Summer has arrived in Scotland, yesterday with giddy temperatures up to 20 degrees, although this morning, here in Tobermory, a fine drizzle has passed over. The forecast gave a 10% chance of rain, so they are not wrong. I like to add the Scottish micro-climate uncertainty factor, which means; always expect rain.
The Treshnish Islands were as beautiful as we remembered and the weather was very kind, sunny with gentle winds. When the wind blew off the land, there was that familiar stink of bird poo. There are a lot of birds, so there's a lot of other stuff too. The guillemots and razor bills were gone but puffins, cormorants, ducks (of some sort!) and oyster catchers were all around us.
Puffins Line the Clifftops of Lunga
Puffin Burrows on the Cliff Edge
We took the cliff path along to the guillemot breeding rock, trying to avoid getting dizzy with the long drops beside us. The cormorant nests near the path still had big, fluffy chicks in them and hissing mothers but they are used to people passing by and are happy to let you escape with only a stern warning.
Cormorant Parent and (very big) Chick
The puffins, on the other hand, are very relaxed with us humans. It's the arctic skuas that they hate.
Coy Puffin
Puffin Blue Sky
View down on Lunga Anchorage
From the heights, we looked down on Rapport and two other yachts in the anchorage below. Long derelict stone houses nestled at the edge of the raised platform below us.
After our beautiful morning walk with the birds, we decided to head back to civilisation and a hot shower. The wind was a gentle Southerly from astern, barely affecting the sails, so it was mainly up to faithful Yanni to propel us for 4 hours to Tobermory. Here we arrived to high temperatures (although 20 degrees cooler than down South), fresh water, electricity, showers and a well stocked Co-Op.
Tobermory from Marina
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