To See the Sea

On our day of exploring the west coast of Scotland, we finally made it to the end of the line… that was a bit of a cheat because you cannot see the great expanse of sea one would think. The islands of Mull, Jura, and Islay were all easily visable with the naked eye.  

To the sea

Thankfully, we saw this sign before driving off the edge of the embankment… End of the line, folks!

You know you've hit the end of the road, when...

The geology was exceptional, the wind chilly, and the seagulls a'calling - everything else I had hoped to see at the seaside. 

Rocky, cliffside shore

After a long day of traveling and sightseeing, it was nice to get out into nature and breath in the fresh air. All nine of us scattered across the coastline, with the unsaid expectation that we'd spend some time (but not too long) exploring on our own or in pairs. 

Bill, pondering the isle of Mull (to the right), Jura (straight ahead), and Islay (to the left)

There was no one else within miles, as far as we could tell. The landscape was rocky and fairly unforgiving. If you stepped into the green grass you found yourself quickly sinking into marshy mud, so scrabbling across the rocky outcroppings quickly became to only way to move from here to there. 

Cliffside explorers

More cliffside explorers

The pictures really don't do the seaside justice, but the photos are still quite beautiful. Well, in my opinion, anyway! 

Cliff with either Jura or Islay in the distance

Beautiful! 

We eventually all made our way back to our cars and headed back to a restaurant we had passed and where we had made dinner reservations. Because, let's face it, a party of nine is rarely welcomed at a moments notice at any establishment worth patronizing.  We were a bit early, so we pulled off a few times in order to get a few more photos into the mix.

Cindy, photographing everything!

Here's my version of the photo that Cindy's taking:

Boat for sale - cheap!

And one last photo, at the harbor near the restaurant. 

Boats for sale - not so cheap!

What a great weekend away! Who cares that the hotel was creepy and had non-potable, brown water?! When you're with friends, you can have fun anywhere!! 

(But potable water next time would be nice…)