Our next outing was a trip to Iona. Iona is a small island off the South-West of Mull. It is small enough that you can walk around it on a day trip, and is made up of grey stone with sandy beaches and green grassy rolling slopes.
Iona has religious links, with a monastery still existing on the island. It was the home of St Columba and the monks here may well have made the beautiful pages of the Book of Kells. I've Wikipedia linked to save me providing a less accurate account of the history... (or getting myself in trouble for copying my beautiful Iona book onto the Internet!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells
I first visited Iona for a gig about 10 yrs ago. It was the 50th anniversary of the old minister's ordination, and they held a celebration with his family (his daughter was one of my lecturers at college). The minister returned to his church and held a service at which I played, then later in the day a party was held and as he had been in the navy I was asked to play some fanfares at midnight. It was a really good shindig with some very friendly people. I wished I could join with the wine and celebrations myself and have wanted to return ever since!
Iona is a truly stunning place with an amazing atmosphere and the journey to Fionnphort to catch the ferry takes you through some uniquely dramatic landscape. Well worth the trip.
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