Staffa

Getting to Staffa required a 20 minutes train ride from Taynuilt, where we were staying, a ferry to the Isle of Mull, a coach which took us from 

one end of Mull to the other, a small boat which took us out into the Little Minch where

we were able to see the Isle of Skye where we'd been a few days prior, and a number of other

little islands, some inhabited, some not. Returning from Staff we went to Iona, another island

which has been a Christian pilgrimage destination for around 1500 years. 

Then a ferry over to Mull, a coach back to the other side of Mull, another ferry to Oban, and a train to where we were staying in Taynuilt! 

Phew! 

We felt extremely lucky that we were able to do this island tour because for a couple of 

days it was too windy and the water too rough. 

And...as McVal told me after we returned to Canada Oban was flooded!

The Tesco where we had bought some scotch was under water.

Devastating!

So, we were fortunate to have missed the worst of the weather.

Here are a few amazing photos of the Isle of Staffa which is made up of thousands of basalt columns formed by intense pressure during the last ice age, and also

hot lava comes into it too along with other scientific/geological forces.

To learn more the Wikipedia link is below.

I'm no scientist!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffa

Fingal's Cave  

Next time I go (heehee) I'll plan for August as we missed the puffins -
they leave the island to migrate at the end of August.

Looking deep into the cave.

It's hard to believe this is a natural phenomenon and
not man made. My brother was wearing a red coat but I
don't think that's him - I think he was wearing black pants.
Though in one selfie I took of myself he's in the background taking a photo!!

Natural seating area for people of all sizes!

There was a staircase providing access to the top of the wee island so I climbed
up and got some photos of cormorants, a common sea bird.

Looks like stacks of lumber.

Arriving on Staffa people start snapping right away!

Crazy beautiful! 

You can see other islands in the background.
The guy waving is afraid he is going to be stranded - talk about isolated!

They didn't forget about us :)

My feet to show you how large the basalt columns were; and the most common shape
is the hexagon. Now there's science AND math! 

The cave is like a gothic cathedral.

There are more caves than what I'm showing but we could
only access two of them - no doubt for conservations reasons.

They're like optical illusions!

Hard to tell what's up and what's down.

Spectacular!

The stairs to the top!

There are several channels that the water crashes through.

 I really would like to return, not just to Staffa but the Isle of Skye, my favourite spot

 and a number of other places we didn't have time for. 

I would drive on Skye as it has a small population and few cars but I would NOT

drive on the busy roads again trying to navigate the roundabouts.

No thank you.