Blogs from Isle of Islay, Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Tuesday morning, we got up and jumped in the car again in order to go to Finlaggan (on the way to Port Askaig) where they used to crown the lord of the isles and where they ruled form the 12th to about the 15th century....I won't write about it, you can read more here: http://www.finlaggan.com/about.asp. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but they do have a little visitor's centre (with some detail and artifacts), and you can see the ruins of some of the buildings (although the stone paths to the other islands involved are now under water since the water levels are much higher these days). All for a whopping price of 3GBP....I found it interesting, but part of that may be a family connection and we spent over an hour here, but may ... read more

For the whisky fanatic, Islay is a true Mecca: it is a relatively small Island in the Inner Hebrides directly west of Glasgow that boasts a whopping eight distilleries - and famous ones at that. Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Laphroaig... but for two windy days in early March we had the pleasure of visiting one of the prettiest-situated distilleries of them all: Bowmore. At their invitation, I and two of my colleagues: Granville (from Jeroboams Wine Merchants) who is coincidentally Scottish and Isabel (from Milroy's of Soho - www.milroys.co.uk) who is incidentally Argentinean, were given the chance to experience the distillery, its eponymously named village, and a bit of the island itself. For those who don't know we are from Jeroboams Wine Merchants and It was an effort to get to. From the time we arrived at Glasgow ... read more

Hi everyone Peter has put together his story of Islay and it comes with a warning.....it's VERY whisky focussed. For those of you, like me whose eyes glaze over when the topic of whisky becomes a long conversation please don't feel obliged to read on! The adventure really started when we got to Inverary, where Richard Joynson's Loch Fyne Whiskies Shop is situated. I have been buying whisky by mail order from Richard for 10 years or so, thus was pleased to meet him. In typical Scotland fashion he took me through a range of whiskies, before I left clutching a bottle of Cask strength Peated Edradour one of 6000 especially made by Ian Henderson before he left for St George in Norfolk. That one is bound for QMWS. I also took away a bottle of ... read more

Hello All, this is Sunday July 6 , 2008 We are in a tiny village called Drymen, on the eastern side of Loch Lomond. It is so remote that there is no internet service, so I thought I would do it in a word document and I’ll send it tomorrow when we get to the island of Islay, pronounced Ilee. So, we left Edinburgh this morning and headed east, to the tiny village of Saint Andrews. But they did have an attraction, so golf course that Sarah wanted to go to. It’s called “The Old Course” at St. Andrews. Amazing!!!!!!!! An awesome place, even in the pouring down rain. It is the birthplace of “GOLF” what ever that is. I think that’s the roll a ball around a pasture and hopefully it will disappear in a ... read more