It was probably fairly optimistic of us to head off to the West Coast of Scotland in December and not expect any adverse weather events.
As it turned out we were very lucky. All the ferries were cancelled the day before we left and it snowed with a vengeance the day after.
The Highlands of Scotland are beautiful at any time of year and the Isle of Mull is no exception.
Up in the Western Isles, the tourist season lasts from Easter until the beginning of November. Outside of this period, the days are shorter and the weather less clement. And lots of things are closed for the winter.
Despite missing many of the tourist attractions, Mull still has much to enjoy in the off season. A lack of other tourists was one of the benefits of our late arrival.
The majority of the island roads are single track with passing places. Residents are very good at reversing, tourists, apparently, not so much. When asked, one resident explained how easy it was to travel on the island roads in summer when following a convoy of rented camper vans.
And the attractions that were open were less than crowded. We seemed to have the island to ourselves and did in fact have the distillery tour in Tobermory completely to ourselves.
We came upon Mull almost by accident. We recommend a more deliberate approach.