Late summer… the DELIGHTS OF THE SOUND OF MULL

The sound of Mull is a particularly entertaining stretch of water.  It offers challenges and lots of rewards, and best of all, from our base near Oban it’s just a hop away.

We’ll pull out of Dunstaffnage and head south west.  Quite probably we’ll stop for our first night off the Mull Coast.  This may be Duart bay which is a pretty fantastic place to watch the sun go down overlooked by an imposing castle.  Or…..  we might be tempted a little further south to Loch Spelve.  It’s a beautiful sheltered sea loch, entered through a narrow channel where sea eagles often patrol.  Loch Spelve is well known for its Mussel Farms.  We know where to go to pick up the must succulent and freshest mussels ever.  A lovely treat and zero food-miles.  

Next morning we’ll head on up the sound.  The exact timing will depend on the currents which run with quite a force at the southern end.  With a bit of luck the currents and wind will conspire to whoosh us along.  But………. If we’re even luckier they won’t…  and we’ll have to do some proper sailing.  We’ll learn how to tack and gybe.  These are the boaty words for changing direction on a sailing boat.  It takes a little while to “learn the ropes” but….  Whats the hurry?  Its a holiday, right?

A word of warning though…..  sailing can be addictive  (there are plenty of great places to stop in the sound and if we feel like it that’s exactly what we’ll do) but one intrepid group we had with us a couple of seasons ago got the bit between their teeth and decided to tack (thats sailing into the wind) all the way to Tobermory.  It’s less than twenty miles as the crow flies but took all day, involved sailing a zigzagging course of well over fifty miles and was one of the best and most fun days of sailing we’ve ever had.  Our sense of achievement as we sat down to eat at the end of the day was epic.

Tobermory itself is a great place to visit with shops, cafes a distillery that makes one of our favourite whisky and some great pubs, often with live music.

If we have time we’ll nip around the north west of Mull to explore some of the wee islands to the west.  Gommetra and Ulva are particularly pretty.  We may even have time to swoop by Staffa with its bonkers Columns of Bassalt at Fingals cave.  

One the way back we could stop at Loch Na Droma Buidhe.  Which as well as being unpronounceable is a fantastic and totally sheltered natural harbour, but with absolutely nothing there.

Continuing further back down we could stop at Loch Aline.  A beautiful stretch of water on the coast of the Movern Peninsula.  This is a great place for exploring.   One option we’ve taken a few times is to drop off a group of walkers at the top of the loch from where they can walk across the peninsula to Glensanda while the rest of us sail round to pick them up at the other end.  It’s a fair old hike but very beautiful and remote.

Last stop on the way back is pretty likely to be Lismore, the long skinny island that separates the Lynns of Morvern and Lorne.  It’s another hidden gem of an island with some great anchorages, good walking and plenty of ancient ruins to explore.