Spring 2013 Visit – Final Part

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Friday 10th May

The Final full day on Islay of this visit , once again it was a wee bit dreich but where better to be in the rain ! For lunch we once again headed to The Old Kiln and once again the Crab Chowder was on the menu ! For the mains i had the Bolognese and Melanie went for the Haggis Burger . We bumped into some familiar faces at lunch , Willhelm and Rita from the Netherlands , they used to go the Festival many moons ago . After a natter and a catch up over lunch , we headed for a drive along the South Shore to Kildalton . When we arrived back at Port Ellen we bumped into Ron from Islayinfo.com outside the Co-op . Then it was back to The Cottage to pack .

Saturday 11th May

So it was farewell to Islay on the 9.45am ferry ! The only good thing about departing on a morning ferry (it’s never good to departing Islay….) is the Calmac Breakfast , a good start to the day . The crossing wasn’t too bad and the drive back was relatively dry . We stopped off at The Inverbeg Inn for a bite to eat on the way back  . So to the next visit……

Spring 2013 Visit – Part 3

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Wednesday 8th May

Bit of a quiet day today , weather wasn’t great so we headed up to Bunnahabhain to see what was going on . Was quiet when we got there and managed to catch up with Lillian , they are all looking forward to working with the new owners and the future definitely looks bright at Bunnahabhain ! When we left the shop was busy with people eagerly buying Bunnas products . It’s always a nice drive out to and back from Bunnahabhain whatever the weather , we both still miss the cottages and the views…..

On the way back we decided to stop for a bite to eat at the Ballygrant Inn , it’s one of the only places we haven’t ate in on Islay , we have heard so many good reports about the food there……. Unfortunately it remains that way on this trip as they were having some work done there and weren’t serving food , maybe next trip ! We did have a drink and got to meet the cute , resident 3 legged cat !

The rest of the day was spent in Port Ellen , We called in to see Ella and catch up and  Later on i saw out the rest of the evening on the Daftmill Chat . 

Thursday 9th May

Early start this morning , we were booked on Iains Warehouse Tour at Lagavulin , To say the walk along  from Port Ellen was ‘bracing’ would be a bit of an understatement ! Luckily the proper rain held off , just an odd spot , it was actually quite a nice walk , blew off a few recent cobwebs !

What can you say about Iains Tour that hasn’t been said already ? Another highly entertaining morning with one of the great characters of Islay and superb whisky ! I think this is the busiest tour i’ve seen , Iain told me not to put it on the net that it was busy , but what the hell ! LOL ! Todays whisky selection was….

  • Lagavulin New Make
  • 2004 8yo From Sherry cask 7746
  • 2002 11yo 4th refill sherry
  • 1998 15yo from cask 1712
  • 1982 31yo Cask 681

Like i said superb whisky , we both prefered the 15yo but the 8yo was a close second !

Then it was a short walk along to Ardbeg for a bite to eat , we seem to get in just before the rush , don’t know what’s been going on but everyone’s been commenting on how busy the Isle has been this last fortnight . So down to business , we both had the Ardbeg Crab Chowder to start with , then Melanie went for the Baked Tattie with Prawn Marie Rose and i went for the Seafood Medley (Sea bass , Salmon and Scallops in a creamy white wine sauce) . Not being fully stuffed we decided to finish off with one of Ardbegs wonderful Scones , who ever makes their scones must have the lightest of hands as they simply just melt in your mouth , delicious ! Before departing we managed to have a wee natter with Mickey and then headed back to Port Ellen….. On the bus this time !

While eating at Ardbeg something came up in the conversation about the food , now in the past (while i was doing the website) people would say i was very biased towards Ardbeg (you never said a bad thing about their whisky , we take his reviews with a pinch of salt , Blah blah blah…..) but this is the 15th year we been coming to the Isle and in all that time we’ve never had a bad meal in The Old Kiln ! The food is constantly to a high standard and just when you think you’ve had the most delicious meal ever and nothing can top it , you come back the next time and there’s something else delicious on the menu . And Melanies still raving about the Terryaki Chicken with The slightly Spiced Noodles , i think she’s just doing it on purpose because i didn’t have it !

Spring 2013 Visit – Part 2

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Monday 6th May

Not a very nice morning but after a bit of a lie in (that’s what Bank Holidays are for !) we headed off for a drive to Kilchoman and a bite of lunch . Must say we were slightly disappointed in our lunch there , not up to their usual standard , The Cullen Skink wasn’t up to the previous days offering at the Old Kiln .

Afterwards we headed off to Laddie to see Mary . She’s nearly back to her old self after last years accident , still a wee while to go with the treatment but she’s getting there ! Everything seems hunky-dory at the distillery , a few new faces and  i gather a few to depart .

We headed back to Port Ellen to freshen up and go out to The White Hart  for a bite to eat , we nearly didn’t get to eat there as they were very busy but they managed to squeeze us in . We both started with the Potato skins (Delicious) and Melanie went for the Chinese Chicken Stir fry and i went for the Hebridean Chicken , both fantastic . Then it was back to the cottage for a night cap .

Tuesday 7th May

Sunshine ! An absolutely glorious morning so the walking boots were pulled on and we headed for Bridgend Woods . Spring is definitely a few weeks behind looking at how far the flora is (or isn’t !) on . I’m teaching Melanie to use my old camera on this trip , i’ll post some of her results at the end of the trip .

(Click on Photos for full size versions)

Melanie in bridgend woodsMelanie in the woods

Melanie The PhotographerMel The Photographer !

PrimrosesPrimroses

BluebellSingle Bluebell

BluebellsA few more…..

FernA fern getting ready to burst into action

We had a great walk through the woods , a little bit of a chill in the wind but in the shade of the trees lovely and warm . As a bit of a treat after the walk we headed into Bowmore to try out the new Coffee Shop in the The Celtic Book Shop , very nice it is too for a cappucino and a bit of cake ! Seeing it was still lovely when we got home i went off on a bit of a romp around the Ard behind us .

The Hebridean IslesHebridean Isles

Swan PoolView across Swan Pool To Laphroaig

Port Ellen StitchPort Ellen Panorama (Quite large file !)

For our evening meal we headed off to the Lochside in Bowmore for a belated Birthday meal for Melanie (we were both ill with Flu when it was actually her Birthday ) , She had a Prawn Cocktail to start with followed by Cajun Chicken with Flatbread , i went for Scallops as my starter and a Steak as the main meal . To say we were stuffed at the end would be an understatement ! HUGE portions !!!! Very tasty though !

Spring 2013 Visit

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Saturday 4th May

So once again we head to Islay for our Spring week , this time we’re stopping in Port Ellen in a Cottage on Frederick Crescent , it’s a little while since we’ve stayed in Port Ellen ( 2009 festival at Tigh Cargaman ) so it will be a nice change . As usual it’s an early start to get the lunchtime ferry from Kennacraig . The weather was mixed on the way up Cloudy/rainy till Dunblane , nice and sunny till Tarbert then back to cloudy at Kennacraig , it was a wee bit choppy on the Ferry crossing . Once on the Isle we headed down to Port Ellen to take up our residence in Frederick Crescent . After watching a bit of the rowing going on at the harbour , we had a bite to eat and then headed to the Islay Hotel for a drink or two . Then it was back to the Cottage for the rest of the night .

Sunday 5th May

After a lie in we drove down to Ardbeg to have lunch , after a wee natter to Christine (Logan) in the car park – who was taking a Japanese couple around the Isle after their wedding yesterday in Bowmores Round Church (First Japanese couple to be married in there) – it was into the Old Kiln for some of their scrummy food ! Melanie went for the Cream of tomato soup followed by Lighlty Spiced Noodles with terryaki Chicken , i went for the Cullen Skink followed by the Lamb and Haggis Burger . Few new things we noticed since our last visit , new Menus , new Place mats and a posh coffee machine !

Afterwards we went for a drive along to Kildalton , when we stopped at Seal Bay we had another “Melanie” moment….. ” look there’s a baby seal on them rocks……” This time i had my camera ! You’ll have to indulge me for a moment (see previous posting to this one….) , this time the Otter was in the middle of the bay , but i had a 400mm lens (oh-er missus)….. 

(Click on Images to see full size )

Otter 1 Otter 2
Otter3 Otter4
Otter5 Otter 6
Otter 7 Otter 8
Otter 9

We spent nearly an hour watching this wee beastie ! What a pleasure and what a start to the Holiday , even though he was half way across the Bay ! We continued on to Kildalton then returned to the metropolis that is Port Ellen……

Otter Country

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I’ve just finished reading a book recommended by my good friend James Deane , Otter Country: In search of Wild Otters by Miriam Darlington (ISBN: 9781847084859) , James knew we always went out on the ‘hunt’ for otters whenever we are over on Islay and thought i’d be interested in the read . He was right , an excellent book which just shows what a hold these animals can take on you , i haven’t been as far as Miriam (Devon , Cornwall , Somerset , South East England , Cumbria , Northumberland , Highlands of Scotland , Skye…..) but i’ve been to a few places looking for them…..

Normally an obsession with Otters starts in one of two places or should i say books , Tarka the Otter or Ring of Bright Water , mine started i suppose with the Film Ring of Bright Water (wasn’t a big reader as a kid….)  . It took me a while to see a real live Otter , not a wild one , a captive one at the Bowes Otter Sanctuary – which unfortunately is now closed – it was a pretty good introduction to them in the flesh . Before we settled on going to Islay every holiday we did tour around Scotland , we visited the Bright Water Visitors Centre in Kyleakin and walked down to the Kylerhea Otter Haven Hide , a wonderful walk that ended in no otters…… For the first few years of visiting Islay the count remained at zero , always been told stories by visitors who ‘stumbled’ upon otters .

Look no Camera…….

Our first real live Otter encounter happened at Seal Bay when we didn’t have a camera handy….. we’d left the hotel early to have a drive down to one of our favourite places on the isle Seal Bay . admiring the seals Mel casually said “oh look there’s a small seal swimming past us…..” it wasn’t , it was an otter ! And just to kick sand in our faces seeing i didn’t have a camera to hand it came out of the water with a fish , sat down less than 20 yards from us and proceeded to have its breakfast in front of us , an unbelieveable experience . 

You don’t have to go that far to see an Otter…..

Now just to make matters worse on our return home there was a programme on the telly hosted by a certain ex-goodie , Bill Oddie , watching Otters swim in the Nature Reserve a quarter of a mile across the field in front of our home…… It was also backed up a few years later by another Comedic Bill (Bailey) doing a Wild Thing….. I Love You episode about Otters from the same Big Waters Reserve . Still haven’t seen one there BTW . 

Our First Photo…..

The first Otter i managed to catch on film wasn’t on Islay , it was on Jura ! If you are a regular visitor here you will have seen it on the header at the top of the Blog , but if you haven’t here it is…….

otter.jpgThis was just along from the ferry terminal at Feolin , there were actually two Otters and they were having great fun in the kelp ! We could have stayed for ages watching them but we had to get the ferry back to Islay.

It’s Behind you…..

Our next close encounter of the Otter kind actually happened on the mainland , for the 2003 Feis Ile we had to get the early morning ferry (7am) as the later ones were fully booked , arriving at Kennacraig early in the morning (about 2.30am) we tried to get our heads down for a few hours , after failing miserably several times there was a splash on the Loch behind us , there was an Otter swimming along towards the ferry , a lovely sight at about 5.30 in the morning…….

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition !

We stayed up at the old Bunnahabhain Distillery Cottages for a few years and heard many a story from the workers about the Otters activities around there (including a Mother bringing her cubs into the yard in front of the distillery) , It wasn’t till our last year there that we actually saw one . We were the last people to stay at the cottages in 2010 , the first week there were others there who had seen a dog otter swimming around the pier , we didn’t see anything in the first week . Not at Bunnahabhain anyway….. Bunnahabhain has a non-existant mobile signal , so to take part in the weekly whisky chats we used to drive down to Loch Indaal to get a signal . We used to always park in the same spot just along from where the Carrabus Burn flows into the Loch . This night we’d just started on the chat when an Otter swam past  ! Could not believe it , no camera again (it was dark this time…..) , totally unexpected !

Back at Bunnahabhain , for our second week we were the only occupants , no joy all week until our very last night then the Otter appeared , it swam from around the wreck and along the front of the distillery heading towards the Margadale . 

Otter 1A wonderful ending to our last night of our last stay at Bunnahabhain !

We haven’t had anymore close encounters of the Otter kind since then , though on the first night of last summer we did see one in the distance towards Seal Bay . We will be resuming the hunt in a couple of weeks time hopefully capturing some good shots and this time it’s personal !

Bring out the comfy chairs……

Some Samples……

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Every now and again a kindly soul gives me some samples to try , this time they are courtesy of Mr Bobby Banford Esquire (can someone from East Kilbride be an Esquire ?)……..

WhiskyBroker 27yo Auchentoshan

From Bourbon Barrel 4474 , bottled at 53.9% , 209 bottles

11/12/84 – 16/11/12

Quite sweet on the nose (opal fruits) , oaky spices , quite pleasant on the whole . Very smooth across the palate , again sweet and oaky spices , the finish is medium to long and spicy . I was pleasantly surprised by this Auchentoshan , i’ve never been a fan of this lowlander , a very nice dram .

WhiskyBroker 28yo Tormore

From Bourbon Barrel 3674 , Bottled at 54% , 184 Bottles

24/2/84 – 16/12/12

Quite a restrained nose at first but then the oak spices explode , very fruity with Confectioners sugar , seems quite malty as well . Very unusual on the palate , again sweet with a strong maltiness , The finish is very long and strong , almost takes your breath away , very warming with sweet fruitiness . The only Tormores i ever tried were SMWS ones and i was very impressed with them , i’m well and truly impressed with this one , wonderful !

WhiskyBroker 17yo Caperdonich

From Bourbon Hogshead 95068 , Bottled at 55% , 30 Bottles

13/5/95 – 13/2/13

Initially very synthetic on the nose ( acetate / nail varnish remover) then strong vanilla and spices , it gets very pleasant after standing for a while . The palate is very spicy and hot , certainly warms the mouth up ! There is a touch of exotic fruit in amongst the spiciness , the finish is long and warming with opal fruitiness . A very good dram , could go a bottle of this…….

Croftengea 8yo (unknown bottler)

Sherry Finished Hogshead #283 , Bottled at 45% , 380 Bottles

Jan 1996 – Sept 2005

Very dark in colour , on the nose Struck matches , plastic buckets and acetate  , Oh dear…… left it for a little while and it’s still as bad . Almost frightened to taste it , luckily , at first , it doesn’t taste as bad as it smells , but then the sulphur overtakes the sherry . In one word Awful ! I’ve had a few Croftengeas from the SMWS (bought Casks 1 to 4 !) and they were all drinkable , this isn’t…….

Douglas Laing OMC 16yo Ardbeg

Rum Finished , 50%

1991 – 2007

Typical 1990′s Beg nose ,  big peat then the sweet lemon creamy coffee , nothing of the rum so far . On the palate again there’s the big Beg peat but there seems a strong sweetness to it , the rum influence ? There’s also the lemony creaminess across the mouth , the finish isn’t as long as i’d hoped but qute pleasant , very lemony . Not a bad Beg but one does wonder why rum finished……..

Thanks again to Roberto for the Samples !

Winter 2013 Visit

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Just a short visit this time , a long weekend but every visit to Islay is worth it !

Thursday 28th February

Another early start to the day , very frosty and foggy on the way up to Glasgow but by the time we hit Lomond it was lovely and sunny , Just before getting to Kennacraig we had our customary stop at Tarbert for tea and cakes……

Tarbert(Took with a Blackberry Z10 and un-instagrammed !)

Melanie in tarbertThe Ferry across this time would be the Hebridean Isles as The Finlaggan was away on Winter Maintenance duty .

Hebridean IslesOnce on Islay we made our way to our residence this trip , the Bowmore Distillery Garden Cottage . After settling down and freshening up we made our way to The Lochside  to get a bite to eat and see the night out with a dram or two , unfortunately no Islay Ales tonight as they’d run and were waiting for new stock.

Friday 1st March

A new day , a new month ! A Beautiful morning , we went off down to Ardbeg leaving the car behind and getting the bus down (£4.70 return for those that are interested) . As it turned out this first time on an Islay visit we only used the car to get from the Ferry to the Accomodation then back to the ferry ! Bus and walked the rest of the time . It was good to catch up with everyone at Ardbeg , even though it was briefly with Jackie , after having a natter with Mickey and Emma we had lunch , the Cullen Skink was wonderful ! I won’t bother mentioning about the Ardbog as it’s been covered elsewhere on the web…… After lunch Margaret gave us a look around Ardbegs latest project , a holiday let ! You too could stay on the distillery site , it’s a beautifully furnished house (next to the managers ) , downstairs consists of 3 Bedrooms ( all ensuite , 2 doubles , 1 twin) and a rather posh bathroom . Upstairs there’s a combined Kitchen / Dining room with log burner and underfloor heating with a balcony with views across to Kintyre and Antrim , i’ll not say the price but it’s not your normal run of the mill holiday let……. details soon on the website…….

So it was back to Bowmore to freshen up and a look at the Japanese Garden we had access to from the cottage .

The Japanese Garden

The View down the garden (our cottage is the one with the patio doors)

Melanie at the Loch end of the Garden

Melanie at the Loch end of the Garden

Melanie on a stroll.....

Melanie on a stroll…..

Once again we headed out to the Lochside for a bite to eat and some refreshment…… The Islay Ales were back on ! A pint of Finlaggan if you please ! We finished off the night in the Schooner Bar of the Harbour Inn . Actually got to try the 2010 Feis Ile Caol Ila tonight , a cracking dram , wish i had a bottle…….

Saturday 2nd March

Quite an early start for a holiday , first up we were on the 10am tour of the Bowmore Distillery (in with the Cottage rental) , a very good tour by Heather , we also got to see Phil Gray working (some say a rarity……but i wouldn’t……) and became very popular with the tour , due to our presence ( i.e. cottage occupents ) the usual end of tour dram was changed from a 12yo to the 15yo Darkest as we get a bottle of it included in our let….. Lots of Woo-hoos all round ! So after making a few purchases in the Visitors Centre shop , great staff now btw after our experiences of a few years ago , we headed back to the cottage to change and go and meet Ella for Lunch at the Bowmore Hotel…….

The Bowmore Hotel was a place we hadn’t frequented a lot in the past (once in how many ever visits) and we got a bit of a shock this time when we went in , it’s been done out ! And very nicely too ! It was great to catch up with Ella , she’s doing really well after her recent hip replacement . The food was very tasty and flavoursome and it was good to see proper homemade chips ! After saying farewell we went off for a shop in Bowmore , some more supplies and bits and bobs purchased before heading back to the Cottage to get ready for the evenings fun and games .

Melanie ready to hit the Town !

Melanie ready to hit the Town !

We had a bite to eat in the Chinese Restaurant before heading off Back to The Lochside to watch Phil work , Twice in one day ! This’ll not do his reputation any good…… It was good to catch up with him and see him in action behind the bar , It turned out to be a really good night , Lots of Swedes (the people not the vegetables….. )in , had a good chat with Michael and  mob , and the patter was flying from behind the bar , we both said it ‘s the first time when we’ve been in the Lochside in recent years that it reminded us of when we stayed there under Alistair and Ann . After much 15yo darkest (i’ve took a shine to it….) we thought we best retire back to the Cottage as we had the morning ferry to get . Cheers Phil and Michaels Mob for the great night !

Sunday 3rd March

So it was off to Port Ellen for the 9.45am ferry , a lovely morning to end our flying visit . A Calmac Breakfast was on the menu to see us off on journey home , we didn’t really do a lot this visit ( apart from eat and drink by the look of it !) but it was a nice relaxing time without doing any walking or chasing photographs . Till the next time…….

For those that are intrested this is what the cottage looked like inside……..

The Sitting Room

The Sitting Room

The Main Bedroom

The Main Bedroom (there is another twin Bedroom)

The Kitchen

The Kitchen from the Patio Doors

The Kitchen

The Kitchen looking towards the pation doors

Details of the Cottages can be found at http://cottages.bowmore.co.uk/