Its Wet Wet Wet!

Day 3. August 18^th Tuesday

This is our first full day on Islay. It doesn’t bode well weather wise. It’s raining. John went for a jog first thing. In a damp but non rainy start, he returned looking like a drowned rat.

Our first port of call today was the Ardbeg distillery. We dropped John and Dave off for their tour. The Ardbeg distillery is the last of the three big distilleries along this road.We headed north to visit the ancient ruins of an 8th century church and Celtic Ring headed Cross. We’re heading for a small village called Ardtalla. The church should be about halfway along this road. The signpost tells us the church and cross is six miles. I called it a road. Maybe this is an over statement. It’s classified as a B road. I’d probably call it a badly neglected farm track. This narrow single track road was twisty, up and down, cracked, full of potholes and for most of the way had grass growing in the center. Most of the turns and hillocks were blind. The By the time we found the tiny church and cross the rain was pelting down. Great. Undaunted we got out and paddled through the soaked long grass to explore, cameras tucked under our rain jackets.

There are only so many atmospheric photos one can take, so rather damp we climbed back into the car, decided to miss the village which was several miles further on and head back for the distilleries café. A warming pot of hot coffee was called for while waiting for the men folk to emerge from the tour.

Sustained by a leisurely lunch of Bangers and Mash in the café we turned the car back and headed south to the town of Bowmore and the Bowmore distillery. Another tour and samples for the men folk. Nancy and I took in the limited shops of Bowmore. The craft/tourist gift shop looked very interesting from the window displays but inside the most interesting items in the shop were in the window displays. Luckily for us the rain had stopped, but it remained dull and overcast.

The men folk returned and were not so impressed with Bowmore experience. The Islay Woolen Mill was our next stop. This collection of old mill buildings had been making cloth since the mid 1500’s. The present owner renovated some of the old weaving machines and they weave tweeds and tartans to order. The tartan for the film ‘Braveheart’ was designed and woven on this site.

A rather damp scenic drive around the southwest part of the Island was our next tour. Passing the Bruichaddich distillery Dave and John decided that despite the lateness of the afternoon it was worth going into the visitor’s center for a look see. This turned out to be the whiskey drinkers most welcoming experience for despite being too late for a as they were given samples and made welcome.

The Croft Kitchen at Port Charlotte was our stop for an evening meal before driving on to the southern most tip of the Island to Port Na Haven. This is a pretty cove surrounded by white painted cottages small fishing boats anchored in the sheltered bay. A lighthouse perches on the rocks. Seals swim into the bay to bask on the rocks. In sunny conditions this would be a ‘chocolate box’ scene. Back at the Hotel we finished our evening with a drink in the spacious comfortable residents lounge.