Iona

I spent most of my time on Iona wandering around on the beaches my first day there. Up on the north, by the hostel, there was I nice stretch of sand which I just walked at a very leisurely pace back and fourth.

After crossing grassy plains, I found this at the top of a hill. 

Low tide right now allowed me to explore this area. 

Rivers made a marble looking pattern in the sand. 

Creepy moth who died right in the middle of a shell. I haven't seen any moths yet my whole time in Scotland. 

Wandered the Rocky parts too. 

There were these jelly looking things attached to the rocks along side snails and barnacles... I don't know what they are. 

Another smaller beach at the end of the one I was on. 

Ooo 

There were a lot of these washed up on shore. Looked like tentacles... But I was told its a plant of some sort. 

I collected stuff that looked pretty and laid them out. 

And flipped them around for the camera 

Rabbit holes. They were all over the place. 

I went to town to the local pub with the two guys working at the hostel. They aren't from Iona originally, one is from Australia and the other I forget. 

Saw lambs on the way

After a drink, we went off to do our own things. I stopped by a former nunnery that's right by town and took pictures of its ruins. 

The sun came out and really made this look nice

I made a friend!

It followed me as I wandered around the nunnery.

I had to say goodbye. It seemed to know that I needed to get going. 

The abbey again on a nice clear day. 

I went back to the hostel for dinner. The middle aged couple David and Heather asked me to join them. I bought milk for them to make the meal. They were really kind to me. 

I took one more stroll along the beach while the sun was still out. 

Remember the low tide area? Well high tide came in and made it go away. Rose quite substantially. 

Looks tropical. Too bad it's not. I'd freeze if I swam in it. 

Sun setting behind clouds

That evening I went to the 9:00 service at the abbey. I'm not religious but it was a way to see the inside without paying for a tour. I was also curious to see what a night service would look like. 

It was beautiful inside. I failed to take pictures of it cause I was sort of in awe by the calming and quiet echo of the atmosphere. The main cloister where the service took place was lit by candle light. Really high stone arches and ceiling. I noticed the shadows dancing from the flickering of the candles. The rugged bricks of stone really gave texture to the tall walls in candle light. There were chairs lined from the back to the front of the cloister and benches that faced each other forming a path to an alter and large darkly lit stained glass window. The pianist played some music before the service. A woman spoke from a podium in the middle of the room rather than at the alter. 

We sang and heard a story then sang some more. Afterwards they offered tea and coffee in another room. I was caught up talking to a woman about volunteering for the abbey. I probably won't because the minimum is a 6 week commitment but it sounds nice. They blew out the candles before I could take a picture of the room and I was also following the woman to the lounging room. All the other rooms were "modernized" compared to the main cloister and the courtyard from what I saw. 

After some tea and chatting to some of the new volunteers about them getting ready to commit to their 6 weeks. I walked back to the hostel... It was windy and pitch black to the abbey and back to the hostel. I used the light on my phone. I felt like I was in a scary movie. It was about a 10-15 min walk back and I really got thinking about the luxuries of technology and city life. 

That was the end of the day. I get ready to leave Iona in the morning.