Day five would find us at my ultimate destination, Islay – home of some of the finest whisky in Scotland.
It was beginning to seem quite normal to start the day with a full hearty breakfast. The hotels here seem to try and outdo each other with the completeness of a ‘full’ breakfast, Kilchrennan was also offering porridge or kippers apart from the usual fry. No mind it certainly sets you up for the day and as I said before you don’t need lunch.
The route today would take us south from Oban to catch the ferry early in the afternoon from Kennacraig on the shores of West Loch Tarbert to Port Askaig on Islay. After driving for about 30 km we saw a sign for Arduaine Garden and decided to stop and look round. An absolutely beautiful place, the peace and quiet reminding us of An Torr a few days earlier and although having an entrance fee it was well worth the visit.
The rest of the trip was a pleasant drive, uneventful with little traffic so we made good time and enjoyed the countryside. The car park for the ferry was already fairly full when we arrived and I parked the car and walked over to the terminal office to check in. When I got back to the car an older guy was quizzing Elly about the car, she hadn’t been able to tell him much so I gave him a tour round it, opened the hood and told him about all the work that had been done over the years. He seemed impressed and wished us a good journey, we were to meet him again in the bar of the Islay Hotel later in the evening.
This ferry crossing was a little longer than the previous day and took about 2 hours but that gave us time to get a coffee, wander round the boat and take in the views. I also found a nice little hard-backed book in the shop about Single Malt Whisky on which I made a start.
After disembarking from the ferry we followed a line of traffic half way across the island until we reached Bridgend were we turned off towards Port Charlotte and found the Bruichladdich Distillery. This was one I wanted to visit as I had read about the traditional Victorian methods they used to produce the whisky.
Here is a short slideshow to show some of the process but this is a car site and although I love single malt whisky if you want to know more about the process there is enough on internet. Try this one “the production of whisky” or this “how is whisky made“. The first is actually a German site, the second a French site with English translations but both tell the story quite well and even have photo’s from Islay distilleries, so they at least have taste. The Bruichladdich Distillery site is also very interesting.
Here is a short video of the spirit safe working
Then it was on to the hotel and although being the most expensive of the whole trip provided an excellent stopover with a first class restaurant serving the best fish we’ve tasted in a long time. The bar had some live Scottish music in the evening and the man who spoke to us at Kennacraig was one of the musicians. I, of course, enjoyed the local ale as well.
After dinner we took a stroll around the town although it was pretty quiet and there not a great deal to see.
