Iona to Edinburgh

Sunday was our travel day -- Iona ... Fionnphort ... Craignure ... Oban ... Edinburgh. For the most part, everything went according to plan. We had our last breakfast at the St. Columba, and there was even time for a "cooked" breakfast for those who wanted it. Our luggage was carried to the jetty in the hotel van, saving us yet another lugging of the luggage. (This time, however, gravity would have been helping us!) There was time for one last group photo before the ferry arrived, and then we were off across the Iona sound.

Joining us on the ferry was Sid Graham, the pastor of the Church of Scotland parish on Iona. In another of a series of amazing coincidences, he had spent time recently in the Fox Valley, and knows both Chuck Valenti-Hein of Memorial Presbyterian Church in Appleton and Anne Coran of another Presbyterian church in Northeast Wisconsin.

We had time in Oban for a nice lunch. There was a minor scheduling glitch involving the charter bus that was to take us to Edinburgh. The original bus had equipment difficulties, but a substitute bus soon arrived and we were on our way. Evidently the more direct bus route from Oban to Edinburgh would have retraced our route from Glasgow. We opted instead for a more northerly route that took us through Stirling and Callander, thus exposing us to more wonderful Scottish landscape. Our route took us through the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, and camping, hiking, and biking were much in evidence.

Stirling is the site where William Wallace (aka Mel Gibson aka Braveheart) successfully challenged Edward the Confessor in 1297 at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Callander's claim to fame is that it provided safe passage for Rob Roy. (For more on both these topics, please read up on your Scottish history!)

We arrived in Edinburgh pretty much on schedule Sunday evening. At Dinner (the Orchid Lounge -- not recommended), we had a good discussion of how our experiences together and individually on Iona could be brought back to Appleton. More on this subject as our thoughts develop.