Honeymoon Roadtrip to Mull

[RupertW]

I always enjoy reading other people's trip reports so I thought I might do a report of my recent trip around Mull for my honeymoon. I'll need to do this in stages to make it a bit more manageable.

I'd long wanted to take an Austin Seven on a bit of a Scottish roadtrip so having trailered the car up for the wedding (about nine hours!) it made sense to make the most of the car being there. Evidently I'd made some right decisions with my choice of wife as she was very amenable to this being how to spend our honeymoon. 

The car in question is my 1934 Box Saloon which I brought about 13 years ago when I'd just started at university. I had it for a while as my main form of transportation at university and it was subject to all sorts of roadside repairs and 'temporary' fixes on a student budget which I've been working through and putting right ever since. It's very tatty, but I think relatively original. 

I did treat the car to an engine refresh courtesy of Ruairidh on the lead up to the wedding to give the car a fighting chance of making it through the day without problems (which it did). Beyond that I only had time to change oils and grease everything, and as the wedding approached I became less inclined to look for problems that would result in me taking everything to bits. 

Day 1: Aberfoyle to Ardanaiseig Hotel - 80 Miles
We had quite a leisurly start to the trip, choosing to stay in a hotel not far outside of Oban so that we weren't having to rush for a ferry. It was fairly grey and damp, but the car was running well and we were treated to some stunning views on the A82:   
   
   
   
   
Having turned off the main road onto a much smaller windier road, it became very apparent that the springs were very much past their best and were struggling with the car relatively heavily laden.
After ten miles or so we arrived at our first stop of the trip - Ardanaiseig Hotel, which was in a spectacular setting next to Loch Awe, and covered the car up for the night. Overall we'd made much better progress than expected and I was definitely enjoying an engine that didn't fill the cabin with fumes.
   
   

Part 2 to follow...

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Great stuff!!

[Colin Morgan]

Thank you for sharing - looks idyllic.

[Peter Naulls]

Lovely story. 'Looking forward to the next chapter.

[Ivor Hawkins]

Wonderful! And what a smashing box saloon, looks absolutely perfect.

[Colin Morgan]

The car was in good company here:

https://www.prewarcar.com/picks-from-the...4#group-40

[RupertW]

Day 2: Ardanaiseig to Tobermory, via Oban - 45 miles

The weather took a distinct turn for the worse overnight, with rain and high winds that managed to blow water under the car cover and through all of the various gaps, of which there are many on this car. The rain was heavy enough that on the move we were also getting quite damp: 
   

We made easy progress to Oban on the main road and had time to for a leisurly lunch and a reviving bowl of cullen skink. Just as we were paying up though a notification came through to say that our ferry had been cancelled due to weather - potentially quite a serious blow to our plans.

Nethertheless we still headed to the ferry terminal to see what the situation was and if there were any other routes we could take to Mull, and were informed that we might be able to get on the next boat if it was running and there was space but that it was unlikely.
   

We hadn't removed the wedding ribbons by this point, which may have worked in our favour as having politely pointed out that the car was 1) very small, and 2) it was our honeymoon, we managed to get onto the next boat after a few hours of waiting and were the last vehicle loaded.
   

Once on the island we had an uneventful drive from Craignure up to where we were staying near Tobermory, and soon discovered that one of the main advantages of an Austin Seven on a Scottish island was the ease of getting past oncoming traffic on the narrow roads and managing to avoid always having to wait in passing spots.
That evening we had a short walk into Tobermory and treated ourselves to the pub.
   
   

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Mull is almost certainly my favourite Island of the Hebrides (although I love them all), your photos and story are reminding me why that is...

[Mike Costigan]

That look of concentration when driving   Classic Austin Seven stance!

[RupertW]

The car was in good company here:

https://www.prewarcar.com/picks-from-the...4#group-40

There was a distinct juxtaposition with the very shiny Bentley I was parked next to that day! I did at least subsequently sort out that running board rubber which was in shreds.

---

Day 3: Ulva and Calgary - 50 miles

We'd initially thought about visiting Iona this day, but decided instead to go to the island of Ulva taking the scenic routes.
   
   

Ulva is accessed by flipping a board across to display a red square, the idea being that once this has been noticed, someone comes across in a small boat to take you across. This island was a highlight of the trip and included some good walks and an excellent cafe to refuel at afterwards. There's also a lovely old church on the island which appeared to be rapidly falling into disrepair, and I'd think needs some quite urgent maintenance to keep it standing. Unfortunately I almost completely failed to take any pictures while I was there, beyond this one which I think just about shows the island. 
   

Once we'd returned from Ulva we took the scenic route across to the beach at Calgary:  
   
   

On the way back to Tobermory we had a lengthy wait while waiting for some road resurfacing to be finished. 
   

By this point of the journey I was starting to notice an increasing amount of transmission noise, and particularly nasty noises when hitting bumps. Inspection revealed quite a lot of play in the front torque tube bearing, but there was very little I was able to do about it beyond misusing a bottle jack and a spanner to try and hammer it tighter.