28. Islay and Jura

May 26^th - 28^th

After a short drive I got the ferry from Kennacraig in western Argyll to Port Askaig in Islay. The trip takes two hours, down West Loch Tarbert then across the Sound of Jura into the Sound of Islay, and it's spectacularly beautiful. The sea was like a millpond and the Paps of Jura were prominent over to the north.

 

The Islay ferry at Kennacraig

I had a bite to eat and found myself sitting opposite a middle-aged woman who had been one of the SOAS team (The School of Oriental and African Studies) team which lost in the final of University Challenge this year. She was knitting; now, I don't know a great deal about knitting, but I think she was much better at answering difficult general knowledge questions than she was at knitting. I smiled and she smiled back and she looked quite pleased and surprised to have been recognised, but I didn't ask for her autograph.

Jura, from the Islay ferry

I had planned to go to stay with my cousin Jennifer at her home on Jura, but the ferryman said my van would be damaged by grounding on the slipway at the landing on Jura. (The ferry is very small and looks like an old WWII tank landing craft.) This was a bit of a blow. I drove off into Islay to try to find a caravan site, but without luck until Jennifer's daughter Sarah, who works in the Community Office at Craighouse, the only village on Jura, found one at Port Mhor on the south-west side of the island. Booked in there, but there were no electrical pitches left. Fridge in danger of becoming smelly and no TV or radio. Went to bed early.

The Jura ferry at Port Askaig

The next morning I drove up to Port Askaig, left the van there and got the ferry over to Jura on foot. Jennifer collected me and drove me the nine miles to Craighouse. It was a lovely warm day, and we went for a walk through the village, past the Jura distillery, up the only road on the island, alongside the Sound of Jura, and collected Jennifer's grand-daughter, Ava, from school, having first popped in to see Sarah at work. On the way back I had a look at an exhibition in the church of old photographs of Jura life. It looked harsh. We stopped off to buy ice-creams at the village shop and ate them sitting on the quay. In the afternoon, Jennifer's husband Keith drove us up to the far north of the island. Many deer and few people; there are two hundred people in total on Jura. Sarah and her husband Ronald, who is a native of Jura, live in an old ghillie's cottage, one of a pair, in an otherwise isolated spot. Jura is divided into (I think) six estates, one of which is owned by David Cameron's wife's family. Another is owned by an Australian who is planning to build a golf-course.

Jura distillery

 I got the ferry back to Islay, spent another night at Port Mhor, again without electricity, and met Jennifer at Bridgend, at the head of Loch Indaal, the next day. We took the van up to the north-west of the island to an RSPB reserve on Loch Gruinart. Again, it was a beautiful day and we sat outside the van and had a cup of tea. After that we went back to Bridgend and had a drink sitting outside the hotel there. It was a great treat to sit outside in the sun. It's been a long time coming this year. The islands have a relatively mild climate because of the effect of the Gulf Stream.



An old Jura house from the photo exhibition

It was ironic that I visited Islay now that I no longer drink. Islay malts used to be my favourite whisky, particularly Laphroaig. I loved the slightly medicinal tang of the peat and iodine flavour. While searching for a camp site I had seen all the nine distilleries except three and had seen the road-signs pointing to two of the others. The nine are Caol Ila, Bunnahaibhan, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Bruichladdich, Kilchoman and Gartbreck (a new one).  Outside the Bruichladdich distillery is a huge disused copper pot still, about fifteen feet high.

I caught the evening ferry back to the mainland and dived into the site at Lochgilpead at about 11:30 . Slept well, despite the smelly fridge.

A view from Jennifer's house

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another view from Jennifer's house