Well Chuffed on Islay

[walk aboot]

Someone gave me a Scottish bird watching DVD for Christmas, so my mind was already set on a visit to Islay in the summer to spy some corncrakes. I remember telling my cool mate at work (dreadlocks and kite surfing) about watching it the previous night.

'I told you before, Janet,' he said, 'bird watching is not a good look for you. You really need to get out more...and take some cocaine!'


When I heard a small group of birders were going to be in Islay over the Easter weekend though, I decided to ignore his advice, especially the drugs-taking (sniff ), and team up with them for an earlier first visit. I also wanted to see for myself the Island's choughs (crows with red legs and beaks, spoken as 'chuffs').


On the ferry from Kennicraig on Saturday afternoon the sides were three-man deep with persons in khaki anoraks ooh-ing and aah-ing at the sights of shags and suchlike through their binoculars and scopes. As I was trying my very best to look like I wasn't a birder at all, I was wearing a plastic tiara, false eyelashes, and glitter (lots of). Top tip: false eyelashes mixed with sea spray are not a good look either (end up looking like gnarly spiders on your cheeks).

Kennicraig to Islay Ferry

As the ferry arrived at Islay my heart sank. Port Askaig is a dreary wee place with one hotel and a post office, and the only good thing about it is that you can get a smaller ferry from there to Jura (with a good view of the Paps from the terminal).

Paps of Jura from Port Askaig

There is a frequent bus service from Port Askaig to Port Ellen via Bowmore, which is the main town on the island. 'This is more like it,' I thought, as I arrived in Bowmore and spied a handmade soap shop. I popped in and bought soap and...um, let me see...body lotion...and erm...acht go on, might as well treat myself...bath bombs. I then collected my pre-arranged hire bike from Gordon in the craft shop next to the Post Office (well worth doing if you are planning on arriving later in the day, especially at weekends when the Post Office is shut, and an absolute bargain at £9 per day for one of those fancy single gear bikes).

Bowmore's Round Church (No Corners for the Devil to Hide In)

Bowmore Distillery

The Swimming Pool Next Door is Heated by the Distillery's Waste

My B&B, run by a crofter and his wife (recommended http://www.lyrabuscroft.co.uk/), was a couple of miles from Brigend, the next village to Bowmore. One evening I met them outside rounding up four of their geese. A few minutes later, when I was looking out of the window from my room, I saw a fifth geese peeking out from behind a fence post, like a mischievous truant. It was a 15-minute cycle to another B&B where my birder friends were staying, which usually involved turning a corner and accidentally spooking a deer or a sheep or a hare into running ahead of me away from its group. There was wildlife everywhere!

'Our breakfast is rubbish,' one of my birder friends said, 'they just leave out cereal and instant coffee.'

I didn't mention the full cooked breakfast that the crofter's wife was still trying to persuade me to have.

'No, I don't really eat breakfast.' I had said. 'A couple of slices of toast, and maybe an egg will do fine.'

I had a duck egg on toast on Easter Sunday morning .



During dinner in the Brigend Hotel on Saturday night (very nice ), the two other girls in my party started talking about the whiskey soap they had sniffed and turned their noses up at in one of the visitor centres.

'Um, I actually bought a load of that stuff this afternoon by mistake,' I confessed. 'I hadn't read the label properly, and it turns out it's made with bog myrtle AND whiskey.'

Warning: good strong stuff...if you want to end up smelling like a distillery .


On Sunday afternoon we sat in the sun at the bay in Portnahaven, and about twelve seals were basking on the rocks. A barking sheepdog came out of nowhere and 'herded' every single one of them back into the sea.

Seals in Portnahaven Bay

Seal Herder

I finally got to see some choughs during a great walk along Machir Bay (peregrines nest along there too). I looked through one of the birders scopes for a close-up of one of them and it was rooting about a cowpat with its beak. I was chuffed to bits .

Around Islay 1

Around Islay 2

Around Islay 3

The birders left on the Monday morning ferry. I was booked on the late afternoon one, to coincide with my return coach to Glasgow, so I was free to cycle around for a few hours, just exploring and taking photos, before returning the bike to Bowmore. There were barnacle geese everywhere...fields and fields full of them!

Field Full of Barnacle Geese

Standing Stone

Back to Bowmore

Rather than get off the bus and visit Finlaggan (the 'Seat of the Isles') before catching the ferry, I decided to visit the Port Askaig Hotel for something to eat instead (not very nice ).


On the coach home a young lad and young lassie struck up a conversation over the film she was watching on her portable DVD player.

'Is that Twilight 2 you're watching?' he asked.

'No that's mingin',' she said, 'I'm watching Twilight, the first one.'

'Any good?'

'No, it's mingin'.'

'Twilight 3 should be good.'

'Aye...'

Their conversation went on and on along these lines for most of the journey, until the young lad realised that he only had about 10 minutes left to get her phone number before they arrived in Buchanan Street bus station.

'Are you single?' he asked her.

I don't know if he actually managed to get her phone number or not, but if he did, I do hope he wasn't thinking of taking her to the pictures for a first date. Mingin' .


P.S.

If anyone sees my cool work mate, don't mention Islay...just tell him I was on the dancefloor in Ibiza all weekend

[magicdin]

yes you always get something from a weekend and looks as though you made the best of it
terrific report walk aboot

ps - there is a better way of smelling like a distillery

[DonnyW]

Your report brought back some bitter sweet memories for me Walk Aboot because I spent a bit of time on Islay in the early 80’s. Think I had to dry out when I eventually got back to the mainland.

Your mention of “movies” reminded me of the highlight of the month at Port Ellen. That’s when the movies came to the Ramsay Hall and all the locals piled in to watch the latest film. Of course no alcohol was allowed to be consumed on the premises so everyone had a good swallow before it started and then stashed their carry outs in the bushes outside.

Everyone settled and the lights went down for the movie. It was a portable projector and when it started you could hardly hear the sound track over the noise of this big old projector clicking away. Fortunately they had to change film reels several times during a movie so there were a few intermissions.

That’s when everyone staggered off to look for their stashed drink before returning for the next part of the film.

Funny enough I cant remember any of the movies they showed as they were usually mingin’ but I can remember to this day the bush my stash was always hidden under. The stash was generally “the wash” from the distilleries.. clear stuff with lumpy bits in it .. wow.. it sure made my heid minge

Incidentally ..what happened to the “d” in the middle of Brig end ? Hope you were not mingin’ over there too

[walk aboot]

yes you always get something from a weekend and looks as though you made the best of it
terrific report walk aboot

ps - there is a better way of smelling like a distillery

Had a brilliant time magicdin . Erm want some free soap (lots of)?

[walk aboot]

Oops, I must have dropped the D from Bridgend Donny W


...according to my cool work mate, that's not nearly as good as droppin' an E

[magicdin]

yes you always get something from a weekend and looks as though you made the best of it
terrific report walk aboot

ps - there is a better way of smelling like a distillery

Had a brilliant time magicdin . Erm want some free soap (lots of)?

don't suppose you brought back a wee bit o the hard stuff ???

[walk aboot]

I grew up in the big city of Carstairs DonnyW (well Westend, the houses that were tied to the State Hospital), so in the 80s we were being treated to fortnightly projector films in the Social Club too. The nearest pictures was in Wishaw...too young for carry outs, but you could still puff away on singles (cigarettes) at the pictures then.


...I knew the young lassie on the bus was a Lanarkshire lass like myself, as soon as she opened her mouth and said mingin' (said she was from Blantyre)

[walk aboot]

yes you always get something from a weekend and looks as though you made the best of it
terrific report walk aboot

ps - there is a better way of smelling like a distillery

Had a brilliant time magicdin . Erm want some free soap (lots of)?

don't suppose you brought back a wee bit o the hard stuff ???

Want some free soap to suck then?

[magicdin]

am no really that desperate

[Alan S]

Thanks for that walkaboot
Like Donny this report brought back some memories for me too when i played a football tournament in bowmore 10 years ago,we got a bottle of bowmore each for competing which still takes pride in my cabinet
Would like a return here one day thanks for the pics

cheers
alan

[Sparra Legs]

Alan is the bottle empty?

[mountain coward]

Yeah really funny report! But I'd have thought they were from Yorkshire if they'd said 'minging' - must be a widespread term then... I think Bog Myrtle smells beautiful - not so sure about whisky though - LOL to the 'better ways of smelling like a distillery' comment Also laughing at the false lashes description of how not to look like a 'birder'

I love duck eggs - luckily I have them in the field next door where a guy keeps hens, ducks, geese, a goat and a cute black rabbit (no, it's NOT for eating)! So we can get free range hens' or duck eggs anytime which is great

That's pretty cheap for a day's bike hire - but then I think it was also cheap on Cumbrae when I hired one there (doesn't everyone?). I'd have kicked that bloody sheepdog for chasing the seals - they're such a nuisance when they're not kept busy. They used to run at our legs and try to bite them when we cycled past on the Uists - and they'd follow you all day on the hills.

The Paps of Jura don't look anything like as bad as they're painted in your photo - Richard keeps going on about them (not just 'cos they're called 'Paps' ) - think he's fancying a trip over there to do them.

We have lots of Barnacle and Greylag geese in our area - mainly on our reservoir but also at places like Fountains Abbey on their lake.

[Red Peak]

I remember hiring bikes for a few hours on Islay when visiting there back in '92 and was amazed that we were told to just leave the bikes outside the shop when we'd finished with them (the shop being shut by that time). I can't imagine that happening in any mainland town! The bikes would have been nicked, stripped down and resprayed within hours ...

Must be nice to live in a place where 'theft' is just something you hear about on the news when it happens in other places ...

[snodland]

What rotten luck eh! Your B & B served a fry up and in the opening paragraph you say you had gone all that way to spy some cornflakes....or ...did I read that wrong?

[Alan S]

Alan is the bottle empty?

Nope its surprisingly full but there were a few emptys that weekend,i had to get carried on to the ferry great weekend