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British Tourists
Sheep
Horned Sheep - Iona in the background
11th Century Chapel
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Sunday, September 10, 2006
Inverlussa B&B is very lovely; what I would think is high class British,
warm, cozy and decorated with taste. We sleep well! (Helen helps us find a room
for tonight near Tobermory, where we must be to perform at the school in the
morning. She called all over and finally we found one just a few miles out of
Tobermory.)
Over a hearty breakfast we chat with British tourists Linda and Allan,
and Adrienne and Ron . We are asked for a little music and have fun performing
over breakfast.
On the road again to meet the ferry to Iona, I am experiencing the
Scottish norm of single track roads with ‘passing places’. These are usually
found in rural and isolated regions like Mull, but they can be found
periodically around Scotland. Passing places are very frequent on Mull and
oncoming vehicles either pull in to let you go around them or we pull in
depending on who is closest to a passing place. It is like some kind of bird
dance or maybe squirrel dance – darting out and dipping in, waving thank you or
hello.
Not everyone is sunny and friendly – must be the locals fed up with
tourists who use passing places to park to take a walk or have a rest. The
sheep, well generally they keep out of the way but on
occasion
they like to stand on the road to have their photos taken.
An hour's drive and a 5 minute ferry takes us to historic Iona, founded
by Irishman St. Columba in 563. An ecclesiastical village, Iona is home to
deceased Scottish Kings and Clan Chiefs. But it is also where Christianity came
to Scotland. I go off to explore and Heather packs some of her Celtic CDs (God
of the Elements / CAIM) to take to the Iona Community Bookshop hoping they will
be interested in purchasing them. CAIM is a good fit for the pilgrims who trek
to Iona.
I sit awhile in a tiny 11th Century chapel on the edge of the ancient
graveyard, the oldest ecclesiastical building on Iona. A simple wooden cross in
the corner is pinned with pilgrim’s prayer notes of thanksgiving, memorials of
loved ones and special requests.
Heather has good news – after the manager of the bookstore listened to a
few tracks of CAIM’s Cd they bought all of them. I’m pleased she can follow up
on contacts for her music while toting me around.
I can see why visitors spend the whole day or weekend here. But we only
have a couple of hours to spare so back on the ferry and back on the road
heading toward one of the spots I am here to see – Calgary Bay!
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