(Very Belated) Islay Whisky Festival 2018 - Part 2

As promised I'm back and at least going to try and finish this long update; yesterday we reached our point of arrival at Port Ellen on Islay so in this update I'll do my best go get us home again, but it may yet have to split down even more. I still have over 600 pictures to go through.

Friday - Arrival

The first thing we did on getting to the island was go and pitch up the caravan at the campsite; it was lovely driving from Port Ellen to Port Charlotte with A for her first time on the island, seeing the sights (and sites) that I know so well, and sharing the beauty of the place with her. It was love at first sight for her as well; this place is so worth a visit if you have never been.

Hot Chocolate Amaze Face

The sun goes down over the campsite

With the caravan situated, and the bill for the week paid, we headed up to Kilchoman for my traditional lunch at their cafe and with the plan to then go on to Machir Bay with the puppies and get a picture to recreate the one we have on our bedroom wall. Unfortunately my sore throat and cold came back with a vengeance and I actually could barely manage to finish my Culleen Skink and hot chocolate. We also had not been allowed to have the puppies with us at the table (they were allowed three years previously, I'm sure?) and were worried about them in the car. The food was lovely, though, and again sharing that was so cool for me. I just wished I'd felt better. We went straight back to the caravan afterwards where I rested and hoped to recover for the morning. The sunset was stunning and so it was time to sleep for an early start.

Saturday - Lagavulin

Visiting Islay with me during the Whisky Festival involves early mornings as I try to beat the queues and be as close to the front as possible. Saturday was a shock to the system for A and we were 6th and 7th in line when we finally arrived at the distillery at about 6.30; sadly I missed out on the super secret dram though some of my friends, who were ahead in the queue, let me sip from their dram and it was superb!

Stood at the front with the usual suspects

Looking out to sea from Lagavulin Quay

The puppies having fun on the green by Lagavulin

A queue finally developed

Fluffy water on the fast flowing stream

Coopering at Lagavulin

It was so lovely to meet up with Mox and Nik again, and also make friends out of faces I'd seen before, and we had a good time waiting at the front for the doors to open. A took a stroll with the puppies to get pictures down by the quay and generally stretched her legs and explored while I chatted and sipped my splash of whisky. As 10am approached the queue finally started to grow after a slow start. Then we heard the piper start up inside and so did Louise, who cocked her head and stared at the doors. A had taken position just a bit away, down the exit ramp, and we were both in tears of laughter when, as soon as the piper appeared through the doors and stood piping us in to the shop, Louise threw her head back and sang along at the top of her voice. She has a rather large voice for such a small puppy and she could be clearly heard over the top of the pipes. Several people in the queue were filming and taking photographs and afterwards she was a bit of a celebrity because of this. That puppy is awesome. After my purchase we took a stroll around the grounds, watched some coopering (though it wasn't a talking demo which was a shame) and then decided to head off to let the puppies have some play time.

Having lots of fun on a pebbly beach

Louise at full speed

A strolling along the beach

A peaty stream flowing into the sea

Thelma with her new frisbee

Happy Thelma with a tiny tongue tip showing

Louise is also very happy and licking her lips

Thelma barking at her new ball

We drove out past Ardbeg distillery and onwards down the lane I went two years ago with CJC. Finally we parked at the same place we had camped and took the puppy toy bag onto the beach. I was still feeling a little unwell and so didn't do much running around but I was having great fun watching both the girls running around having so much fun. Thelma even voluntarily went in the sea! Video evidence has been provided. It was a really awesome time, so peaceful and the weather was glorious and warm, but then we noticed Thelma was leaving bloody footprints and discovered that she had cut the pads of her feet on the pebbles so that prompted us to pack up to prevent further damage; she hadn't given any indication that she was hurt at all!

Driving back from the beach

A watching the seals through the binoculars

Cooling off in the waves

A large bird watches on

The colony on the rocks

Such an awesome thing to witness

Looking up towards the Circular Church in Bowmore

A very lovely dinner time

On our way back towards the campsite we happened to notice some seals sunbathing on rocks out in the bay so immediately parked up to look. It was magical watching them and A even got to get her binoculars out which proved very suitable. I attached the super zoom for my camera to get some closer shots as well. We stayed for quite a while before driving on. We stopped past Bowmore for some shopping, and saw my friends who live in the centre which was really nice. Unfortunately we weren't able to catch up with them at all during the week but it was awesome to say hello at least. Then it was back to the caravan for dinner (tasty pasta with some Islay Ales on the side) and a relatively early night as I was still feeling a bit rubbish.

Sunday - Bruichladdich

Bruichladdich day is a party day on the island, falling as it does on the bank holiday Sunday. I love it mainly for the Islay Pipe Band.

Tucked out of the howling gale at Bruichladdich gate

Louise is clearly very happy with her hat

Coaches pull up with people for the queue

As always it was a very good crowd

A joined another queue, for the toilet this time

The Islay Pipe Band (video below)

Thalassa spreads her wings for the open sea

It is not a crazily early start for Sunday as the doors do not open until midday so we made our way up there after breakfast and were first in line at about 8am or so. Not long afterwards we were joined by more people and the queue grew pretty quickly. It was VERY windy and we were pleased to be first in line and to get tucked around the corner out of the worst of it but still I had to wrap up, and keep the puppies warm as well. They were unhappy because a little puffball chihuahua dog was with the first people to arrive and the whole week there was a love/hate relationship going on there. The beach is close, and sandy, there however so A was able to take them for walks to stretch their legs and get them away from the little non-dog. It was predictably jam packed inside but we got a few beers, and a superb position for the band, and all in all had a really lovely day. I was feeling rather jaded and spent almost as much time on the beach with the puppies as I did in the yard but that also was fine. Because I had been unwell I had only had one beer, and that early on, so I was good to drive us home which saved a long walk. The tall ship was heading up the loch on its way to the next location and the super zoom got another outing.

It was a brilliant day, only spoiled by a group of Belgian idiots who decided to continue the party until the early hours, prompting a group of other campers eventually to run out of patience and ask them to shut up. They were very belligerent and one of them thought he was a big man and could lean on me; suffice to say I said my piece and went back to bed and the next morning had them thrown off the site. Idiots.

Monday - Caol Ila

Monday is always a more relaxed day as Caol Ila is not a distillery you need to rush to beat the queues. They have parking in a field on the main road and provide a free shuttle bus from there to the distillery down the very windy and narrow lane that serves it.

Taken from the quay at Caol Ila

Looking across to the Paps of Jura

We had a tour at Kilchoman booked on the Monday afternoon and were undecided if we'd try and do Caol Ila before or after that. In the end we were up early enough to get to Caol Ila first but only just; as we parked there was no one waiting for the bus but by the time we reached the pickup point there were about fifty people ahead of us! It was well worth it to get down there, though, and show A another beautiful location looking across to Jura.

Setting off on our Kilchoman Tour

The Spirit Locker at Kilchoman, running fast in the heart

Sharing out New Spirit, still warm from the still

The Head Warehouseman rolls a barrel

Anthony and a bottle of water

Barrels (we tried the 2nd one back)

Post Tasting Snooze

We made it back to the car in time to drop the puppies off back at the caravan, with a key left for Kevin to check on them if he could, and then all the way back up to Kilchoman without being late. We then waited for those who were late to arrive before starting the Founders Tour which turned out to be just about the most perfect tour I could have chosen as the only one I took A on while on Islay. The owner, Anthony, first of all gave us a talk about the motivations and startup of the distillery, which was fascinating, and then took us on a tour of the facilities (which I always love doing) and finally we ended in the warehouse with a really amazing cask tasting, the scotch being pulled direct from the cask and shared around. Finally, as if I wasn't already drunk enough, we had another tasting, this time a barrel top with several different retail bottles, where we could contrast these with the single cask drams we'd had earlier. It was amazing and I was so pleased that A could drive as always in the past I've missed out on the full experience. When we got back to the caravan I pulled a rug out and snoozed in the sun. Heaven. That was a good day, and I was slowly starting to feel better as well.

Right - that has reached 40 pictures, with a few videos, and so I think that is long enough for this update. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for the next installment.

Thanks for reading.