Don't stop me talking about love

This day was wonderful and excruciating at the same time. Our itinerary was a bit tight - I had found a concert on Skye that I really wanted to see, but it meant that we needed to catch the 7am ferry from Port Askaig on Islay and spend much of the day driving up through the Highlands to get to Skye, either via the ferry from Mallaig or the bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh.


Port Askaig

The reason I was so determined to get to the concert was because I was chasing Scottish folk and traditional music, and we had originally planned to go to a new festival with a great lineup, on our arrival in Scotland. Unfortunately a few weeks before our trip, the festival was cancelled. Annoyingly, that was the only part of our itinerary we had already planned. We got the ticket price back but not the hotel we had booked for that night.


Loch Melfort

So I was keen to get there but I also torn because I knew this bit of the country was somewhere I wanted to spend more time. Even when we locked down the itinerary a few weeks before, I knew that driving through in one day was almost certainly not going to be enough. Just one of those compromises you make.


Loch Melfort

We weren't in a tearing hurry though and were able to stop pretty much at will to take photos.



I don't think I got any photos that came anywhere close to recording, or even eliciting, the feelings I feel when I actually look at these landscapes.


Though most of the most amazing "guh" and "argh" moments happened later than this point, and usually when I was driving and unable to stop. Mountains always give me a thrill, (it happened in New Zealand too). Where I live you just don't have that experience of coming around a bend and suddenly the earth just rises steeply away. Right there next to you. And to add to that, when driving in the Highlands, at least half the time the land falls away into a beautiful loch on the other side of the road.




Oban

We stopped in Oban. It was a bit of a grey day, but even so, Oban begged for lots of photos. I think we both really wanted to have more time to explore here. It would have been nice to stay a night - and next time I'm there, maybe board a ferry for an island visit or two as well. I'd like to go to Mull, as my little sister lived there for a winter when she was 18! (Chambermaiding, I believe)


Oban


Oban


Oban

Another stretch of incredible scenic driving and the next stop was at Fort William, where we had to decide whether to divert to Mallaig and try for the ferry or to go the long way to the bridge. We already knew the ferry was booked up and now we learned that stand-by wasn't a good risk to take. We were disappointed, and annoyed we hadn't booked ahead. We had been hearing stories about how Skye had been mobbed with tourists, because Game of Thrones did some filming there.

Fort William

I had heard that Fort William is very 'touristy' - it sure was busy with cars and people, and felt a lot (superficially at least) like Queenstown (NZ) with all the outdoor/adventure activities available. Can't really judge though as we were there for a very short time. Once we realised it was the longer drive for us, we had to get going.


Off the A82, near Invergarry

We still stopped once or twice to take in the views.


Is this a boring photo? I think I might print out a large copy to stare at when I need to. It's medicinal.

So used to laughing at the things in my heart

After our lovely evening introduction we woke up with one long day to spend getting to know Islay.



And we managed to see quite a lot of it, more than I had expected. This is Kilarrow Parish Church in Bowmore, unusual for its completely round shape.



Our first distillery was the mighty Laphroaig.



In the visitor's centre we were greeted and offered a free dram each. I declined with a sad face, saying "I'm the driver," and the bar server produced this with a flourish. The driver's dram, to take away and drink later. Happy day!


Sure, this historically important bottle is not at all drinkable, but maybe wipe out the display case? Ew.



No such luck at Lagavulin, where K scored my free drink instead.    

We also stopped at Ardbeg, which had a very impressive forecourt. (No free dram though.)



This celtic knot design is not painted on - it's actually made with white and black/grey stones. The skull sculpture below, I can't explain. There was also a large copper still displayed outside, which made a bit more sense.





We went through Port Ellen twice, on the way to and from the distilleries.



St John's Church, Port Ellen. I didn't nail the kind of shot I wanted but there was something appealing and fascinating about this blocky brown church.



A good chunk of our time in Islay was spent driving on single-lane roads, which we shared with sheep at times (just go slow, eventually honk the horn and they get out of the way). We stopped often to admire the views or the coo.







After lunch we cruised quickly past another distillery, Bruichladdich. And later in the day we wound up visiting one more, Kilchoman. Here they had a malting floor you could peer into, which was interesting. The particularly malty smells are different at each distillery too. I thought we might visit one or two distilleries in our whole trip and not bother with many more. But they are all over the place and it was easy to make a quick stop and kind of fun to collect them. (I didn't have the luggage space to collect too many bottles though). There are still four or so Islay ones we didn't go to.



But the highlight in the Kilchoman area was the church. These colours in the stone and the surrounding landscape make me feel such good feelings. (See also the top photo in this post).






It was a great day and we managed to get around most of the island, down to the Mull of Oa and over to Port Charlotte as well. Of course there was more we could have done with more planning/time - we took a long drive to the carpark and then didn't actually go for the walk to the American Monument at Oa. We also drove around quite a while looking for and failing to find the Ballinaby standing stone. I didn't really mind in either case though as there was so much beautiful country to enjoy, sheep to dodge and cows to photograph.



Finally we went back to the very comfortable Ballygrant Inn for the evening and enjoyed the good cooking and impressively-stocked bar, as well as the two dogs and a three-legged cat who liked to keep the guests company. I spilled a little bit of whiskey on my knitting. Only a little bit, thankfully I didn't waste too much. (Nevermind the knitting, it was perfectly washable). This was more or less the end of our Islay visit as planned to take the 7am ferry back to the mainland the next morning, because we needed to get to Skye by the following evening.