Mull was amongst the last few Scottish islands that we haven’t visited yet, and that situation had to be remedied, fast. We took advantage of a bank holiday weekend in the spring to drive up and camped for three nights.

Early May turned out to be the most amazing time to visit Mull. The island was at its most spectacular, with everything in full bloom and a generous helping of warm sunshine. The rhododendron, bluebells, yellow irises and everything else you can imagine was a complete explosion of colour and fragrance everywhere we went.

Even some of the smaller B-road drives were nothing short of iconic:

The road skirting the southern shores of Loch na Keal curls around the feet of massive cliffs, always close to the water’s edge. The verge lined with bushy clumps of iris, and around every corner birdwatchers plonked down for the day, scanning the cliffs with their binos.

Along this road was also the starting point to climb Ben More:

The tallest (and only) munro on any Scottish island outside of Skye, at 966m tall it’s a decent hike starting from sea level. The first two thirds of the climb were more moderate, but the last bit was a relentless straight up, up, up and up.

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Continuing along the same road eventually rejoins the main route to the ferry for the tiny island of Iona.

Here we spent only the shortest amount of time, barely a couple of hours. All I can say is that Iona’s beaches are pristine and the whole place has a serenity and sense of isolation about it that make it well worth a visit.

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Back on Mull, Tobermory, the island’s main town, was also a wee gem in the sunshine.

The harbour looked stunning in that low late evening sunshine that we tend get in our summers, and plenty of spots to enjoy the view from.

I sketched and painted for a few hours from a beer terrace overlooking the water, followed by a walk along the marina, peeking into little artisan shops along the way.

For dinner, we chose a waterside cafe for the spectacular seafood platters they offer, and spent a bright evening involving lots of crisp white wine on their roof terrace.

A miserable episode of food poisoning followed for both of us, which turned out to be nobody’s fault. Only a week later the news broke that the warm weather caused some toxic algae to thrive in the waters just outside of Tobermory, and we clearly fell victims to this undetectable hazard.

Of course I wasn’t going to let such bad luck put me off seafood forever, and went back to scoffing scallops and mussels right the next week out of sheer defiance. And I dream of another round of seafood on that Tobermory rooftop.

Mishap aside, the Isle of Mull was very good to us. I hope we get to visit again.