Off to the Isle of Iona

Posted on February 5th, 2010 under Uncategorized

Greetings!

It’s hard to believe that February has found us again.  I am happily back in my cozy corner of St. Andrews after some adventurous trips through the Highlands.  With several weeks between the end of exams in early January and the start of the second semester this upcoming Monday, a friend and I decided to explore the breathtaking beauty of the Highlands and Islands.

I felt like Bilbo Baggins setting off on a grand journey, wanting to see mountains, but always with the domestic comforts of a pocket handkerchief.  Be forewarned any traveler to the islands, though these places beckon with natural beauty, like the songs of the sirens they can lure you into rather tricky places.  The islands have a dooming tourism industry, in the summer.  But in the winter, many of these places bunker down until the spring thaw.

My companion and I did not realize this when we happily set off on our merry way.  Our first destination was the Isle of Iona.  We set out from St. Andrews to Edinburgh where we caught a train to Glasgow.  From there, we were able to travel up through the Highlands to the port town of Oban were we caught a ferry taking us to Mull.   From Mull, we caught a bus taking us to the small town on the other end of the island where we caught a ferry taking us the last leg ofthe journey to Iona.

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