It`s always a Buzzard !

[tomyboy73]

Took a wee driving tour with my wife around Oban and the surrounding area.

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Drove through to see Easdale Island and Ellanabeich. The Island is an old slate quarry and Ellanabeich harbour was built up using rock and slate from the quarries to enable the transportation of slate to the "mainland" on the Isle of Seil and was a stop off for boats travelling between Glasgow & Fort William.
Although we didn`t take the ferry over I just had a walk around and climbed the wee hill Dun Mor
for some great sea views and to try to get a better view of some birds of prey, which i hoped would be Sea Eagles, that were circling high above.
We had a wee weather break in this longest winter ever and it was a beautiful day. The in car thermometer was reading 19 degrees !
I didn`t know that there was a Walkhighlands route done for this and i couldn`t get a mobile network to check so i set off walking around the village to find my way up so my route is slightly different to the one described on the site, while Leianne sat and soaked up the rays .
The village consists of rows of cottages built for the workers on the quarry.
I walked along the road until I reached a school looking for a route in without clambering over walls and through property, I wandered around a small open garden before finding a gate beside a red post box.
This was the way in.

garden with wire sheep

birds in the distance

birds

sparrow chick

cottages

crane

slate wall

the main st

humps

geese

It`s a gentle walk on a well worn but still grassy path. Most of the time the buzzards were a bit further inland but soon one was to fly towards me from the coast and it paused above me as i tried to capture a magnificent White Tailed Sea Eagle !

clearly a buzzard..

and again

I continued along the path and up by a old boundary wall.

wall

And towards the steepest part of the walk up onto the summit.

Dun Mor

I had cracking views out to Mull and although it was a bit windy it was bearable.
onto the summit where there was the remains of some brick structure and a wee bench to sit on and take in the views.

views2

bench & Easdale Island

sea cliffs

Ellenabeich from above

from on the edge

Easdale Island

There were a lot of hooded crows , seagulls and other cliff dwelling birds flying around as well as sheep peacefully grazing on the hilltop.
And the views were marvellous
For the most part a great hulking cloud hung over Mull but eventually lifted.
I sat on the bench and drank my flask flavoured coffee...

towards Mull

Ben More ?

I then took a walk down towards the cliffs overlooking the carpark and wondered if there was route down this way , only if i wanted to dive into the sea and swim back !
I returned back to the summit and made my way back down.

Looking back down the route

A nice wee walk with some great views if it is a bit of a drive to get there, but if your in the area it`s well worth it , just watch out for the guy driving around in a tank !


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