landy but also we found we were at a memorial to a lady who had died some years before.
Tbe lady is Susan Cameron who died in 2003 competing in the Tour of Mull rally, as co-driver, alongside her husband. There are lovely words on the memorial which is in a beautiful spot.
Down the road the waterfall, more of a series of waterfalls, looks innocuous enough until you get to the last one that drops over the cliff. This is a sheer drop of about 50m, not sure really but it is sudden and an edge of which to be wary.
At Calgary Bay, one of only a couple of camp areas on the west coast, there was quite a gathering of vehicles and we decided to press on to Dervaig.
We didn’t encounter any otters crossing but did see geese. These are very much in family units and we have seen them in the sea with an adult at each end of a line of goslings, swimming across stretches of water. Here they are crossing the road. It’s probably less dangerous than the water.
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