Mull weekend - 7-10 August 2009 http://www.isle.of.mull.com/
A 4 day long weekend with our friends Liam and Martin - the newbie campers : )
It took about 3 1/2 hours from Glasgow to Oban in the Pootle, fully loaded with 4 passengers and our stuff. Pootle was driving well although was noticably slower on the hills. The ferry crossing only took about 40 minutes and we were in Mull.
Sunshine greeted us as we drove off the ferry and turned into the Shielings Campsite - about 300 yards from the ferry. http://www.shielingholidays.co.uk/ This is a great wee site that we would definitely recommend. A friendly welcome and a clean and tidy site with some unusual wee touches. The grass and ground are hard, so we used the hard ground awning and tent pegs. The Pootle was on rough hardstanding and the tent pitch beside us had an astroturf square cut out of the grass -- looked comfy, if a bit strange. The other unusual thing on this site is the big shieling tents -- some for staying in and others used as site utilities (drying area, laundry, games room, family bathroom etc). The accommodation shielings looked great -- just big frame structures with vinyl coverings - some of them even had their own toilets and showers inside! These would be brilliant for no-fuss family camping.
Friday night we had a bbq and enjoyed the sunshine til the wee hours. Through the night it rained - ok for us, but not so great for the newbies in the tent! Saturday brightened up a bit and we headed to Tobermory for a wee wander and a boat trip to see some wildlife.
The roads are mostly single track on Mull, so not the easiest to drive in the van - and with only a short trip, we only managed to see about a third of the place. On Sunday we drove up to Calgary Bay for a wee paddle and some lunch - a brilliant spot for wild camping right at the beach (with a public toilets). Maybe next time we'll try this - there was at least 15 tents camping there when we got there.
On the Monday we tried out the mini railway that leaves from the station just beside the site - it takes about 10 minutes to get up to the castle and gardens. Rather than pay to get into the gardens, we just had a wee meander back to the site and chilled out til the ferry came at 3.
Think we'd definitely go back to Mull - the price of the ferry, could be saved with a few nights wildcamping to make it a bit cheaper.