After breakfast we caught a bus to Bowmore, the main town on Islay. What we hadn’t realised before we arrived, is that this week it is the annual whisky festival https://feisile.co.uk/ The bus was packed with all nationalities off to sample the delights at the distilleries and enjoy the festivities. At Bowmore we caught another bus to Portnahaven at the south western tip of Islay and by the time we arrived we were the only two people on the bus. It was another roller coaster ride on the bus, so no need to visit Alton Towers, just catch a bus in the Hebrides!!
It was a lovely spot with seals in the harbour but with one pub (closed) and no shop, it is fairly remote. We had an hour to explore before the same bus and driver headed back to Bowmore.
Had a lovely chat at the bus stop with some local ladies on their way to their Thursday lunch club and then we were soon back in Bowmore. We had a tea/coffee (and cake, of course) and did a bit of shopping before catching the bus back to Port Ellen. On the bus, chatted to some Americans from Texas that seemed to have paid a fortune to attend the festival, but were really enjoying themselves.
We dumped our shopping on Harvard and then decided to do the three distillery walk up the east coast of Islay from Port Ellen. It was a great walk even if the wind was a bit tiresome. Lagavulin distillery was really busy, with too many people in a small shop, and the price of the whisky seems to have really increased so Anne bought some whisky based soap and that was it. We decided not to go on to the Ardbeg distillery and retraced our steps to the Laphroaig distillery where, after trying a sample, Richard got carried away and bought a bottle. We met some ladies on the way back that said that the Ardbeg distillery was closed anyway in preparation for an evening event, so we didn’t miss anything. They were both connected with the whisky industry on Islay and so were interesting to talk to. A new huge distillery is being built at Port Ellen (offshoot from the Whisky Exchange business), so next year it will be a four distillery walk rather than three!!
Once back at Port Ellen it was more shopping, making supper onboard and hoping that the winds moderate tomorrow so that we can leave. Our intention is to go to Ballycastle, Northern Ireland, but there is a festival there as well, so we need to check with the marina that there is space for us before we leave.