A week on Iona

	A week on Iona April 2008
	Waiting for the ferry at Oban to go to Mull	Some drove to Oban and some came by bus
	The journey from Oban to Mull takes about 45 minutes	This is a view of Oban from the ferry
		Are we nearly there yet?
	We drove or took the bus through Mull then took the short ferry ride to Iona	This is us on the ferry from Mull to Iona
	This is one of the first cottages you see when you arrive on Iona	It's then a short walk to the Bishop's House where we stayed
	This is the chapel in the Bishop's House	This is a view of the house from the Abbey
	The little ones had their own service one day
	This is the lounge
	This is the Abbey which is 5 minutes walk from the Bishop's House	This is the path from the Abbey to the Bishop's House
	The path was a bit bumpy for some	Some people needed help getting through those funny gates.
This is inside the Abbey
These are the Cloisters at the Abbey
After services in the Abbey you could chat to people. Spot the little one.
	These are the ruins of the nunnery.
One day some of us went on a boat trip to Staffa.


	We saw puffins	and we saw baby seals
		It was quite windy on the boat
Everyone enjoyed the trip
There is a pilgrimage round the island every week.	You can go on the whole day one.	but there is a shorter route which is only half the day.
	But everybody meets half way at the Machair for a cup of tea and flapjacks	There was some quite difficult terrain down by the sea
	... and up in the hills	some of us were lucky to be carried all the way!
	There was a nice bench outside the Bishop's House	which came in useful
Some days we went walking in groups
and some days we walked on our own		but often we bumped into friends unexpectedly
It is very important to know where you are going.		It also very important to have the right footwear
The weather was beautiful every day....	... except one.	Some days we rode our bikes
	Some days we had lunch inside	.... and sometimes we had a packed lunch
	Some days we went paddling	and some days we went swimming
The beaches were quite empty.	This is the Bay at the Back of the Ocean
	But there was always something interesting to look at.
There was a hill called Dun I which some of us climbed		This is the row of houses which you walk past on your way to the Bishop's House. Link to full size of this one
One day some people went to Mull to climb Ben More.		Mountaineers return
On Mull we saw quite a bit of wildlife.
We went shopping in Tobermory
	Link to full size	A rainbow on Mull
Driving through Mull		It was lovely to wake up the morning and have a beautiful view
	At the pub on Iona.

		Iona is a magical place.
The weather wasn't too good on the day we left.		We had to try and get off the ferry in between waves as it was quite choppy and the water was running up the ramp. Spot the seal which came to see us off.
		But probably, we'll go back some time.
		St Columba called the island, ‘Iona of my heart’. George MacLeod, founder of the Iona Community, described it as ‘a thin place’, where earth and heaven are not far apart.

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