Bunna Hopping

Jim and Caroline made a great hot breakfast for us and Jim shared with us all of the highlights of the island and some history. I found it interesting that the first Land Rover proofing grounds is visible from our dining room by the forests near Lagan Bay. It is also where the name Land Rover was coined.

We decided to tour the island a bit this morning and popped over to Port Charlotte. From there we drove down to two of the prettiest towns in Scotland - Port Wemyss and Portnahaven. The residents take the competition very seriously and they have had to install two doors on the shared church so that each village can have their own entrance and don’t have to mingle with their rivals. I personally enjoyed the walk along the lake in Port Wemyss better. It was hilly with lots of grass and flowers with a great view of the island with the lighthouse where we could hear and see some seals way off in the distance.

We stopped in to check out the Islay Celtic Craft Shop. Doug bought a belt and they purchased a souvenir for Eric.

We drove up the coast to Kilchiaran and decided to start heading back to the other side of the island toward the scheduled distillery tour at 3pm.

We had a delicious lunch at Port Charlotte Hotel with a great view of Loch Indaal. The scallops, seafood chowder, fish and chips were great. Sheila is getting into the spirit of Ireland already and has started enjoying the Guinness for the first time ever. She had her first one in Portree and there is no turning back. The rumour is true, it is made differently and tastes better in this part of the world.

We stopped briefly at Bruichladdich Distillery to buy some glasses and take a couple of photos. Ardnahoe Distillery was a very new and modern facility. We bought some souvenirs and enjoyed the view of Lock Ardnahoe while having whisky and bubbly. They have a large restaurant and the food looked really good.

We dropped the guys off at Bunnahabhain for their tour and we drove back to Finalaggan to check out the Ancient Seat of the Lord of the Isles because it did not appear that we could access Rhuvaal Lighthouse easily or with enough time. The visitor centre and gift shop was small and the lady giving the “tour” was finishing up with another group. We decided to walk back toward the pasture and check out the abandoned homestead. We tried not to disturb the sheep while checking out the three ruined structures. They did not seem to be very comfortable with us around.

We arrived back at the distillery just after 4pm because we need to leave by 4:20 so Bill could make his 5pm call for work.

At 4:30 the guys spilled out of the tour. Then Bill ran into the gift shop for one last souvenir. We are not going to make it back to the B & B on time. The guys seemed delighted with the tour, the size of the pours, and raved about David’s stories and songs.

Sheila had to drive pedal to the metal to get Bill back so that he would not be too late for his call.

After dropping him off we headed back through Port Ellen and then further down to the most southern part of Islay, Mull of Oa.

The single lane road was very narrow and had very few passing areas. Good thing there was almost no traffic, although we did have to pull over for a tractor at one point when we ventured down a gravel road.

We had a Highland cow pose for us before we hiked 1 mile from the car park to The American Monument through sheep and cow pastures and over the peat (very nice floating path). It is a 131m memorial to the Americans that lost their lives in two shipwrecks on the island in 1918. The view would be great for sunset. Maybe we saw Northern Ireland in the distance?!

Along the way today we finally saw Highland cows up close (babies too!), massive hares, seals, Eurasian Oystercatchers, a wren, jackdaws, ravens, starlings, sparrows, robins, quail (in a cage at the craft shop) a harrier, a piptit or chat, small wren, geese, swallows, and white wagtails.

We had to do a quick turnaround and grab Bill to make it almost on time for our 7:30 reservation at The Lockside Hotel Restaurant.

We had a great view of the Loch and enjoyed the scallop Caesar salad, crabs (even though I crushed my finger), and the piping hot mac & cheese with bacon.

We did some packing because we have to leave before 6am tomorrow to ensure that we don’t miss the ferry back to the mainland.

I won this evening’s Bitch Rummy - my third. I would like to say three peat after a three peat (sadly it is not true, just sounds good).