Drive frae Wishaw, Ferry tae Islay

Approx 8PM, Sat 22 May 2010

Jacqueline here; just beginning to recover from jet-lag and already missing Michelle and Marshall Cross, our dear friends in Wishaw, near Glasgow. Last night our home-away-from-home was a caravan in a garden near the ferry landing of Kennecraig (near Tarbert). This place had special significance to Michael and me so we knew we were highly blessed. The caravan sat down a gated woodland walkway, amidst shrub groves,
carpeted with bluebells and ferns. A wee brook circled round the back just beyond a daisy-dotted lawn. Our hosts were clearly gardeners, bird and critter lovers with many feeders hanging about where colorful birds flitted and fed; baby bunnies munched on the new grass and we were told to watch for deer in our backyard come morning. Lambs could be heard crying out to their mammas in the pasture beyond the woods. Inside the caravan we relaxed in a sun-drenched sitting room with hot tea
and ginger snaps upon arrival. I could have spent the rest of my days in this
lovely peaceful place but we were up at the crack of dawn today to catch our ferry to Islay.

We met up with Gordon & Margaret Campbell and their friends Norris & Claire who we
visited with throughout the 2 hour cruise. The weather has been fantastic; sunny, warm and clear. Once on Islay, we had lunch at Lagavulin Distillery's Open Day, then re-traced our steps of a year ago by visiting the remains of Kildalton Church with its famous Celtic Cross and ancient cemetary. We drove to Balygrant where our flat is located and now look forward to a good-night's rest and worship at nearby Kilmeney Church of Scotland in the morning, followed by Bruichladdich's Open Day festivities. Till then, cheerio!



Mike here:

I am posting this from the bar in the Ballygrant Inn, which has free wi-fi (I think though they expect you will purchase a dram, or a beer). More than 200 malts available for the tasting. My dram is Bruichladdich Peat because I've never had it and it was reasonably priced. I am "itching" to dram Ardbeg's Lord of the Isles but at more than 20 pounds per, I think I'll pass. J is back at our wee flat resting. It was a long day and she is tired. So am I but I want to update the blog, so here am I.



Yesterday's drive from Wishaw took about 4 hours (of driving time) but the scenery was spectacular; I think. I did not dare take my eyes from the road to look around all that often. I have not driven a manual transmission for some time and shifting with my left, driving on the left, steering wheel on right ... Well, I am grateful the drive was not longer because I was very tired when we arrived at our destination. In about 10 days I'll do it again, but in the other direction !!!



Outside of Glasgow the route I chose is primarily coastal but a significant portion (the A814 along Gare Loch and Loch Long) is rather narrow (not much more than 2 cars wide) and very windy. On one side are cliffs and the other a stone wall, then the Loch. Yikes. I would have liked to take a picture but there are few places to stop and those that exist come up very quickly and then are gone. So, no picture of that section but I did attach a picture of the A83 as it runs West between Arrochar and Loch Fynne. We stopped at a vantage point known as "Rest and Be Thankful". Well, we did and we were !!!

If you care to look at a map and follow the route (assuming I am correctly remembering from memory ... I do have it written down at the flat): M8 through Glasgow to A82 to A814 to A83.

Returning to Islay for 2010 Feis Ile

We decided earlier this month to return to Islay for the 2010 Feis Ile. But this time, rather than a B&B, we want to try a "self catering" (renting a small flat for the week) in order to reduce eating expenses, and hopefully overall expenses.

Obviously the first thing to do is find accomodations. I (Mike) sent out a few dozen emails knowing full-well many of the self-caters would be already booked. Happily there were a few available but many of them are intended for more than 2 people and hence the rent can be dear.

One that was not too dear (http://www.islaysmiddy.com/) , and we considered for a moment or two, was ruled out simply because its location, although spectacular,) was too far from a primary road. In the future we will make a plan to stay there for this, our second trip, we wanted to stay somewhere closer to the center of Islay, if possible.

Happily, we received an email from a woman who has a nice, reasonably priced flat in Ballygrant. When I looked at the picture I said "We stopped at the wee store there on our way to Finlaggan." I've posted a couple of the pictures I took so you can see how similar our picture is to one on the Craigard website. http://ileach.co.uk/craigard/an-araidh/index.html

I have posted a map (from http://www.islayinfo.com/map.html) of Islay with three red circles; one near Port Ellen (southern part of Islay) which is where we stayed for the 2009 Feis Ile, another circle up in the north west near Saligo Bay (the not-too-dear-but-too-isolated rental) and the 3rd at Ballygrant which is where we plan on staying.