I booked a late trip to Oban only the week before as I had been looking to do a boat trip to the isles of Lunga, Staffa and Iona. 

I spent an evening wandering around Oban, watching all the guillemots, attempting to walk through Dunollie Wood and exploring the area.

I had seen that Staffa Tours run various boat trips, but I specifically wanted to venture out on their Wildlife Tour. 

I boarded the ferry early from Oban to get over to Craignure in Mull where I was met by Staffa Tours and got on a bus which took us to Fionnport in order to board the Staffa Tours boat for a wildlife adventure!

Our first stop was Lunga, this was by far my favourite stop of the trip but also the most physically demanding. I do tend to struggle at times due to having bad knees and no balance, and as soon as you are off the boat, you're presented with uneven rock pool type ground, followed by uneven stones, and then it's a very very steep ascent to the top of the cliff. I slowly made my way up, and it was worth every step. 

Once you make it up to the top, puffins are everywhere, all along the front of the cliff, at times just a few feet away. 

I was in my element, snapping away, watching them hop around and head into their burrows, carrying fish to feed their pufflings. 

Once we had made our way back to the boat, we headed on to Staffa. It was much more manageable here to get to the top of the cliff with walkways and stairs. There was the option of making your way into Fingal's Cave, but I chose to go the opposite way and walk along the cliff for the views of the amazing hexagonal stones and more wildlife. The rock formations are truly awesome, nature is incredible isn't it?!

The day had turned out to be much hotter than I had expected, and I had managed to run out of water. I met a lovely couple who were enjoying a different boat trip and they had a spare bottle of water which they gave to me. I am so grateful to them and love how kindness can be found in the most random of places! 

Next on to Iona. By this time I was running out of steam! Lunga and Staffa were both physically challenging for me, and so I walked my way to the Abbey and on my way I found a small shop where I treated myself to a bottle of full fat coke, very welcome with the weather, and then the Iona Community shop and Wecome Centre which had a very lovely little gift shop, and loos (very importand to knjow these things!). 

I eventually decided to get a slightly earlier ferry crossing back over to Mull and I was pleased I did, as I saw a herd of highland coos on the beach. What a sight!

This tour was amazing, tiring, but well worth doing and I hope to do it again next year. 

Once I was back in Oban, I made a quick stop at The Oban Fish & Chip Shop for some chips with mushy peas, and had a very relaxing evening in my hotel, full of good food and watching a beautiful sunset over Oban. (Sometimes it is worth booking a sea view room!)