Shopping, Laphroaig, The Oa and Monument

Mike here ...

Another entry written, and posted, some time after the events. In this case I am writing at 08:00 Tuesday the 25th about yesterday, Monday the 24th. I had hoped to post Sunday last night but we were visiting friends and did not return to our flat until it was dark ... about 10:30PM and that was too late to visit the Ballygrant Inn to access their wi-fi.

Yesterday we headed into Bowmore to do laundry, a bit of grocery shopping and visit the bank. From there we would head to Laphroaig to pick up our "rent" (a free wee bottle of whisky) then on to The Oa and see the American Monument. Interestingly we visited Laphroaig,and the monument last year on a Monday.

Unfortunately the laundry is closed on Monday so we had to wash a few items by hand. The bank was a better experience; we walked into the bank and the young lady at the teller booth asked me "Back for another visit to Islay?". She remembered me from last year!!! We chatted about our trip, and the weather.Her husband is from Wishaw, and she told us that this past winter they were stuck at their home when the snow packed to ice and there was no ability to remove it so they waited for it to melt. From there we headed to the Co-op, a grocery store, to buy some needed items. The store is tiny compared to the typical store in the states and the aisle signs are in The Gaelic (first) followed by English. If I recall correctly, an interesting thing about some Gaelic words is there was/is no such word originally so the Gaelic word used is essentially the English word spelled in correct Gaelic grammar.



Groceries packed into the boot of oor wee car we headed to Laphroaig where Jacqueline was greeted by John Campbell, the distillery manager who said "You are the lady who sent the tablet to me?" They chatted for some time and were eventually joined by Simon Brooking, Master Ambassador for Beam Global. Eventually we entered the Visitor Centre to receive our rent and then we were off to The Oa (pronounced "Oh") and American Monument. Last year when we visited the Monument it was windy, gray and overcast so the pictures we took have a gray haze in the background. This day started as the same but the ckouds and haze cleared and it was spectacular, although very windy.



Following that we headed to Kintra (Kentraw) Farm to see if I could determine the location of some old ruined villages. We chatted with a young man who rode past on a bicycle who told us that the return (round trip) walk to the ruins takes about 3 hours. As we were planning to visit friends at Samhchair in 2 hours that walk was not going to happen. During our visit at Samhchair I asked about the walk and was provided a guide book but per the book, and Maggie who is familiar with the walk, it's not well marked, is rough and isolated, long (more than 5 miles, and about 4 hours time, return trip) and the area prone to sudden changes in weather. So, despite my desire to see the ruins it's not likely to happen this time round. I will have to plan it for another time and do it with someone who is familiar
with the area.

Today we hope/plan to take the ferry from Port Askaig over to the Isle of Jura ... about a 15 minute ride. That should be fun !!!