... and here is a shot of the rescue boat. Always good to be close! On the Ferry I met Leon Nicholson, a student from when I started at the University of Central Lancashire. Great to see him and even better to know that he likes Scotland & whisky!
Islay and Jura, which is just nearby, lay in the clouds on the approach and it was rainy. The rain was on and off. Here is Ana on the road to Bridgend ...
... and here she is tackling the last hill before Port Ellen, our first stop.
We camped wild and there are plenty of sites. Port Ellen is very close to the Laphroig, Lagavullin and Ardbeg distilleries. They were all closed so we had a good meal in the White Hart hotel and then went to another pub to meet Keith the rather drunken decorator who preferred Jack Daniels to the local malts. Well, everyone is different which makes the world a fun place to live. Here is Ana pushing the bike to the campsite before we went to the pub...
... and here is our tent in the morning.
We made good use of the local facilities...
... and then cycled to Bowmore. The folks there have built a round church so that the devil has no corner to hide. Good idea!
The distillery is on the beach and I took the typical photo but with the sewage pipe in the foreground. You now know where the Bowmore aftertaste is coming from.
We met Leon & wife again and they were off to Bruichladdie which was in our direction. On the way we met many sheep and they are just like us. Some are nervous and sprint away once they see you and others are like Hippies in an Amsterdam cafe and stay on the road.
The North is hilly and it was windy. We saw wild geese flying close by...
... and peat which is used for heating and for creating smoke that gives the Islay whisky's that peaty taste.
After a good round we arrived at the Bruichladdie distillery party. This is a distillery which was only re-opened 7 or 8 years ago. Now running a distillery is a tricky business because you'll need to wait 10 years or more before you get some decent stuff! But these guys are clever and sold the new barrels. We met some Danes who bought a barrel for £1000 when it all started. They get a probe once in a wee while and can see how it ages. The barrels now cost £2000 and you get 200-ish bottles out of it. We were not early enough to get vouchers for their whisky but I used all my charme to get one for free from a lovely lady and then another one for Ana. The whisky is front loaded with a lovely start but the aftertaste is still a little bit sharp. Give it a few more years and this will be the stuff to go for!
They had music and also a ceilidh. I took part in the 'strip the willow' with my cycling shoes, had a dram of something they recomended and Ana and I had a brilliant time. When it closed we cycled a bit farther to Port Charlotte . On the way we met the local cow who was going for a bath.
Here is Ana arriving at Port Charlotte which has an excellent campsite, good pubs and some nice folk in it.
At night it started to rain and by the time we left the tent it was drizzling. Our plan for the day was to join the whisky tourists and to cycle to Caol Ila which was next to Port Askaig where we had to catch the ferry at 15.30 h. Here is Ana avoiding the cows on the way.
At Caol Ila we got some free samples and this was my favourite whisky of the trip. The Bruichladdie will be a future star but Caol Ila is a current star, esp. the special edition that I could try. Their do was a more sedate affair than at Bruichladdie but the Caol Ila guys and gals have gold in their barrels.
Here is the distillery right by the water and Jura is on the other side. We had to go up a steep hill and then down to the ferry. On Jura there was a fellrace the day before and a lot of 'bluudy well right' Yorkshiremen and -women waited with their bikes for the ferry.
After that the long journey back to Dundee.
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