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I am certainly seeing a lot of Iona these days. I was supposed to be setting up a couple of broadband routers, but guess what, neither line had been enabled for broadband. "Oh we dont have any record of the order - it must have got lost" Which I suppose is slightly better than, "what is the progress on our broadband order?" "Oh it was cancelled." I have experience both of these over the past few weeks, without any indication whatsoever that there was a problem. No letters, no phone, no email. No wonder people get really hacked off at "customer support" in the IT industry. It is dreadful to say the least.

What is needed is the online equivalent of "Chewin the Fat's "Big Man" - "IS THERE A PROBLEM???" Just realised I gave a plug for the 麻豆官网首页入口 there.... Anyway rant over. So I went all the way to Iona to do a 2 day job and ended up twiddling my thumbs at 11 am.... nothing else for it.... looks like I am going to have to go for a stroll and look at some rocks..... shame really....

Actually, I needed to check out some potential field trip sites anyway ( I had intended going out early evening to do it) so this was a perfect opportunity.

There are some interesting rocks in the south west of Iona - its also an area that I dont think gets visited very often. Most people who do more than just visit the Abbey, will go to the Machair, or Columbas Bay. Maybe the Marble Quarry. And some will go to the beautiful white beaches at the north end.

But the SW corner....whats there?

Well you know that that is the cue for me to bore you rigid with a load of rock-geekery, dont you? Allow me to oblige. Here are the pics:


The weather was beautiful - a really nice day for being out and about. this is the view from the south end of the machair looking NW.

I wanted to look at the area round about the hill called Druim an Aoinidh, right on the SW corner. Apparently, according to the Geological Survey memoir to the area, there is an unusual rock called eclogite to be found there. Eclogite is a SERIOUSLY cool rock, and relatively rare, so finding this would be neat.

Easiest way to get to it was to take te Columbas Bay track and then head across the moor just beyond the loch. I came across a beautiful exposure of the Lewisian Gneiss near here:



And in close up, there was a band of green epidote running through it:



Moving on a bit, towards the west:



This is the bay below Druim an Aoinidh. There is a fault that runs right across it- that is what the V shaped cleft is. And it continues in the opposite direction as well.



This is the view looking down on the bay. The cleft is really obvious.

The summit of Druim an Aoinidh is not far away.



And this view, straight into the sun, was from the summit.

From here it was a case of looking around for this eclogite chappie. Not too sure if I found it or not - a bit of further research is needed. Anway, it was time to head back.

Loch Staoineag from the path back to the Machair:


And that was that.

looks like its back to Iona next week to finish the broadband job, so there could well be more exploring to do. See you soon

JW (MM)

The weather has certainly been pretty variable this last while - blazing sunshine one day and then pouring rain the next. The thing to remember when it is like this is that there are often some good photo opportunities to be had.

On Saturday young Iain and I went up to the Mishnish Lochs for a while. The weather was very calm and still:


That's Ben Hiant seen from near the "red shed" - the boathouse.


Iain sitting beside some boats

The weather wasnt looking too great for the Darky Sky Scotland astronomical event that was taking place this weekend. However, it cleared to leave a beautiful sky - loads to see! But the best, I think was in the early morning just as dawn was breaking.


That picture shows the Moon in close conjunction with Venus. Always a nice sight. Actually Saturn wasnt far away either, so we got a good view of the rings through my telescope. Iain had never seen it before "in the flesh" so this was a good moment.

Didnt get a pic of that unfortunately, but here is an enlargement of the Moon and Venus:



I have only just started using the digital camera for night time pics - it is quite different from using film. And a lot less wasteful!

The morning sky was rather nice, with lots of mist:


Thats the view from our house over towards Morvern.

Later, I took a trip up Cnoc Fuar to see how the views looked:


Some cold spiders I would think....


The view from the path up to the masts, looking towards the Mishnish Lochs

And this is the view over to Ardnamurchan:


Great swathes of cloud filling Loch Sunart. Classic temperature inversion sort of thing. Visually, what you have is quite a nice scene. But there was an other element to add to it. Sound. The noise of the foghorn was very prominent as well as the roaring of rutting stags. It all added to the atmosphere.


So that was that, and hey, I havent mentioned geology. Not so fast..... Just for information, I am doing a talk in An Tobar, Tobermory on Wednesday at 8pm. It is called "Mull & Iona - a Geological Journey" and, like last year, it is a pre-cursor to the night classes which will begin next week. If you are around, do come along. Wont be too "heavy" - just lots of pics to whet the appetite.

More soon!

JW (Mountainman)

Bloody Bay is one of these places I had been menaing to have a good look at for a while and Sunday afternoon offered a good opportunity. The north end near Ardmore Point is good for looking at the rocks - that's where we had the first field trip last year. Also, in a previous blog, I described the lighthouse path from Tobermory and beyond so that was the south end covered. You can actually get to the bit in the middle from the Ardmore forest road - a rough forestry track cuts off to the right and after fighting with brash and bracken, you come out at the place known as Glac Mhor.

There is a little inlet here:



And there is a lot of coumnar basalt about. The columns are about 4 to 6 inches across and all quite small, but still very distinctive:



And in close-up:



Great views over to Ardnamurchan from here:



And the fish farm is an obvious feature in the bay:



Here's another view, looking towards the north end of Bloody Bay and over to Ardnamurchan:



If you look closely at the shore, you'll see soething standing up, Its a dyke, seen end on and its quite remarkable. Almost looks like a man made feature - a wall of rock, but quite natural.

Anyway, thats all for today - off to Fort William later in the week, so may get a chance to go to Glen Coe and catch up with some neat geology and great hill walking. Be back soon!

James
{MM}

Just a very quick wee posting here - was along the shore of Loch na Keal the other day. For once I actually had more than a few minutes for lunch and the weather was nice, so I decided to take a look.

I mentioned in a previous blog that the rocks at the side of Loch na Keal show the effects of glaciation - the rocks have channels cut in them and some of these are really noticable. I took a few pics since the weather was good and the sun was just in the right position.



anda another:



and a third:




The other great thing about this shore is the number of dykes that cut it - dozens of the things. Some of these have been extensively studied by geologists and you can see in places where samples have been taken:



Those round holes (about 1" across) are where a core sample has been taken - as you can see there are several holes. Must say, I have mixed feelings about this sort of thing - they can look a bit unsightly but so does rock that has been extensively hammered in order to get samples - in some places (and that includes Mull) it is very noticeable. The holes are supposed to be filled in afterwards, but this never looks right either. However, bear in mind that this sort of sampling is generally done for serious research purposes and isnt just some gratuitous exercise in grabbing lumps of rock. To you and me, these are just holes. To someone else it might be major step towards a PhD!

Thats all for today - see you soon!

MM

On Tuesday I had some work to do at Carsaig - the weather forecast wasnt great, so I was thinking "what a waste" Normally I really like to visit Carsaig - there is just something special about it - and the geology is something else. There really is a lot to see. The place just heaves with interesting rocks, fossils, minerals, different formations and structures, soaring cliffs and excellent sea views. No matter where you go, there is something fascinating (well I think so anyway!) However, the forecast was not good.



Forecasts? Pah! As it turned out, the weather was great, really nice and quite atmospheric as well. I didnt have a lot of time, but spent a rather nice lunch hour exploring the shore east of Carsaig pier, the path that goes to Lochbuie.

A picture is worth a thousand words? OK, here goes:

View from the road down to the pier:



A really foamy sea:



There is rather fine waterfall here:



And there was a rainbow in the spray:



There is a cave behind the waterfall, so you can stand inside and watch the fun:



The view out to sea was quite dramatic:



But, one of the great things about here is the columnar basalt. It really is impressive. You probably think I've got a thing about the stuff. You'd be right. I love it! Piccies here:







There is also a good sea stack:



A bit further on, I had a good view of Creach Bheinn near Lochbuie:



And great views over to the Laggan peninsula:



And that was that - back the way I came - a really nice walk, despite a discouraging forecast. Some day, I'll get round to doing the walk all the way to Lochbuie. Oh yes, one final thing: theres a small islet offshore from Carsaig pier called Gamhnach Mhor. Its composed of a rock that is found nowhere else in Mull. A rock called syenite. See what I mean about interesting geology? There's a future blog for you if I can get someone to take me out there.

So many rocks, so little time......

Be back soon!

Cheers

James (mountainman)

Thursday was one of those "house husband" days when I am in charge of Junior and Junior Miss. For the whole day. I actually really like these days - an opportunity to spend some quality time (horrible cliche I know) with the wee ones. After all, they grow up fast enough. So "carpe diem" yet again. When I have the whole day with them, i usually head off somewhere exciting, and Carsaig was a possibilty, or maybe Uisken.

However, an email this morning alerted me to the fact that the path from Carsaig westwards to the famous Carsaig Arches had collapsed at one point, and could I report back on it when next down that way?

So that confirmed it - a trip to Carsaig was on the cards.

Weather was good, not brilliant, but Iain and Sarah had a great time. So did father, poking around in rocks and stuff. For which , of course Carsaig is one of the best geological sites in Mull. Let the pictures tell their story:

On the beach:


Still on the black sands of Carsaig:
(The sand is black to grey in colour - I have often felt that "Black Sands of Carsaig " sounds quite arty and lyrical and there should be a tune called that....) Enough!:



we headed along to the west, to Aird Ghlas, where the path had been eroded. The path at this point runs across a huge scree-fan, a lot of which looks fairly recent - I know that there was a sizeable rock fall here a few years ago. The path has actually collapsed at this point. However it is not really a big deal, as you can walk along the bouldery beach as an alternative. Having saif that howeve, you wouldnt really want to fall here:



Iain and Sarah though that this was all very boring and that snacking was a much better idea!:



Note the wellies: If you are heading round this way, it can be pretty boggy in places...

The rocks round about here are full of interest. The cliffs above are sandstone, with basalt above:



The sandstone has a distinct "honeycomb" appearance, looking a bit like a Crunchie or Maltesers:



And the loose rocks on the shore show a remarkable variety - all sorts of goodies here, like this rock, chock full of fossil shells of Jurassic age:



After that, it was back to the car and a nice drive back to Tobermory. The moon above Tobermory bay (seen from our garden in this pic) looked really really nice:



As they used to say in the Looney Tune cartoons "Thats all, Folks!" but I am heading back over to Iona again later this week, so hopefully I can report back from there. See you soon, thanks for reading this!

JW (MM)