A force 8 gale with a high tide means the evening ferry from the Hebridean Isle of Mull to Oban on Scotland’s west coast is cancelled. Farmers from the mainland, having bought Highland calves at the annual cattle sales, are stranded on the island while their wives wait in the snug Kilchrenan guest house on Oban’s esplanade. “First time this has ever happened,” says one, as we watch the white caps dance in the swollen bay.

Come morning, sailing resumes and farmers and wives are reunited. I board the ferry for an island that, like the rest of the British Isles, is all topsy-turvy with climate change and yet is slowly opening up for winter, proud to show off its rawness to adventurous tourists.

“Mull can be so beautiful in winter,” says Sue Fink at the five-star Ptarmigan House, high above Tobermory harbour, where peaty smells waft from the single-malt distillery (closed for a month from mid-December) and the aroma of hot chocolate comes from the chocolate factory. The Les Routiers-awarded fish and chip van on Fisherman’s Pier is open every night except Sunday, with freshly caught haddock and chips for a fiver.

Not everyone stays open; some proprietors shut up shop and head for the sun. Fink is chairman of Holiday Mull, a tourism organisation trying to extend the season beyond the traditional Easter to mid-October. “People come for Valentine’s Day, Christmas and New Year. The weather can be nice, but it can be like this . . .” she says, as rain slides down the windows of the Ptarmigan, obscuring the craggy inlets of the Sound of Mull.

Mull has 300 miles (500km) of coastline with golden sands, powder-white beaches, turquoise seas, heather moorland and mountains rising to 3,000ft. Most visitors reach the island by aircraft or train into Glasgow, hire a car for the two-hour drive to Oban, then take a 45-minute Caledonian MacBrayne ferry crossing to Craignure. Sailings, though reduced, continue through winter, when the fare for a car and two passengers is less costly than in summer.

Rain or shine, however, Mull is exceptionally beautiful. The air is clean, and the absence of light pollution means the skies are enormous. Beaches such as Calgary Bay in the north and Ardalanish Bay in the south are ideal for flying kites and cracking ice on rain puddles with the heel of your wellie.

David Woodhouse has the eyes of an eagle. Within moments of our day’s wildlife safari, the ornithologist has trained his scope on an oak branch on which is perched a white-tailed sea eagle, Britain’s third largest bird. “I’d say winter is the best time to see wildlife,” he says, even though summering birds go south to Africa and the cruises to see minke whale, basking shark and dolphins cease. “There’s a lot of activity in the skies. Eagles are establishing territories and otters have their young. Creatures behave differently at different times of the year, and take different prey.”

Our group of six, transported in Woodhouse’s silver minibus and fed on hot soup and cakes, has seen buzzards perched on telegraph poles, shags on offshore rocks and stonechats flitting over bracken. In Glen More, a canyon leading to Ben More, red deer graze on the slopes and golden eagles break the skyline.

Next day the skies are blue for my drive down the west coast for the ten-minute ferry hop to the Isle of Iona. Here pilgrims arrive to visit Iona Abbey, the resting place of Scottish kings. My final overnight stay is back on Mull, at Tiroran House, a fine Victorian bolt hole with its own glen and burn flanked by rhododendrons leading to a loch shore. “We cater for stag parties in winter, but tourists come for brisk walks, log fires and whisky. It’s as beautiful here in the winter as it is in the summer,” says the owner, Laurence MacKay, as his partner Katie prepares scallops for dinner.

Over drinks by the fire Elaine and Alan Brook, who flew up from Hampshire for their annual break, say that they would happily holiday here in winter. “If you want hot sun, you go for hot sun,” Elaine says. “I come here for the sea and peace of mind.” That night, there’s no howling wind and all is quiet — until 3.30am when stags roar in the glen.

Need to know

Getting there: GNER (0845 7225225, www.gner.co.uk) has trains to Glasgow. ScotRail (www.firstscotrail.com) runs from Glasgow to Oban. Caledonian MacBrayne (0870 5650000, www.calmac.co.uk) has ferries to Mull.

Where to stay: Ptarmigan House, Tobermory (01688 302863, www.bed-and-breakfast-tobermory.com), B&B from £35pp.

Tiroran House, Tiroran (01681 705232, www.tiroran.com),

B&B from £58pp; dinner £30pp.

Wildlife: Isle of Mull Wildlife Expeditions (01688 500121, www.scotlandwildlife.com), £33.50 adults, £28.50 children.

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