The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Romance is always in the air on Mull
Carole Vaughan, this week’s winner, explains how a rushed honeymoon choice has led to a long-standing love affair
Mull!?… in May?! That’s different! Well so it was! At a time when our friends were jetting off to warm climes for their honeymoon, we’d chosen Mull. It had been a quick decision – but so had everything else. We’d both answered an advert to share a house. This was how we met. Three weeks after moving in, without going out together apart from with friends, we were engaged. Six months later we were married in Sussex and leaving a hotel reception in a helicopter (a surprise wedding gift) to get to London where we’d booked the overnight sleeper to Glasgow. We’d found an offer of two-for-one train tickets and, yes, return sleeper tickets were included!
Arriving in the early morning we picked up a car and drove from Glasgow through the beautiful
Scottish scenery to Lochaline. There we caught the tiny ferry to Mull; two vehicles – us and two elderly ladies. As we drove to the hotel, we passed lots of ruined dwellings – wondering where we’d end up! We’d found the B&B in a booklet advertising accommodation in Scotland. It was small – six bedrooms, breakfast and dinner using homegrown ingredients. When we booked we were surprised to be asked what we would like for our first dinner: “Venison, salmon, roast beef or something else?” At last we came to the “hotel” with the name on the gate. Up a ladder was a man mending the roof. He was the owner and quickly came down to greet us and take us in to meet his wife and have a cup of tea. He had been a physicist and the couple had bought the hotel, where they’d begun growing produce for the guests.
Our room overlooked miles of meadows to the hills. Curlews were searching for food in the fields and raptors flew overhead. No other buildings could be seen. We were invited to join eight other guests for pre-dinner drinks. When the bell rang for dinner, we entered the dining room and playing on a record player was a Scottish song, “Here’s to the couple so recently wed!” Our “secret” was no longer a secret!
And the rest of our honeymoon? It couldn’t have been more romantic. We wandered across the white sands of Iona, where we were the only people; we saw Fingal’s Cave, we explored the tiny isle of Ulva where golden eagles soared above us and on a beautiful sunny day we caught a boat to the Treshnish Isles to see the massed seabirds. We wandered through forests and explored Tobermory. And every night there was a wonderful meal where our genial host would suggest other unspoilt places to see.
Mull in May was different – it was different and wonderful. So wonderful we returned for our silver wedding. The physicist and his wife were no longer there, but the B&B was and the food was just as good! Sea eagles had been reintroduced, golden eagles still flew overhead, Iona was just as beautiful and the sun shone again.
This year we celebrate our ruby anniversary. We’ve been to many parts of the world, but Mull in May, on a half-price train, will always be the most romantic place for us!