Grianan, Iona
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Grianan, Iona |
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This page holds all the information you should need to get you to Grianan, and have a problem free holiday. There should be a copy at the house (in the drawer under the phone), however you may want to print this out for reference prior to arriving.
There are two ferries involved in getting to Iona. One from Oban to Mull (Craignure) and another from Fionnphort (Mull) to Iona. There is a bus service between Craignure and Fionnphort, though if you have a lot of luggage, you may want to book your car onto the Oban/Mull ferry, and drive across Mull.
For ferry timetables and booking, see www.calmac.co.uk or call 08705 650 000. For bus timetables on Mull, see www.bowmanstours.co.uk or call 01680 812313. If you are taking a car onto Mull it is highly recommended to book on the Oban/Mull ferry.
For timetable details for complete journeys from virtually anywhere in Britain ring traveline (0870 608 2 608) or visit their website at www.traveline.org.uk. For general advice on your journey ring the Tourist Information Centre in Craignure on Mull (01680 8123770 or send them an e-mail at info@mull.visitscotland.com).
If you are coming by car, you will either be leaving it at Oban, or at Fionnphort on Mull (you cannot take a car onto Iona). At Oban, you can park at the free car park at Lochavullin. At Fionnphort there is a free car park at the top of the hill.
If driving across Mull, the strict convention which should be followed is to keep to the left when you meet other vehicles, whether a lay-by is to your left or right of the road (i.e if the layby is on the right hand side of the road, pull up opposite it, and allow the vehicle coming from the opposite direction to navigate around you via the layby). Additionally, because the road is mainly single-track only, you are requested to allow following vehicles obviously wishing to travel faster than you to overtake, by pulling in at lay-bys so allowing them to pass.
As mentioned above, you cannot normally take a car onto Iona. However if you have a good reason for needing to (disability, huge amounts of luggage, etc) you may, at the discretion of the council be given permission. For further information on this, contact Dixie Porter (dixie.porter@argyll-bute.gov.uk).
If the ground is wet, you may have difficulty getting up the field on your departure. If you have a front wheel drive car, you should reverse out, and you may need someone to push, to avoid wheel spin, and churning up the farmers field.
Grianan is the white house with blue windows standing on its own about 300m north east of the Abbey, and is normally easily visible during the ferry crossing. (North is to the right as you cross over to Iona on the ferry.) It is about ½ mile from the pier, a ten minute walk.
To order a taxi on Iona, call Lindsay or Joyce on 0781 032 5990. You might consider this if you are going to arrive heavily laden with luggage and provisions. For pricing and other information, see www.ionataxi.co.uk.
There are two small grocery shops and a post office on the island, as well as various craft & souvenir shops. See www.isle-of-iona.com/shops.htm for a comprehensive list.
Spar (01681 700 321) will deliver groceries.
There are no cashpoints (ATMs) on Iona. You can get cashback on debit card transactions from Finlay Ross (along the road to the right when facing the ferry jetty) for £2.50 or from the Spar (directly up the road from the ferry jetty) for free if they have the cash and you are making a reasonable purchase. If the Post Office acts as an agency for your bank, cheques may be cashed for free; otherwise there is a charge. Two mobile banks reach Iona in summer, and Fionnphort in winter; the Clydesdale Bank (Tobermory, 08457 826818) and the Bank of Scotland (Oban, 01631 510200).
The key may be in the door, but please check this with Colin Burn-Murdoch (0131 555 5987) in the days before arrival. (In the unlikely event that the it is mislaid, it might be useful to know that Janetta Tindal (01681 700 340) has a key. She stays in the new house, Calva, 200 metres away up on the road above Grianan. From Grianan, Calva appears framed almost exactly in the middle of Dun-I, the highest hill of the island).
Please take your own sheets, pillowcases and towels. Duvets are provided. In an emergency there are nylon sheets and pillowcases in the linen cupboard on the landing, but if used they should be washed, dried and put back before leaving.
Except in a power cut, please do not use candles, because of fire risk.
Please use coasters under your cups and glasses, in order to avoid the proliferation of ring marks on top of the items of furniture in the sitting room and bedrooms (coasters can be found in the cupboards in the dining room). The wooden kitchen surfaces have a varnish capable of withstanding this, but generally the items of furniture throughout the house are old and whatever they have in the way of varnish cannot withstand abuse in this way.
An oil fired Rayburn boiler/cooker and ground-floor radiators are installed. The Rayburn may be set to heat the radiators, or not, as per your requirements. The Rayburn is quite simple to operate, and generally should come on at the touch of a switch. Please consult instructions hanging beside it. Please do not turn the Rayburn off when you leave, but leave it on its standard timer setting.
When on the Rayburn will heat up the house's hot water cylinder. There is in addition an electric immerser for the HWC which is controlled by a switch above the mantelpiece in the kitchen. The downstairs shower has its own independent water heater which heats up its water instantly. Conversely the shower upstairs is dependent on there being hot water in the cylinder, i.e. if there is no hot water at the tap, there is no hot water from the shower.
The hoover (actually a Dyson) and other household equipment instructions are in a folder in the top draw of the bureau in the sitting room. (If the Dyson is not picking up properly, it probably can probably be easily remedied after consulting the instructions. Please consult anyway, without intervention it will become blocked and fail to pick up.)
Please try to use environmentally-friendly cleaning and washing products only, if for no other reason, in order not to disturb the workings of the septic tank. If you must use bleach, please pour away into the ground behind the garden shed.
Please could you mow the lawn during your stay, if required. There should be a petrol lawnmower in the garden shed. There should also be a can of petrol in the shed to use if the mower is running low. Any weeding or general care of the garden that you feel inspired to do would be much appreciated.
The fuse box for the house is clearly visible at the top of the north-west corner of the kitchen. In the event of a fuse, the fuses are magnetic cutouts: you need no fuse wire, simply switch back on.
Rubbish is collected on Tuesday mornings some time between 9:00 and 9:30 am, the bin is best put out on Monday evenings. (If you miss the collection, you may be able to catch them as they return from the north of the island, but you would then have to flag them down, and they might not be over-pleased!) Formerly we left the 'wheelie bin' at the east of the roadside, however it suits them better to have it to the west of the roadside, we discover; what is more they are less liable to overlook it that way, which is perhaps a consideration! Please remember to retrieve the wheelie bin after collection. A bottle-bank is located at the head of the island's pier. There is a bucket to collect organic waste underneath the sink in the kitchen, the contents of which may be added to a compost heap at the northeast corner of the garden. See below about what to do with ashes.
The draw of the fire is maximised when the indicator on the front of the fire points to the north east corner of the sitting room; minimised when pointing to the north west corner. The ashes collect in a withdrawable bucket/ash-pan, which generally needs to be emptied after 3 or 4 days or so of moderate use, when the ashes have accumulated to within 2 or 3 inches of the underside of the grate. (If you allow the ash-bucket to become too full, there will be no draw and the fire will burn very poorly.) The grate needs to taken out of the fire to access the ashes. Try not to build up the fire too much prior to going to bed, the night prior to removing the ash bucket; let the fire die down as much as possible, otherwise the grate and the ashes will be unpleasantly hot in the morning, when you come to disassemble. Do not put hot ashes in the wheelie bin. A spare ash bucket is kept in the porch area beyond the kitchen. Allow the hot ashes to cool in the ash bucket and use the spare in the fireplace. Once cool, ashes should be bagged and placed in the wheelie bin - and nowhere else!
Do not on any account deposit ashes anywhere in the garden or over the wall, thanks.
There is a coal heap beside the oil tank at the front of the house (the front door side). If this is running low, please let Colin know so that more can be ordered.
There are two fire extinguishers, one located by the door to the dining room, the other upstairs by the door to the 'dormitory', the large bedroom on the east side of the house. There is also a fire blanket hanging in the kitchen. Please locate these, and familiarise yourselves with their instructions for use. For your safety, and the safety of the house, there are mains-powered smoke alarms, located in 1. the downstairs corridor and 2. above the stairwell. Please check these are working by ensuring that their small green light is on.
Please see instructions left at Grianan to record any amount that you are due for the use of the phone. These instructions are in the drawer of the table in the hall upon which the phone sits. (The telephone is set up with the BT 1571 answering service. A singsong tone indicates that you have messages waiting, access these by dialing 1571.)
Leave the fridge off, with the door open. Leave the coal bucket full with the under fire ash holder empty. Note the cost of any telephone calls, and the cost of running the radiators, if used. If there isn't anybody imminently taking your place at Grianan, please put any rubbish in the 'wheelie-bin' and leave it up at the roadside; and kindly do not leave any pershable food in the house.
Leave the house locked, and contact Colin Burn-Murdoch (0131 555 5987) about what to do with the key.
Please leave the house clean and tidy. The next visitors will find it the way you left it. (Joan Birkett, of Maol Farm, 01681 700630, may be prepared to do cleaning after your stay. I do not know how much she will charge, please see her about the price involved. I believe it suits her better if she is able to spread the cleaning over more than one day, i.e. ideally if there is nobody replacing you immediately at Grianan, so let her know if that's the case.) Please report any breakages, and state whether you managed to replace.
Colin Burn-Murdoch
98 (3F2) Newhaven Road
Edinburgh
EH6 4BS
Tel: 0131 555 5987
Email: colin@burn-murdoch.com
| Coastguard: | 01688 30 22 00 |
| Dentist: | 01631 563006 (Mr Price, Tobermory) |
| Doctor: | 01681 700 261 (Bunessan, Mull - Iona surgery on Thursdays) |
| Police: | 01681 700 222 |
In the event of an emergency, CALL 999, as you would do anywhere else.