What I'll do for another harbour or jetty

Up at 6 and on the road by 07.15, full of porridge and cheese. A gorgeous morning, with no traffic and wonderful scenery. Today was an opportunity to visit a couple of old piers that I hadn't been to before. The first was Carsaig, on Mull's south coast.

To get there I had to cycle to the top of a pass, where I left the bike against a rock and started walking down the steep hill towards the coast. It took half an hour, passing yet another remote telephone box before reaching the deserted and derelict quay. Worth all the effort, especially as I met two couples at the quay, one of whom offered me a lift back up the hill to my bike. All four were ex-naval people, and I managed to ascertain that one had been at Dartmouth at the same time as me (September 1964).

The second, even more remote pier was at Croggan. This necessitated a 16-mile loop from the main road. So having negotiated the Glen More Pass, I then had to endure a further steep ascent to reach Loch Spelve. To my surprise, on arriving at Croggan, I found I had a phone signal, so I was able to upload the previous day's photos and blog. Because I did this in broad daylight, even sunshine, I couldn't really see what I was doing, so most of the photos are unlabelled. I hope to get into Facebook and edit them this evening, from my tent.

I met a pleasant couple of people on the road back from Croggan. I was advised that the road to Grasspoint was very poor, even worse than the road to Croggan, which was potholed and very rough in places. So I decided to miss out the disused Grasspoint quay and to head on to Craignure, where I knew there was a 'proper' camp site.

That leaves a relatively short day tomorrow, back to Tobermory. I need to find a B&B there, as I'm running out of juice on my various electronics.

I've been asked a number of times how I manage to cook. I've got a Trangia stove set, which comprises two saucepans and a frying pan. It runs on methylated spirits and works well in any weather condition. The only problem so far has been managing to light the stove; the matches have been a bit damp and difficult to ignite. I've used the stove for porridge most mornings, followed by a cup of coffee. I've only used it on a few occasions in the evenings, when pasta and bacon has been the usual fare.

I'm writing this in the Craignure Inn, having consumed an excellent haddock and chips. There's no signal here in the pub, so it's back to the tent to upload this, as well as today's photos.