Mike here ... this being written at about 9:45PM on Sunday the 23rd, but probably not posted until Monday.
We had a busy day which started out with worship at the Kilmeny Parish Church, which dates back to about 1800. After the service we chatted for a while, outside, with a few of the parishioners and we were invited to pay a visit to one of the couples' homes. So, we will make the time for that ... it was a blessing and it is
exactly why we so enjoy Scotland. An added bonus is that The Gaelic is spoken in their home !!!
Following church was open day at the Bruichladdich Distillery, where we had lunch served up by the Nippy Chippy of fish and chips, meatburger (it seems a hamburger is in fact ham), 2 egg/spring rolls, CocaCola and Irn Bru for drinks. After that we met up with Gordon and Margaret Campbell and their friends Norrie and Claire. The weather was nice, but a bit breezy. We took a tour of the distillery, listened to music, watched highland dancing, etc. We also ran into Simon Brooking, who invited us to attend "The Gathering" of Friends of Laphroaig even though we were too late to have our own special commemorative pair of Wellies. So we did that at about
7PM then stayed for a while at the ceilidh afterwards.
When we left the ceilidh, and got into our car we were approached by a young man who asked if we were going to Port Askaig, which is approxinately 20 miles. We told him that we were not going to Port Askaig so he thanked us and began walking away. Jacqueline suggested that we could offer him a ride to Ballygrant which is on the way to Port Askaig. So, I rolled down the window and yelled "Oi, mate, we can take you to Ballygrant if that is helpful." He thanked us and got in. His name is Edward, he is Australian and he is actually staying in the Ballygrant Inn just down the road from us. Not sure why he mentioned Port Askaig ... perhaps because Ballygrant is not as well known as some of the other locations. In any case we were very blessed by his
company for the 30-45 minute drive. If you are wondering how it can take 30-45 minutes to travel less than 20 miles, it's because the roads are Islay roads and unless you are a tourtist there is nae hurry. One thing worth mentioning were the daft sheep that were wandering about in the "low" (there is also a "high road"and they are both on Islay, in Scotland) road. They are not easy to see in fog and at "dusk", but see them I did and I am thankful.
Tomorrow we will spend the morning in (Bogh Mor) Bowmore poking around while we wait for our laundry and go to the bank to convert some $ to pounds. We will also look for a bottle to share with Gordon, Margaret, Norrie, Claire, Maggie and Robin when we visit Samhchair to say "hi". If you've read OorAlbaBlog for long you might remember that last year we stayed at Samhchair, and that is where we met Gordon and Margaret.
Maggie and Robin were our hosts and asked us to visit them next time we were on Islay. Norrie and Claire are friends of Gordon and Margaret, who are becoming friends of ours. It helps that four of us share an appreciation of whisky, and all of us a love of Scotland and its history. Between Bowmore and Samhchair
we plan to revisit the American Monument on The Oa, and try to locate one of the abandoned villages near Kintra. It promises to be another busy day.
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