Iona Beach Party

Communication Note: Rob is unable to pick up a signal in Iona on his cell phone. Please use the number for the Iona Hostel on the information sheets if there are any emergencies.

Written entry by Ellen Begley follows images

View of Iona Abbey from ferry


Walking to the Iona Hostel


Taking a swim in the North Sea


Make way for sheep


Dancing at the Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee)


The practice of soulful travel is to discover the overlapping point between history and everyday life, the way to find the essence of every place, every day: in the markets, small chapels, out-of-the-way parks, craft shops. Curiousity about the extraordinary in the ordinary moves the heart of the traveler intent on seeing behind the veil of tourism.

IONA! finally! Our entire group was antsy with anticipation on each ferry and bus ride from Oban to Iona. This didn't, however, make us any less appreciative of the scenery on our journey. For acres and acres on our bus ride we only saw a sea of lush, green vegetation with sheep and a few highland cows. When we finally arrived and settled in, we met the friendly owners and decided to go for a swim (brrr). We decided first, to walk on the beach but shortly, this activity was turned into a dare between Kathy and myself to swim in the less than fifty degree water. Luckily, others wanted to swim with our persuasion. At the beach, we eased into the breathtaking water slowly but once in, Virginia, Carly, and I swam to the nearest rock and climbed. “Conquering” the rock we were investigating, Taylor joined in by skillfully climbing from the large rocks on shore to wading, pants hiked up, to the rock we were standing on. She even managed to not get wet! The remainder of our group was snapping pictures on shore and walking the cold, rocky beach. The ocean was nothing short of crystal-clear and breathtakingly beautiful. Shivering and with a few cuts on our legs from the barnacles on the rocks, we hiked up the large sand dune back to the hostel. We then showered and ate a delicious dinner of “Burlington Salad”, spaghetti and rolls and headed to the abbey for worship service. After hearing thought-provoking stories and singing a few new hymns, we attended an Iona Ceilidh. What is a Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) you might ask? A social gathering within a community of dancing, music, singing, and story telling. There, we learned many traditional European dances, a few line dances and a couple of partner dances. There was some interesting partnering, but I quickly learned that with a little instruction and practice the All Saints' group could dance! We picked up the dances fairly quickly and among the best dancers were Caddell, Jack, Tracy, and Virginia. We even made some new friends with our partners, some from Scotland and others from Michigan. With danced-out sore feet and fun stories about the Ceilidh, we left for our mile and a half walk back to the hostel. On our trek back, we traded stories and learned more about a man who spends his summers on Iona but is from Hamburg, Germany. With heavy eyelids we now enter our bedrooms, resting up for our seven-mile hike that is in store for us tomorrow. As I reflect, we are thankful that our day was filled with anticipation, excitement, heavy luggage and grocery bags, swimming, worship, and dancing and I would have had it no other way!
-Ellen Begley