Tiree my be wee-sized, but it made up for size in awesomeness! Tiree was definitely my favorite place that we visited in Scotland. It really was so different than any place I've ever been and the people there made it even more special.
We first heard about Tiree in the first few days that we were in Bradford. We met a girl named Emma who grew up on the island of Tiree and when she talked about it we really had this urge to go. At first it was just a thought, but then when we were planning our Scotland trip it became a reality and we really wanted to make it happen!
Emma was so amazing to "hook" us up with her sister Lynn, though she really didn't have to. And Lynn found us a family to stay with when the hostel on Tiree turned out to be closed! These things were incredible and Leigh and I both have not taken this hospitality lightly. It has shown us Christ love is everywhere- even tiny island in Scotland. AMAZING STUFF!
We didn't even know if this journey would happen. We had heard that the ferry was sometimes not able to dock when the weather was bad, but we schedule it in and bought plane/ferry tickets in faith. As we got on the ferry at 5:30 in the morning we were warned that they weren't able to dock earlier in the week and that there was a possibility that we wouldn't be able to today. We were told while on the ferry about 3 hours in that there was a 50% chance that we would be able to dock and get off the ferry at Tiree. If not, we would have to continue on for four hours to return to Oban. Yuck!
Luckily they were panicking us for nothing, and were able to dock. Emma's sister Lynn was waiting for us when we arrived there. She had rearranged her diary to be able to take us around and show us the island. We realized once we got there that this was a necessity because in the winter, Tiree doesn't get many visitors and there wouldn't be much of a way for us to get around. We are eternally grateful to Lynn. She was amazing! First, we went to a little museum about Lighthouses, (apparently it is never locked, and it looks like a shed, but has some displays in it) we collected sea glass on of the beaches, and we stopped to visit the highland cows of Tiree.
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| I had really wanted to get a nice picture of a highland cow, but while we were up in the mountains we really didn't have the opportunity. I went into Tiree depressed that this didn't happen, so I was very excited when Lynn told us that Tiree had some Highland cows! They are so furry and weird looking. |
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| I think they might need a haircut! |
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| I'm sure everyone thought we were crazy. |
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| Cows with the prime real-estate...right next to the coast! |
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Now, let me tell you about Tiree...
They are a bit like my hometown of Peabody in some ways, but spread out over an 11 or so mile long island. There are under 700 people that live there, so everyone knows everyone. Everyone knows everyones busy, and if they don't, they make it up. I can identify with that aspect for sure! That is small town life for ya! Now, because it was winter, very few things were open. None of the shops were open. Tiree does have a little grocery shop, and acutally they have a little of everything. Except there are no clothing shops. The people have to go to the mainland for clothes or do some online shopping. All of the roads were single lane roads with these little pull-off that you could go if you met a car. That meant that you had to pay attention when you were driving or a head-on collision could happen.
Lynn had expressed how nothing was really open, but my favorite example of this was when we decided to go to the hotel cafe to eat because the two other better options were closed and when we got to the cafe we learnt that it was closed because the cook was sick! The whole place had to shut down because the cook was sick! We did have to have a chuckle about this...
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| This is one of the houses of Tiree. Not one of the typical ones, but one that we encountered on the island. |
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| I thought that this was a funny thing to have in the middle of nowhere. The best part about it was that there was actually a dial tone of the receiver! |
This is a video of a true Scotsman playing the accordian. Darren, Lynn's middle child was not shy at all, but sadly her two other children were a bit intimidated by us! Poor Bradley hid under the table the entire time we were there. I usually can get kids to loosen up, but even bribing him with sweets wasn't working!
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This is the MacIntosh's home, but it looks similiar to most of
the houses on Tiree. White, simple and clean! |
That evening after taking us all over the island and dealing with all of the weird looks from the locals, Lynn took us with the family that we were staying with, Sandy and wife Judith and kids, Calum and Ruth- The MacIntosh's. This family was also amazing! That night we had macaroni and cheese with leeks and bacon in it. It was gorgeous! (that's how we say it here-means tasty) It was really neat to stay with born and bread Scottish folk. Sandy had actually been born and raised on the island and only had left for a short time about University age. Everyone that we talked to said that they didn't think that they could move back to the mainland to live. It would be hard to deal with the way of life. I can understand that because everything was so simple and amazing there. There was no fuss about anything. I feel like I could live in a place like Tiree.
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| We woke that morning at Sandy and Judith's to an actual sunrise. We had to step outside and document this occasion. It was so beautiful there! |
Anyways, back to the MacIntosh's...The two kids were sweet. I wish that we could have spent more time with them. With all of them- and with Tiree. Sadly the next day we had to leave. This was because flight and ferries don't go everyday so you either go or get stuck there for 3 more days. I would have liked it but we needed to get back to school eventually!
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| We got to Tiree on a huge ferry and we left of a tiny plane...Conquering all forms of transportation on this Scotland trip...bus,train, ferry, and plane! This plane held 18 passengers and as I got on with a nervous look the pilot asked if this was the smallest plane I had been on and it made me realize that this was the 3rd smallest and good gosh I jumped out of one way smaller! Nothing to be nervous about! ahah |
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| Me on the beach. Courtesy of Leigh :) |
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| Goodbye Tiree! |
We didn't even know if this journey would happen. We had heard that the ferry was sometimes not able to dock when the weather was bad, but we schedule it in and bought plane/ferry tickets in faith. As we got on the ferry at 5:30 in the morning we were warned that they weren't able to dock earlier in the week and that there was a possibility that we wouldn't be able to today. We were told while on the ferry about 3 hours in that there was a 50% chance that we would be able to dock and get off the ferry at Tiree. If not, we would have to continue on for four hours to return to Oban. Yuck! 
Luckily they were panicking us for nothing, and were able to dock. Emma's sister Lynn was waiting for us when we arrived there. She had rearranged her diary to be able to take us around and show us the island. We realized once we got there that this was a necessity because in the winter, Tiree doesn't get many visitors and there wouldn't be much of a way for us to get around. We are eternally grateful to Lynn. She was amazing! First, we went to a little museum about Lighthouses, (apparently it is never locked, and it looks like a shed, but has some displays in it) we collected sea glass on of the beaches, and we stopped to visit the highland cows of Tiree. 
They are a bit like my hometown of Peabody in some ways, but spread out over an 11 or so mile long island. There are under 700 people that live there, so everyone knows everyone. Everyone knows everyones busy, and if they don't, they make it up. I can identify with that aspect for sure! That is small town life for ya! Now, because it was winter, very few things were open. None of the shops were open. Tiree does have a little grocery shop, and acutally they have a little of everything. Except there are no clothing shops. The people have to go to the mainland for clothes or do some online shopping. All of the roads were single lane roads with these little pull-off that you could go if you met a car. That meant that you had to pay attention when you were driving or a head-on collision could happen.
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