Via Tinkers Hole and Iona to the Treshnish

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On Saturday 16th July, having visited the Priory on Oronsay, we caught the tide northwards towards the SW tip of Mull to pick our way through the rocky islets guarding the entrance to the anchorage of Tinker's Hole.  

We had been warned that this place can get very busy at times as it is a magnet for visiting yachts.

Bob Bradfield's chart of Tinker's Hole - rocks all around

Tinker's Hole is a narrow alley of water nestled into a rocky landscape with boulders all around.  The previous time we had tried to anchor here, it had indeed been full of other yachts but this time we had the place to ourselves.

Anchored on our own in Tinker's Hole


Panoramic view to Starboard

And to Port

It was an eerie but calm place to anchor, totally cut off from our usual phone signals that normally provided us with a link to the rest of the world and to evening TV viewing via iPlayer etc.

The following day, still with this spell of calm weather, we planned to see Iona, this iconic location where in 563 AD, St Columba started his community that was to spread Christianity to Scotland, England and throughout mainland Europe.

The wind was S/SE F3/4 at 0600 as we headed towards the Sound between Iona and Mull to anchor in the bay on the NW tip of Iona called Traigh An T-Suidhe.

Anchored off Iona

After we had decided that the weather was settled, we pumped up the dinghy and rowed ashore to walk the mile south to the Abbey where St Columba had set up his monastic community.

The Abbey at Iona

It was still relatively early and today's thrust of visitors to the Abbey had not yet arrived and the hotels on the island were busy serving breakfasts to their guests.  We might have paid the £9.50 each to go inside the Abbey but somehow we felt that the place was perhaps over-commercialised and we didn't feel like becoming trapped tourists.

So we wound our way back to the boat via the numerous tourist and craft shops based around this special place.

Back on board and reinvigorated by a couple of home-made scones with jam, we set sail for the lovely group of Treshnish Islands, where the puffins and other seabirds make their homes.

Snugly anchored off Lunga in the Treshnish Islands





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