Days like these - Iona and the Ross of Mull

This Google Earth slide shows the track of our three day sea kayaking trip to Iona and the Ross of Mull.  We paddled a little over 100km during the three days, but the distance was really irrelevant - it was the stunning colours, light quality and beaches which really made the trip stand out - below are just a few of the highlights....

The "pink milepost" at Pennyghael, with Loch Scridain and Ben More beyond.

Dinner al fresco at our base - Fidden Farm camp site.

Breathtaking colour at Port Ban on Iona

Afloat on a sea of light......

Traigh na Margaidh, Ross of Mull

Taking in the view after a great day's sea kayaking

Bones of the land - Ross of Mull pink granite

Watercolour light - Eilean Annraidh

St Martin's cross, Iona Abbey

Sunsets at Fidden with the calls of Corncrakes and Snipe - magical evenings.

David Balfour's Bay - Erraid

Days like these...memories to last forever.

Stones, Saints, Kings and Commoners - Iona's spritual heritage

Iona Abbey and church is one of the oldest and most important religious sites in western Europe and was the centre from which Christianity spread throughout Scotland.  In modern times we think of travel in terrestrial terms and Iona seems remote and at the edge of things, but in times when sea travel was much easier and safer than travel over land it was very much at the centre of the sea lanes.  As this large scale map shows, Iona is at a pivot point between the Hebrides, the Scottish mainland and inner islands, and also the coast of the island of Ireland to the south.  There is evidence that Iona was a religious centre well before the arrival of Christianity and that Columba continued and developed a long tradition of religious association on the island.

The current Abbey and church represent the culmination of a long phase of building and rebuilding.  The monastery established by Columba and his followers would have been a simple timber and turf affair surrounded by a low vallum (walled bank).  The current Abbey is believed to be located on the site of the original Columban church and is built on a raised beach, while the monastery was located where the ruins of the Augustinian Nunnery now stand.

Columba came to Iona in 563 having been banished from Ireland following the battle of Cul Dreimhe. He was 42 years old and had the confidence and connections of his royal upbringing as an Irish prince.  He was not the first Irish missionary to arrive in Scotland and may not even have been the greatest, but he was remarkably effective in converting the Scots and to an extent the Picts to Christianity.  He died in 597, his place in history cemented by no less than three biographies which catalogued his missionary work.  Columba's name in the Irish Gaelic language was "Colm Cille" (church dove) and though some of his actions don't seem at all "saintly", by the time of his death Columba had radiated Christianity across Scotland and established Iona as a beacon of light and learning.

The Columban monastery suffered the first of a series of Viking raids in 795 and was razed to the ground.  It was rebuilt after the raid and again following destruction by Vikings in 798 and 802.  Further raiding and destruction in 806 (when 68 monks were killed at Martyr's Bay), 825 and 849 led to the few remaining treasures being divided between Dunkeld and Kells in Ireland.  Iona continued to attract raiders though, with another destructive visitation in 986.

Queen Margaret of Scotland is said to have had the monastery rebuilt in stone in 1074 but this is not certain.  What is known is that after a period when Iona was under the control of the Kings of Norway for over fifty years at the start of the 12th century before Somerled, Lord of the Isles wrested back control in 1164.  In 1203 Somerled's son Ranald of Islay invited the Benedictine order to establish a new monastery and the Augustinian order to establish a Nunnery on the site of the original monastery.  In 1204 the island was raided by a force led by two Irish bishops, probably in response to the loss of Irish Columban influence - turbulent priests indeed.....

The Abbey and church were substantially expanded during the 1500's but the whole place fell into disuse following the upheavals of the Scottish Reformation. In 1899 the Duke of Argyll who owned Iona transferred the buildings and the religious sites to the ownership of Iona Cathedral Trust who commenced an extensive restoration project in 1938 and established the Iona Community, who continue to utilise the Abbey and church.

The church has much of its medieval architecture intact and is still used as a place of worship. This image is taken from the Nave and shows the amount of light which streams in through the large window behind me.

There are over 150 grave slabs in the church and surrounding buildings, many of them dating from 1300-1500.  Some are set into the floor while others are mounted along the walls of the church.  An attempt was made by the Duke of Argyll to arrange the slabs into a collection of Kings and Lords - the latter including chiefs of the Macleans, MacLeods and MacKinnons.

Due to the nature of the rectangular cloisters it's difficult to get a proper image of the rectangle and arcaded ranges.  Rebuilt in the 1950's, the general arrangement remains with doors leading off to the refectory, dormitories and chapter house.  The sculpture in the cloister garth is "Descent of the Spirit" created by the Lithuanian sculptor Jacques Lipchitz in 1959.  the inscription highlights the fact that the sculpture represents the Christian Mary and was created by Lipchitz (who was Jewish) to promote understanding in the world.

The Abbey and church are well worth exploring, but for me it's what lies outwith the comparatively modern structures which holds the most interest.

This unassuming stretch of partly overgrown cobbled track is a visible remnant of a wide cobbled way that once ran to the Abbey from the shore near Port nam Mairtir and known as the "Road of the Dead".  It may once have been lined with crosses and was the processional way along which the coffins of Kings, Clan chiefs and other important persons were borne for burial in the churchyard.

Beyond the cobbled road is Reilig Odhran (St Oran's graveyard) and the small chapel within the graveyard walls. Oran is believed to have been Columba's cousin and one of the original twelve who accompanied him from Ireland.  Reilig Odhrain has been used as a burial ground for many centuries and some of the earliest Christian burials on Iona took place here, marked by very simple stone markers which are now in the Abbey museum.  A high cross (St Oran's) which stood here is also in the museum, its socket stone still lies beside the path.

It has been claimed that 48 Scottish Kings and numerous others from Norway, Ireland and even France are buried at Iona along with numerous clan Chiefs.  Historians believe that the number of royal burials is probably much less than claimed and that number was probaly overstated in order to emphasise Iona's importance.  There have certainly been notable royal burials at Iona though - the bodies of Kenneth MacAlpin (the Pictish king who forged together Picts and Scots into what we perceive as Scotland), Malcolm I, Duncan I and Macbeth among them.

St Oran's chapel is probably the oldest intact building at Iona abbey and is likely to have been constructed by Somerled as a family burial chapel before he died in 1164.  There are very old grave slabs set into the floor commemorating other "Sea Kings" and a row of exquisitely carved slabs on display inside.

The graveyard itself was a peaceful spot on the morning of our visit, the green grass studded with the vivid colours of bluebells.  If St Oran's was originally reserved for the great and good, in later times it has become the burial ground for the islanders of Iona with legible gravestones dating back to 1730.

Others are interred here too, there are a couple of Commonwealth War Grave stones - this one marking a sailor of the Merchant Navy whose body washed up on Iona.

The best known modern grave marker at St Oran's is that of John Smith, a Scottish QC and politician who led the Labour party at the time of his death in 1994 aged just 56.  He was widely respected (unusual enough for a politician), was a man of integrity with a strong sense of right and wrong (completely absent in most politicians) and would have almost certainly bcome one of the great Prime Ministers.  "Plain John Smith" had visited Iona many times and was buried in Reilig Odhran in a private ceremony following a public funeral in Edinburgh attended by 1000 people - a later service in Westminster was attended by 2000 from across the political spectrum and addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The epitaph on the gravestone is a quote fom the poet Alexander Pope - "An Honest Man's the Noblest Work of God".  In the years following Smith's burial the grave became something of a tourist attraction, the many people wishing to visit it created some issues locally and damage to surrounding graves, but these days the numbers are more proportionate.

On our way back to the shore from the Abbey we passed the ruins of the Augustinian Nunnery and church which date from the 1200's.  There's a small garden attached and it would have been good to have explored this attractive ruin, but our arrival coincided with the latest invasion.....

...of cruise passengers.  "L'Austral's" tenders had been shuttling back and forth bringing boatloads of passengers ashore where they were arranged by numbers, with some groups heading to the Nunnery and Abbey whilst others headed to the pier for boat tours out to Staffa and Fingal's Cave - presumably the groups would then alternate later.

Things suddenly felt crowded and we headed back to our boats on the shore at Martyr's Bay.  We were fortunate to enjoy our exploration of the religious heritage of Iona's Abbey in relative peace, because during the day it becomes a busy tourist attraction.

Whilst not a religious person, I'm fascinated by places of faith and belief of all kinds.  Perhaps it's the combination of a religious place with immense heritage and the demands of being tourist hot-spot but the "spirituality" which is claimed for Iona's abbey felt somewhat diminished to me.  It is, nonetheless, a remarkable place to experience.

Iona - crossings and crosses

The third day of our visit to the Ross of Mull and Iona dawned fine and sunny with a forecast of increasing northerly wind in the afternoon. We hoped to cross back to Iona and visit the Abbey before the day visitors crossed from Mull on the Calmac ferry....but as we took breakfast an altogether larger vessel full of visitors arrived in the Sound of Iona and anchored...

If we wanted a crowd-free experience at the Abbey and the other historical sites of Iona, it would be far better to get there before the cruise passengers!

L'Austral is a French owned cruise ship - described by her owners Ponant as a "mega yacht".  She's registered in the  French Polynesian islands of Wallis Futuna and flies a French tricoleur ensign.  She's 142m long with a beam of 18m and can carry up to 264 passengers in her 132 luxury cabins supported by a crew of 139. 

Our boats are a maximum of 5.25m (less in the case of Donald's F-RIB) and each carry one crew member in (comparative) luxury.......

We were on the water shortly after breakfast and made another crossing of the Sound of Iona, aiming for the beach just south of the main settlement on the island - Baile Mor (Big Town).  Donald crossed ahead of us and made use of an inflatable roller to move his boat up above the high water mark.

This beach is one of the better known on Iona, if not the most scenic.  In 862 the monastery on Iona suffered one of a series of Viking raids and 68 monks were killed on this beach, which is known as Port Nam Mairtir, or Martyr's Bay.

Our intention in landing at Port nam Mairtir was much more peaceful than that of the Vikings, but nevertheless we were in a hurry to get to the Abbey before the crowds arrived, so we headed straight from the beach towards past the village of Baile Mor.

Iona is particularly rich in stone crosses, some of them very old.  The first we came to is by no means the oldest but is striking nevertheless. Set at the side of the road to the Abbey, McLean's Cross dates from around 1500 and was placed where mediaeval pilgrims could pray as they approached the abbey.  On the face the cross bears interlace designs sprouting from the tails of two two fantastical beasts, the reverse has a crucifixion scene.  The McLeans were a powerful clan in the mediaeval period and this cross was paid for by them as a public show of wealth and piety.

The mix of tourism and religious sites is a curious one and Iona's Abbey is certainly something of a tourist honeypot with significant entrance charges. The Abbey wasn't yet open for visitors when we arrived, but it's possible to visit most of the site outside "opening times" and we left a small donation towards upkeep of the site.

The ground on the landward side of the abbey contains the largest of the crosses and the largest carved cross still in situ, the impressive St Martin's cross.  Carved from a single piece of grey epidorite stone which is possibly from Argyll, it has stood overlooking the Sound of Iona and the many crossings of vessels for over 1200 years.  The east face is carved with biblical scenes in low relief........

..while the west face is carved with bosses and interlaced serpents.  The arms of the cross have slots which may have held either extensions or decorative panels.  The distinctive cross and circle design is a feature of "Celtic" crosses and may well have its origins right at the opening period of Chrisitanity in the west of Europe.

The Celtic church sought to convert the poulation to Christianity and one of the ways which this process could be assisted was by incorporating exiting pagan sites and symbols into the new religion.  Building churches and monasteries near to or over the top of pagan ritual sites was quite common, and it's thought that the circle symbol associated with sun worship may have been incorporated into the Christian cross to produce what we now recognise as a Celtic cross.

At 4.3 metres tall, St Martin's is a very impressive cross and given its age, is in remarkably good condition.

The next cross we visited looks old but is in fact a replica.  St John's cross was erected around AD700, at about the same time as the small chapel of St Columba's shrine.  It was carefully positioned so that late in the day a shadow of the cross is projected onto the doorway of the shrine chapel, emphasising the sanctity of the place.  The use of this chapel which is believed to be the burial place of Columba is enduring and we didn't enter because a lady was inside at quiet prayer.

Inside the Abbey church itself, on top of a comparatively modern Communion table made from Iona marble is this fine silver cross, again in a Celtic style........

...and in seeming contrast to the simple wooden cross standing in St Oran's chapel, where some of the graves of the Lords of the Isles are marked.

There are more crosses to be seen at the Abbey museum including some of the oldest, but it was too early in the day for this to be open. 

Water colours and watercolours

Iona has long been a magnet for artists; indeed it's perfectly possible to imagine how the monks of the Abbey could have gained inspiration for their work illuminating manuscripts from the unique and special light of the island.

In particular Iona has become known for watercolours painted by artists from the "Scottish Colourists" movement including Francis Cadell who had a long association with the island, and Samuel Peploe, who was first introduced to Iona by Cadell and became a regular visitor.

As Douglas has noted, Colourist paintings of Iona became very popular in the second half of the 20th century, and the tradtion of both painting and appreciating views from the cluster of beaches at the north tip continues......

This large watercolour by Jan Fisher is just such a work. When we saw it displayed at her gallery in the Fife village of Pittenweem some years ago it had such impact that we returned an hour later to purchase a limited print - it's hung in one of the lightest rooms in our home in order to show the colour to its best and has, in our view, captured the essence of Iona's light and colour.

In the upper part of the painting, set in the sea between Iona and the hills of Mull, is Eilean Annraidh with its distinctive spit of white sand.  

Approaching Eilean Annraidh was to understand why artists are drawn to the place - the quality of light was astonishing.  A dramatic banner of cloud streaming from Ben More on Mull added a huge dimension of sky, and itself altered the light as the aftenoon sun was alternately filtered through cloud.....

...and then shone fully, changing the colours in the water from turquoise to an iridescent jade green and lighting the sand to a dazzling intensity. 

Here, solas (light) reached a pitch rarely encountered and after landing on the inner part of the sand bar in order not to disturb a nearby Tern colony, we just wandered about separately, taking it in.

Beyond Eilean Annraidh lay a widescreen view to the "Wilderness" coast of Mull's Ardmeanach peninsula  which we discussed for a future visit........

......as we sat on the rocks of Eilean Annraidh enjoying the watercolour water colours.....

Sometimes it just seems to be an uphill struggle.....

 After leaving Port ban we paddled up the northwest coast of Iona in sublime conditions of calm sea and in hot sunshine.  Out to sea were the skerries of Sgurr Mhich Mhurchaid (Murchison's Stack) and Reidh Eilean (Smooth Island) and far beyond, a banner of cloud indicated the position of  the island of  Tiree.

Donald was waiting for us at Eilean Chalbha (calf island), the point were we got the first view of Ben More on Mull to the north.  As we approached we began to experience a strengthening tidal flow against us......

 ...caused by the ebbing tide running across a shallow sand spit between rocky outcrops.

 A path of luminous turquoise water above white sand led between rocky patches and combined with the tidal flow running towards us created the strangest sensation.........

 ....that we were paddling uphill on a slope of water.  The effort required to push forward did nothing to reduce the sense of paddling up an incline!

Had we been ten minutes later this shallowest section of the sandbar would probably have dried out and we'd have missed this colourful and interesting little bit of Iona's coast.  Beyond, we were into deeper water towards the northenmost part of the island and beaches which are easily reached by walking across from the Abbey.  We decided not to land on these beaches but to continue past the north tip of Iona to another jewel in the summer sea....

Tempted by a trio of Traighs

After leaving Camas Cuil an-t Saimh we continued up the west coast of Iona, accompanied by a faint rumbling noise....the sound of our stomachs gently reminding us that first luncheon had yet to be taken.

We were looking for the perfect beach - or Traigh in the Gaelic language - on which to land.  There are several excellent candidates and you might reasonably think we're too picky......

This one?  Too much weed near the water's edge so it might be a bit smelly........ we continued on.....

...along a shore composed of rugged Gneiss outcrops and tidal islands, edged with water of stunning clarity, still seeking the perfect Traigh.

How about this one?  Well, it was certainly a white sand beach backed with level machair on which to sit, but we spotted someone walking towards the bay from inland - just one person but it would feel crowded...... on we went....

......and just what we'd been looking for came into view.

Port Ban (white or fair port)- a strand of white sand enclosed by arms of rock, backed by low dunes and machair.  This was it; our third tempting Traigh was pretty much perfect!

While the others explored the shore, Douglas and I climbed up the rocky Cnoc (rocky hillock) above the bay to photograph......

...a small piece of paradise.  The colours were simply stunning; this image is straight from the camera with no processing; the polarising filter has brought out perfectly what we experienced -white sand fringed with water which went from "almost not there" clarity through aquamarine, turquoise and finally shades of deepest indigo.  The emerald green of early summer grasses and the pale greys of the rock added their own shades to the scene.

We rejoined Donald, Lorna and Allan and took a leisurely lunch on the beach - absorbing the special surroundings we found ourselves in.  Douglas took a short swim and I was tempted to join him, but the beach shelves so gently that it would have taken an almighty long run to achieve my "leg it really fast and dive in before you chicken out" approach so I settled for wading a short way into the water, which we can report as refreshing, then took a closer look at the beach itself.

The composition of the beaches here on the west side of Iona is quite different to most of those on the nearby Ross of Mull, where fine silvery white and pink sand is more prevalent.  The sand of Port Ban is shell sand, coarser than the rock sands.  It's dazzlingly white under sunshine and under certain conditions creates a valuable ecosystem.

Gneiss bedrock is pretty much impermeable and supports poor, acid soils because rainwater doesn't drain easily.  What plants are able to grow break down to a thin skin of peat and the resulting soils are acid and lacking in nutrients.  Close to beaches of shell sand however, the wind blows the calcium-rich shell fragments back from the beach to enrich the soil.  Low-intensity grazing and further improvement with seaweed by crofters can result in spectacular meadows of grasses and wildflowers - the machair.  Found almost exclusively on the outer fringes of the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, there are just a few mainland sites.  Precious and rich in wildlife, the machair is one of Scotland's most special ecosystems.

If you look closely at the image above, a Groatie Buckie is waiting to be found!

We left Port Ban after luncheon very reluctantly - it's a place in which many hours could be passed; especially in such great weather, but there was so much more to be explored......

...and at times, the colours of this coast would simply defy adequate desciption.