I left my lung on a Scottish island...

*sung to the tune of 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco*

Yes, I have returned and (in the time-honoured philosophy of going on holiday after a hectic period of work) managed to get sick while I was on Mull. Which wasn't too bad for the first couple of days but then I ( probably TMI )

As expected, the weather ranged from absolutely baking through rain and midge swarms to 'a combination of all of the preceding' but at least I got to do most of what I wanted to do regardless. I'd organised to go on a trip out specifically looking for otters and spent about 5 hours watching said critters quite close to where I was camping. I'd already seen one by pure chance earlier in the week, but only for about a minute, whereas this was the real thing. Fortunately, at this stage I wasn't coughing too badly. Said critters were too far away for my camera to get a good shot but here's one of them from the people I went with:



I also got to go and visit the puffins on the Treshnish Islands where, as the guy running the boat trip says, they've been involved in studying Homo Sapiens for quite some time. You can literally sit and they'll land or waddle around within a couple of feed of you, which makes (hopefully!) for some great pics when I get through all of them. Pic spam to follow...

So, in short, good holiday which probably would have been much improved by my not being ill, also more consistent weather (but hey, it's Scotland so that's a bit much to ask). Also, I like the countryside but this has reminded me why I also like wi-fi and 24-hour supermarkets. ;)

E.T.A. Can't believe I forgot to mention one of the other highlights of the trip, namely being in a tent in the middle of a massive thunderstorm. We'd already watched the first part of the storm roll over and lightning strikes on the coast opposite, only for the next bit to be literally overhead. It was like being inside a drum, with massive flashes of light pretty much constantly - awesome!