Friday 2nd May - Day 1

When we booked our trip to Mull, the intention was to drive up to Oban on the Saturday morning for the ferry but as we got closer to the trip we decided to head off on the Friday evening and booked a pitch at By The Way Campsite in Tyndrum. By doing this, it reduced the drive on the Saturday morning to one hour.

We were not able to head off at our usual 4pm due to work calls and set off later than expected at about 4.45ish. We decided to drive up the Stirling route rather than driving round Loch Lomond as I’m not a fan of part of the A82. It was a nice sunny evening and even when I missed the M9 turn-off that I wanted to take it was an easy correction to the route that only added a few minutes. The scenery throughout the drive was beautiful and Kevin took the opportunity to try out his new camera to capture some footage

We arrived at the campsite and parked up on pitch using the levellers at the front. We were hungry so headed straight out for food, choosing the Ben Lui restaurant which was just a short walk away and was able to seat us after a short wait in a booth by the window with a lovely view out across the mountains. Unfortunately, despite the prompt seating it took a long time for the food to come and there was starter confusion but ultimately the food was good.

I had honey chicken strips, lasagne and an Old Mout Strawberry & Apple cider and Kevin had black pudding croquettes, a meat feast pizza, and a Corona.

It was a pleasant walk back to the van and whilst I headed off to fill up the water container Kevin got the van set-up in night mode. We watched an episode of High Potential before bed.

Saturday 3rd May - Day 2

We had set a 7am alarm but were awake long before the alarm went off. We started our day with a cup of tea & Neapolitan pancakes (yum) before packing up & getting organised ready to leave by 8.30am for our drive up to Oban.

When we got into Oban we detoured to Tesco to pick up some bits, and it only took two turns round the car-park to find a suitable space to park the van. As well as some basic groceries we got a takeaway pistachio latte & mocha and a cinnamon bun & Bakewell loaf.

It was an easy process to get into the correct ferry lane and Kevin headed off to take some footage - he was keen to get some video of the ferry coming into port. Boarding started on time and we were one of the first vehicles to go on and, despite a bit of worry about taking a large vehicle onto a ferry for the first time, we were easily and quickly parked up. We grabbed jackets and hats and headed up to the passenger deck.

We stayed outside for most of the 50 minute journey, enjoying the views and we were glad we had our hats as it was very windy and cold!

When called, we headed down to the van and we were in the first lane to disembark but, disaster!, the van wouldn’t start. Thankfully the ferry staff were able to direct other vehicles off around us and eventually I was able to get the engine to kick-in and we were off. No idea what caused it and I could only hope it wouldn’t happen again … very stressful!

We headed straight to campsite, which was all of 5 minutes along the road, and settled ourselves on pitch 3 which was right on the shoreline with amazing views onto the Sound of Mull. We did our usual set-up, using levellers at front and getting drinking water using the water carrier. We were on a fully serviced pitch which is always good.

I pulled together a picnic lunch for us consisting of a ham & cheese coleslaw roll, a scotch egg & a slice of chorizo quiche. We also had our Tesco treats from earlier and a cup of tea.

We took some time to relax, with some reading & background music and then we headed out for a walk.

We found a path that led to a beautiful walk along the shoreline, past a mostly stony beach and arrived at a seat that overlooked the spectacular bay. We spent some time there enjoying the peace & quiet and then headed into the main street to investigate Craignure. We fancied a drink so stopped into Blether’s Cafe where I enjoyed a Bulmers Mixed Fruit Cider (which looked exactly like raspberry Cremola Foam in the glass) & Kevin had a Skye Gold. The cafe was very quiet and we were able to take a seat at a window booth.

We also stopped into the Spar, which was well stocked and I got a birthday card for Kevin (not long to go) and a magnet. We also ventured into the Mull Chocolate Shop and spent some time having a look around but, just as we were ready to head up to the till and get a hand-picked box, a horde of people suddenly appeared in the shop (likely from a bus in the ferry queue) so we decided not to bother.

We really enjoyed our walk and now returned to the van for a bit of reading & snoozing.

For dinner, we had a Rana filled pasta (prosciutto cotto & mozzarella tortellini) & sauce (sun-dried tomato & pecorino cheese) that we had brought with us.

When we had arrived at the campsite it was pretty empty - at least in the front section where we were - but it had gradually filled up over the day and was now pretty full.

We watched the first part of Going Postal and then off to bed.

Sunday 4th May - Day 3

A morning visit to the facilities and the shower was good - plenty of hot water on a button control and the shower curtain stayed well out of the way.

Once we were ready we set off for a walk back along the shoreline to get some drone footage and found ourselves back at the same bench from yesterday. It was a lovely sunny day but there was a lot of cloud cover and still very windy at times. Once we’d got some photography done we continued to the end of the path which took us to the other side of Craignure but there wasn’t anything of particular interest there so we decided to head back along the main road … hoping that it would be a bit less windy than along the shore.

And what a good idea that was … as we walked along we found the entrance to Scallastle Forest and decided to do the forest walk. The walk took us along a forest path, past beautiful fir trees, and ultimately after a few steep climbs we arrived at the most amazing waterfall with multiple pools full of sparkling emerald green water.

It was now pretty hot and we decided to head back and find somewhere for lunch and a chance to get out of the sun for a bit.

We decided to head back to Blether’s Cafe and ordered toasted paninis and milkshakes - tuna melt toast and banana milkshake for me and a bacon & brie toast and chocolate milkshake for Kevin.

After a quick stop at Spar for snacks we headed back to the van.

As we were sitting in the van, we watched in horror as a new arrival wandered to a random part of the campsite with her chemical waste cassette as she thought that was where the map was identifying as the chemical waste disposal point but thankfully she checked with us and we sent her to the right place before she did something terrible.

We lazed in the van for a while and then we got smartened up and wandered over to The Craignure Inn for dinner. I grabbed us a table and Kevin headed to the bar to put in our order. Kevin went for the gammon steak with egg, pineapple and chips washed down with a Guinness and I had a cheese & bacon burger with chips and an Orchard Pig cider. I had wanted the steak pie but they didn’t have any left. It was all very tasty and, nicely full, we headed back to the van and finished the night with a hot chocolate, some fudge and the second part of Going Postal.