England/Scotland 2024 Pilgrimage – Day 5

September 5, 2024

Iona’s Night Sky

Iona has received the Dark Skies designation. I’ve been hoping we’d experience at least one clear night sky while we were here. And last night was GORGEOUS! We saw the big Dipper above the cross as we left the 9:00 pm service at the Abbey. I forgot to post pictures of last night’s service along with the sky.

Before bed, we admired the stars and the clear Milky Way. We thought that was beautiful. But then!…

Our bladders roused us around 3:00 am by our bladders which meant a walk to the community bath house. Oh, my! the sky was crisp and clear with its diamond-like treasures popping out against it’s black background. The Milky Way was even more clear. Orion had almost finished rising out of the eastern sky. JUST WOW!

There was absolutely no wondering about Northern Lights – they were NOT out last night. But that’s OK, the star show is what I had longed to see.

Morning Eucharist

This morning we went to St. Columba’s Chapel at the Bishop’s House for 8:00 Eucharist service. Reverand Ann, the woman who led it is a Presbyterian pastor from Delaware, here as clergy with a group of pilgrims. At first it was only us three. Then two more came in. Ironically, it was the couple from the pod next to us, Christopher and Prentiss. He is a minister with the United Church of Canada in Toronto. We enjoyed meeting these three and starting the day with The Lord’s Supper was special.

And Morning Prayer

The Eucharist service ended in time for us to walk to the Abbey and participate in their Morning Prayer service. The services in the Abbey are led by Iona Community members and it seems most of them are visiting from other areas of the globe. The Iona Community follows a liturgy that seems to be more “modern” and inclusive.

What’s for Breakfast?

Other than church services, nothing seems to open on the island before 10:00 am. We weren’t in the mood for a sit-down breakfast so we went to Spar and bought a box of granola, some Greek yogurt, and, you guessed it, two scones. They looked to be chocolate chip but, guess again. The flavor reminded me of fruitcake but with a better base flavor. The candied fruit grew on me.

We took our food back to our Pod and ate breakfast outside on our picnic table. The pod has a small kitchen area with a tea kettle (but no running water) so we also had a cup of coffee for Gregg and a cup of tea for me. It hit the spot!

Time for a Walk

There were three hikes we wanted to do today so we started with the difficult one first. The trailhead isn’t marked, so we inadvertently walked past it, all the way down the road to the trailhead for the other two hikes. Since the hard one was up Dun I (pronounced done-ee), a “mountain,” and the others were along the beach, we kept with our plan, returned, and found the gate letting us into the farmer’s field which we crossed to the base of the mountain.

I Love You to the Mountains and Back

There are no trees on this mountain, just rocks and grasses, and lots of sheep droppings. It was a bit challenging to get to the top, but we made it! The hike took our breath away, but the view was breathtaking. WOW! The blue colors of the water looked like the Carribean. And the sky was so clear, we could see The Isle of Sky and other islands. The “golf course” we walked through yesterday was also visible.

At the very top, there was a beehive shaped stone monument. Another hiker explained that those are common at the highest points of a mountain. There is also a small pool of water called St. Brigid’s Well. People have been known to take babies up there to be baptized in the water. We both knelt down, dipped our fingers in, and crossed ourselves.

Whose Scat is That?

I love to take photos and have been experimenting with various perspectives. On our way down the mountain, I saw a lovely little flower and thought it might be pretty up-close with the water below in the background. Since the terrain was a bit steep, I decided to “play it safe” and just sit in the wet grass to take the photo.

When I stood up and brushed myself off, I was in for a surprise. Let’s just say that my wet pants were NOT from the grass. Nor from mud. When I sat down, I failed to keep in mind that we were hiking through working farmland. Pee-ewe! I just laughed. What else can you do but laugh or be angry at yourself. It is more fun to laugh.

Thankfully, the trailhead is close to our pods so we went directly back so I could clean up a bit.

PS – I DO like the photo so I guess it was worth the poo. Haha!

I Love You to the Beach and Back

The next two hikes were really like one long one. We went to the north end of the island where there is clear water and sandy beaches. The sand is so very fine, soft, and beautiful. We enjoyed walking along the beach. I instigated us putting our feet into the cold water which was much better than yesterday’s rocks.

As we stood there taking pictures, Gregg realized something was tickling his foot. He moved and we saw some kind of crustacian moving around before digging itself back into the sand. Too funny!

The second beach was also sandy. Yet, one portion of it had some smooth rocks, similar to yesterday’s beach. We did an Iona version of sharks teeth hunting by looking for rocks with “St. Columba Marble” in it. Pastor Christopher told us about it. Evidentially, it is a white marble with green veins. We found rocks with green, but none with a white base.

Tour the Abbey

After hiking, we went to the Abbey for an official tour. They gave us headsets to listen to explanations of different things. Even though we had been inside twice already, it was very interesting.

Craving Soup

Leaving the Abbey, we got to the Columba Larder (associated with the Columba Hotel/Inn) just in time to get a cup of Butternut Squash and spicy vegetable soup. I had a piece of sourdough bread with mine. Gregg tried the oat biscuits. They looked like mini-rice cakes, although the consistency was more substantial. She said they are very Scottish. They seemed bland to us. Now we know.

We brought the food back to the pod and ate it outside on our picnic table again.

Wind Burn

After supper, we took showers. I feel exhausted. Looking at Gregg, I realized why… we are both wind burned. The weather was low 60’s, sunny, and windy again today. We couldn’t have asked for better weather!

Compline

Our plan was to go back to St. Columba’s Chapel for Compline tonight. It starts in 10 minutes and I’m not sure we can make it by 8:15. We’re going to try! Pictures when I come back, if I can stay awake.

Last Night on Iona

The Compline service was very nice. Rev. Ann lead it again. This time there were 12-15 other folks there along with us. The chapel is small so it felt “full.” We walked back through fields (the short cut) with the use of our “torches.” (flashlights) The sunset was beautiful.

Tomorrow morning we leave Iona and head east across Scotland. There are no rooms available (at a reasonable price) in Oban, so that verified that we need to leave the island tomorrow morning since it will take us 3+ hours to get back to our car in Oban.

I have SO MANY pictures I want to share. We’ll see how many I can insert into this now. It is almost 10pm and I’m exhausted. Thanks for following along with us!