Maybe there is something to the magic of Iona, for we were able to get 2 hikes in today. The first this morning was towards the south end of Iona where Columba landed--Bay of The Coracle. We didn't make it there because it really started raining hard and we turned back. But we did pass by the Martyrs' Bay, the Hill of Angels, and the Fairy Mound. We went through the gate at the golf course--yes, there is an 18 hole golf course on the west side--and walked down to the beach to look for Iona Stones. It was so funny to see golf hole flags with cows roaming and sitting upon the course! Beautiful rocks covered the beach.
The Hill of Angels is so named because angels were seen descending to gather around and talk to St. Columba one day while he prayed on top of it.
We headed back at the height of the rain and had a quick lunch then started out again, this time to the North of the island. We passed by the Reilig Odhrain or St. Oran's Cemetery where all the kings are buried, then the Benedictine Abbey itself, built in the 12th century.
The Hebrew word for Dove is Iona and the Latin is Columba. Just read that when Columba came to Iona, he found 360 standing stones in a circle. He built his church on this site and had his monks cut the sign of the cross in each of the standing stones. These are the ones that were thrown into the sea during Reformation. I read that one of these stones is now used as the market cross for the town of Campbeltown.
Our hotel was built in 1846. Columba came here to Iona in 563Ad and founded a small Celtic monastery and for 34 years, carried on his work of introducing Christianity to the Scottish mainland and as far south as Switzerland until he died in 597.
We saw the Torr an Aba (hill of the abbot) where Columba wrote and of course the large hill, Dun-I. Many stories are wrapped around this hill fortress. St. Columba blessed Iona from the top before he died, St. Bride sang long songs daily to the lost bridegroom from the top, and there is a cairn at the top from 1897 in memory of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The hill is 332 feet high and if you want good luck, you have to climb it 7 times. From the top looking North, you can see Staffa and beyond to Coll, Tiree, Barra, Rhum, Eigg, and the Treshnish Isles. South you can see Colonsay, Islay, and the Paps of Jura.
You can also see Fingal's Cave. Mendelssohn composed Hebrides Overture after his visit here. So many famous people have come to see its rows of basalt pillars 60 feet high. It actually looks like an organ and is named for the giant who also built the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. Two legends of Fingal's Cave: there was a 9 headed monster who used the cave to fatten his captives. Cuchulainn, a giant, was on his way to Skye for the School for Heroes and killed the monster. Another says that Fingal the giant lived here with his wife and family and was baptized by Columba and gained a soul and became normal height.
Robert Louis Stevenson stayed on the isle of Erraid, 4 miles south of Ffionphort while writing "Kidnapped." You can reach the island by sand and rocks on foot if the tide is out.
On the northern brow of Dun is a well of youth, a small triangular pool, and it as said that if you long here at dawn and touch the healing water the moment the first sun-ray quickens it, you will recover your lost youth--some get back physical strength and beauty and others their dreams and aspirations. Lower down the hill is the Meadow of the Black Pot where illicit whisky stills were hidden in boggy ground when the Excise Men came calling.
Saw the White Strand of the Monks, made white by the powdered shells of innumerable land-snails. Also saw the Hill of the Seat where Columba meditated. NW Iona was agricultural, but now is mostly uninhabited, though you can see the foundations of old crofts. Also saw huge holes in the ground on the north of Iona, which turned out to be rabbit holes!
Dinner downstairs tonight at 7:15 then repacking for leaving Iona in the morning on the ferry and handing back to Mull. No TVs at this hotel so it really is peaceful. No cars are allowed on the island except for those of residents. Hopefully we won't run into any of the rally car activities on Mull tomorrow and we can get to Dervaig (Kilmore) Church for our 3rd visit here to see the beautiful stained glass showing Jesus and a pregnant Mary Magdalene.
We will be driving though Griban with its fallen rock signs and the big rock that crushed the house underneath that had honeymooners inside from the mid 19th century. All that was found afterward was a sewing machine. Got photos of Staffa and Iona from Pennyghael on Thursday. Also saw Achaban House from the Anna Carothers books, but it is now for sale. Volcanic rock and quarried granite from Ffionphort have been used in building some statues in London. The movies "Entrapment" and "I Know Where I'm Going" were filmed on Mull.
At Craignure where we will catch the ferry back to Oban, there is a legend that men tried to kill the sea noise with their Swiss. You're not supposed to whistle when windy or else it will increase to a gale. At the grassy part here is where cattle were put in the water to pull behind the ferry to he mainland to take them to market. Fairies also stole human babies here and let a changeling behind. If you put the changeling on the shot, the fairies would bring you back a human baby but it might now be YOUR human baby.
In Tobermory, location of my doctor and chemist from yesterday, is the site of a shipwreck just offshore. In 1588, the Spanish helped MacLean rob from his kin's estates on Coll using their Spanish Galleon. MacLean then blackmailed the Spanish captain and when he refused to pay, MacLean sank the Spanish Galleon.
Between Ardtun and Bunessan is a memorial to Mary MacDonald for the melody to the Carol Child in a Manger," which is also the melody for "Morning has Broken." It's called Bunessan in the hymnals.
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