In which we fail to find a walking path from one direction, find it from the other direction, enjoy a magnificent beach, and, much to no-one’s surprise, tour a couple of distilleries. Also, I confirm that my Gaelic is non-existent.

This morning was a relaxed start, and a surprisingly limber one. At bed time last night, there were aches and stiff legs and general wiped-outed-ness. A long night’s sleep seems to have cured pretty much all ills, with a wee bit o’ help from Margaret’s full Scottish breakfast, I’m sure.

After breakfast, we retired to our room to determine our walking route for the morning. The plan was a long beach & hill walk, lunch at the Kilchoman distillery café, a tour of said distillery, then off north to Bunnahabhain for a tour there.

We had a walk in mind, recommended by the Islay Info web page, but here’s the thing: not all such walks are clearly marked. Or marked at all, for that matter. Scottish law allows you to walk almost anywhere, excepting people’s gardens/yards, planted fields, and grazing pastures with animal herds. Which means, since the entire countryside is a legal walking trail, you don’t really – or can’t really – mark every possible walking trail. Of course, many of them are marked, and many are fairly obvious. But for those that are not, you’re supposed to rely on Ordinance Survey maps.

The OS maps are pretty much the definitive maps of the UK, so much so that we’re taught how to read ‘em in secondary schools as a useful life skill. Please note, secondary school was, for me, a looooooooong time ago. And the last time I read an OS map was almost as long ago. And we’d bought the wrong map (my bad – we got Islay South instead of Islay North). BUT! Purchase of a map grants you access to said map online or via the OS app, which grants you the ability to purchase and download other maps. Which we did. We worked out the route of the walk we wanted, and utterly failed to find the start.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself. To get there, we had to drive north through Bowmore, around the head of Loch Indaal, south almost to Bruichladdich, and then hop on to a single-track road over to the west coast, past Kilchoman, and on to Machir Bay.

The walk started at Old Kilchoman Parish Church, where we parked. We walked around the church, saw some private houses, and what might have been the path through the fields behind them, and could not quite convince ourselves that that was legit. We hadn’t actually refreshed ourselves on the Scottish laws at this point, so hesitated, then retreated to the car. We backed up about ½ mile and turned off to the beach. Turns out that the parking area there was on the path, as was the beach, so we just decided to walk the beach at Machir Bay.

Which was utterly stunning. A huge stretch of sand, great paddling water (though strong undercurrents, so not too far out), great dunes to climb, and to the south, a path (the path, in fact) leading up into the hills. We spent a lot of time on that beach. The wean had great fun taunting the waves, and getting her just dessert (the waves will always win), while Mija and I just wandered the sands. Eventually, I rallied the troops and we set off to walk a little. We didn’t have time to take the walk that we originally planned, but we climbed a ways up the path before doubling back along the top of the dunes to the car. I was in my element, having spent many childhood years walking fields and hills and other insanely uneven ground. The ladies were a little more hesitant at first, but took to it great. We observed and were observed by much of the wildlife on the way, especially the local sheep, lording over us from on high.

We found the car again, much to the wean’s relief, and drove the long arduous drive back to Kilchoman… about a mile. A light lunch at the café was mighty tasty, and then we began our tour.

TOUR DETAILS – COMING SOON

We loitered about the visitors’ center, finishing our drams, then headed out. In the car park, we met a younger German couple who were on a grand driving tour of the highlands and islands. They’d apparently planned to fly over and rent a car, but Ryan Air had canceled not only their flight, but the entire route, about two weeks earlier. So they decided just to grab a local rental and drive to the UK. They were spending just under a week each on the islands of Mull,  Skye, and Orkney. Colour me jealous. The rental car looked like it had had a couple of close encounters on the old single-track roads, but they didn’t seem too worried about it.

The drive to Bunnahabhain wasn’t too long – about 30 mins – the last four miles being along another nice, tight single-track road. The first 200 meters ended in an uphill, blind curve, where we met a full-sized articulated lorry (semi truck), which completely filled the road, hedgerow to hedgerow. He stopped. I stopped. And then I backed the hell up 200 meters because there was no way he was gonnie manage that. It’s OK, I’ve said for years that I drive at least as well backwards as I do forwards. I back up, and he passes with a grateful wave. OK, take two. Made it around the corner and we were away. About half-way along this road I got my whisky geek cheap thrill of the week as we paused at the Ardnahoe distillery site. This will be the newest distillery on the island, due to open within the next couple of months. The visitor center is open, but not on site. We made a note of where it was and planned to find it tomorrow. At least, I did. Again, whisky geek.


   Ardnahoe Site, from a distance

Another two miles and we crested the hill that overlooks Bunnahabhain. The distillery looks really old, but it is in fact the third youngest on the island. It looks so old because it’s changed hands many times over the past few decades, and has been a wee bittie neglected. It also hasn’t had a fresh coat of paint in some time, so the Baudoinia or “whisky mould” has things looking a little dingy. (Baudoinia’s an odd little fungus that feeds off the angels’ share – the ethanol evaporating from the barrels in the aging sheds – which seems to make it particularly resilient). But the setting is just stunning, much like all the other coastal distilleries on the island.

We were here for the “End of the Day” tour, one of the latest that run on the island, at 5:00pm.

TOUR DETAILS – COMING SOON

We left with a healthy selection of 3cl samples, some chocolates, and a distillery exclusive Marsala finish. I passed up on the two Feis Ille bottles that they had available, largely due to price. The Spanish Oak sounded fascinating, but not £250 fascinating.

Awright, homeward bound, though we were all somewhat hungry again. We decided to give the Harbor Inn in Bowmore a try, but it was peak dining time and there are limited options on the island, so we weren’t hopeful. I lucked out and landed a parking spot right outside the window just as Mija called to see if they had space. The gent who answered said that he did if we could be there relatively quickly. “We’re right outside.”  “Great!”  We clamber out, at which point a gent stuck his head out the door and said “Oh, you really meant right outside – I was staring right at you!”

The wean ordered her second huge steak of the trip, I had braised ox cheek, and Mija had a pile of local mussels. Delicious. Dessert took a long time to come, but no worries, there was an amazing view just off the back patio that we took it in turns to enjoy while we waited.

Then it was just back to the B&B to freshen up and crash. Which is becoming something of a pattern. These long, relaxing days are apparently just too tiring.