This morning, right after breakfast, a couple of us went out in the tender and checked the lobster traps. Unfortunately, there was nothing there but a a small brown crab.
Since it was not going to provide any decent meal for 8 people, Ted put it back.
We set sail shortly after that. It was a cold, gray, windy day and the seas were somewhat rough. We moored for lunch among the Treshnish Isles, one of many small island groups that along the west coast of Mull. Ted told us that there is a large colony of puffins here earlier in the summer, but now by the end of August most of them have left. I suppose that they use this remote area for mating and breeding, and once the young are old enough to be independent, they take off for other places. Despite everybody looking for them, no puffins were spotted.
We sailed past Staffa and saw Fingal’s Cave. In the late 18th century, a Scotsman named James MacPherson published Ossian, an epic poem he claimed was translated from ancient Celtic sources. It was a huge success, perhaps the greatest literary event of the era, and acclaimed as a masterpiece by many. Not everyone was convinced, however, that this was truly an authentic ancient work particularly because MacPherson refused to produce the ancient manuscripts from which he had originally translated it.
Samuel Johnson, never a fan of anything Scottish other than his secretary, James Boswell, particularly hated it. He was asked, “Sir, could any mere man have written this.”
“Yes,” he retorted, “Many men. Many women. And many children, too.”
But Johnson’s was a minority view, and it remained popular throughout the 19th century inspiring many to come to the Hebrides to see the places mentioned in the poem. And none were most interesting than the sea cave on Staffa where Fingal had lived. Felix Mendelssohn was one of those tourists, and the sight of the cave inspired is his Hebridean Overture.
Today, although there are a few who still defend the authenticity of the poem, the prevailing consensus is that MacPherson basically produced an original work loosely based on some Irish legends.
Ted said that the seas around Staffa were too rough to take a boat in today to see the Cave. But he did take us close enough to see the island and the Cave from a distance. One of the most striking features of Staffa are the basalt columns, almost identical to those found in Northern Ireland at The Giant’s Causeway.
The Cave is a giant indentation in this feature.
Ted hopes to take us back tomorrow, if possible, to actually get on the island and to see the Cave from the tender. I hope so.
We finally made it to the area call the Ross of Mull. I was intrigued to see this area because the MacGillivray clan originally came from here. They are particularly associated with the village of Pennyghael, far down the Ross, near the end of Loch Scridain. We are moored at the other end, near the village of Bunessan. We took a short walk there before dinner. It’s a pretty typical Hebridean village.
There was a pub and a couple shops on the small high street. Maybe it was the time of day and the mist, but it all seemed pretty romantic to me.
There was a parish church of the Church of Scotland. I once think that this had been the center of community life, but the signboard indicated that it was yoked with several other village churches and that services were held there only a couple times a month.
I am not sure why, but I was a little surprised to see sheep grazing right by the end of the water there.
The sheep seemed vaguely curious about us for some reason. And since they were staring at me, I figured I would just snap a picture or two.
I was fascinated by the large truck parked in the center of the village. I learned from my fellow passengers that this is a mobile movie theater, one of several that travel across Scotland in the summer bringing first-run movies to small towns unable to support a cinema.
Apparently the Scottish government subsidizes this service. I think a mobile movie theater is a terrific idea, but I am not sure it is the best use of scarce state funds.
We had another amazing dinner. Tomorrow we set sail early for Iona, the birthplace of Scottish Christianity.
