Yesterday was hot and sunny, but when the alarm rang and we opened our eyes at 4 am this morning the rain was coming down in sheets. What a lovely start to our journey!

After a very quick turn around we were up and out and on our way to Gatwick. The rain refused to let up whilst we were parking the car but we refused to let this dampen our spirits. Twenty minutes later, only slightly rain-soaked, we were enjoying the comforts of the BA First Class lounge. Yes, we have gone up in the world since Amanda got her gold card!

It was a good flight and we landed in Glasgow on time. However, for a small airport, it was an incredibly long walk to baggage reclaim (much further than Heathrow!) and we thought we must be heading for the centre of Glasgow itself! After quite a long wait we finally collected our bags and we then had a frustratingly long wait to collect our hire car from Avis. We eventually drove away from the airport more than one and a half hours after landing, so it's very lucky that we weren't in a big hurry!

We drove to Oban through the driving rain, passing Loch Lomond on the way, still bonnie in spite of the weather, , but not sure if we were on the high road or the low road! When we arrived in Oban the sun was trying to shine through the spots of rain and we had a bit of a wander round before catching the 4 o'clock ferry to Craignure on the Isle of Mull. We celebrated the trip with a Bowmore single malt whisky in the bar before going up on deck to see Duart castle, the ancestral home of the Maclean clan, up on the cliff top as we passed by. We could see a huge marquee in the grounds, in preparation for celebrations ahead!

On landing we drove along the coast to Tobermory and checked into our hotel, The Park Lodge, where we stayed last time we visited Mull. It is a lovely little place, very friendly, and famous for its starring part in Balamory, the well-know children's programme. We were in time to pop into The Aros Hall on the harbour front to collect our tickets for all the Gathering events. We ate back in the hotel, a delicious meal of goat's cheese and black pudding stack followed by venison stew. After that it was an early night for us after such an exhausting few days and only four hours sleep last night!