Day Ten (Saturday)
The goal of Saturday was to drive around the island. Just a relaxing day of taking in the scenery from the island. No breakfast, just jumping into the car at 10 am and heading north. The first stop was the Information Center in Bowmore to get more information about the ferries. The first stop was a huge blessing. Unfortunately, the lady at the Information Center provided heartbreaking news, and it turns out our plan to Campbeltown wasn’t a good plan. Because Campbeltown is part of the mainland, we will have to check with our rental car, and we have to book the ferries in advance. But the wonderful lady didn’t leave us with bad news; she provided additional ideas of what we should do while on Islay, and we are so happy that we stopped by. Before leaving Bowmore, we walked to the Peatzeria to see if we could book a dinner reservation. Success, 6 pm Katy and I will be dining at the Peatzeria.
Leaving Bowmore, we continued the rainy morning on the A846 around Bowmore. The A846 is the main road around the west side of the island. The drive is right along the coast, and even in the rain, it is very remarkable. While driving, we decided to go out to Kilchoman to see if we could schedule a tasting for the time we had left on the island. Unfortunately, they did not, but we did get coffee, and I purchased a tee shirt. But the drive off of A846 to Kilchoman was fun because it’s about 4 miles of one-lane road with pullover areas every so often. You would think that would be a big hassle, but the truth is the pullover areas are very efficient. Plus, the views are priceless.
Back on the A846, we continued west to the A847 and headed to Portnahaven. Though the sky was still gray and spitting a little rain, we parked and walked down to the bay. There were about ten seals just chilling in the water, looking at us like come out for a swim. Had the sun been out, the seals would have been on the rocks just below us. With the joy of seeing wildlife, we continued.
Instead of turning around, we continued on a one-lane road to view the West coast. Once again, the views are breathtaking, and we only saw two cars on the 40 minutes (actually, I’m not sure how long) drive looping back to Port Charlotte. We made a few stops along the way to get photos.
With plenty of the day left (it might have been around noon), we decided to head to the North end of the island. We drove to Port Askaig and parked to have a walkabout. We first checked the ferry to Jura and found that you pay on the ferry, and no booking is necessary. We walked over to the only pub and had a snack. Also, I captured more rainbow photos. I thought Hawaii had a lot of rainbows.
Since we were in the area and had plenty of time, we drove out to Ardnahoe. Once again a single-lane road with breathtaking views. There we got lucky and booked a tour at 4 pm. Then, having just over an hour before the tour, we drove another two miles to Bunnahabhain. I will say that this drive provides some of the best views. It helped because the rain had stopped, and the sun was out and shining on the hills of Jura. Honestly, a blessing to have had the opportunity to see God’s gift. There we were able to book a tasting for Sunday at 10:30 am. It’s a good thing that we stopped by there because their website says that the tasting was full. But Colin said, no worries, they will make room for us.
We returned for our 4 pm tour at Ardnahoe, the newest distillery on the island, and will not have a product to sell until the end of the month. To be a scotch, it has to be in a barrel for three years and one day. The tour was fabulous, very informative, and refreshing. I became a big fan of theirs.
At first, I thought we were going to have hours to kill in Bowmore before dinner. But, as it turns out, we arrived just in time for our reservations. The bartender at Glasgow airport highly recommended the Peatzeria, and it didn’t disappoint.
www.tsallenphotos.com 