Tobermory

	The colourful houses of Tobermory stand out in bright sunshine

It was pure serendipity that we missed our ferry and decided instead to drive north on Mull and visit Tobermory - a charming and delightful town where the locals are friendly and a few of the incomers are rude and nasty. We visited the museum (free), browsed in the shops, bought chips for lunch (not too expensive, considering the remoteness of the place), and left with regret.

Then, the following day, when we finally caught our ferry from Oban to Barra, we found that we were passing right by Tobermory and could view it from the sea. I'm afraid that the lively motion of the ship and the fact that I hadn't taken a tripod with me up to the lounge, means that the film is not as steady as I could have wished, but you get the idea.

Somewhere beneath the waves in the second sequence lies the famous Tobermory Galleon. The local version of the story is that the battered galleon from the Spanish Aramada put in to Tobermory and was supplied with whatever it needed. However the stingy Spanish captain refused to pay his dues, so the local clansmen attacked the ship by night and one man, holding a blazing torch, kicked open a door. It was not, as he had hoped, the room containing the vast treasure the ship was carrying, but the armoury, piled high with leaky barrels of gunpowder.

The resulting explosion killed just about everyone on board - and the galleon and its treasure disappeared beneath the waves.