Ferry to Islay

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Geo: 55.6344, -6.18977

Today we had a reservation for the last ferry going from Kennacraig to Port Ellen, so we had quite a while to get to the starting point. However, since we have not been able to make very good time on any of our trips so far, we need to plan for a lot of time to get anywhere. Google maps shows the trip from the hotel to the ferry port as 95 miles and about two and a half hours. Plan for slow, winding roads.

When we got in the car to start the day's trip, we saw that the "Check tyre" light on the console was still on. Even though we had checked the tires, topped up the air in one of them, checked the pressure on the others, and not seen any that looked low yesterday, we knew that we should get someone to check it before leaving town. The clerk in the hotel told Philip how to get to two tire shops in town, both on the same road across the street from each other.

We found McConechy's Tyre first which did not look very busy. Philip went in to explain the problem and was told to drive into the bay right then. The technician checked all the tires and found them to be just fine. He explained that even though we added air last night, the light would not go out until it was manually reset. He did that (at least, he thought he did that), and we were on our way again. No charge for the service. He explained that we had to drive about two miles before the light would go out after being reset. We started back through town headed toward Kennacraig watching and waiting for the light to go out. After five or six miles, we decided that it was not going to go out, and we needed to stop and read the car manual. We were on the south side of Fort William by then, and we started looking for a place to pull over.

The next layby that we saw had a police car parked in it, but we pulled in anyway. They were checking for speeders, I guess, but they stopped and came over to talk to us. Philip explained about the tire warning light, and one of the policemen pointed to his partner and said, "Oh, he's your man," explaining that he used to be an auto mechanic before becoming a policeman. That guy slipped into the driver's seat and started tinkering. He really did reset the light this time explaining how he did it and why the tire man did not get it right. We thanked them profusely. The policeman who had fixed the light said that he was glad to be able to help someone for a change. I told him that we were really glad that he was there right when we needed him, but that we probably didn't want to meet him in his regular duties. He agreed, and we both laughed.

Back on the road again, we found it fairly easy to travel. We never came across any one-lane roads like we did on the trip to Inverness except in construction zones, and the roads had a tiny bit more room on the shoulder than what we have seen before. We needed to be at the ferry terminal by 5:30 p.m., but we got there around 4:00. We were the first in line, but were joined right away by a women who lives on the island. We asked her if we should let her go ahead of us to get on the ferry first and we'd get behind her so we could follow, but she told us not to worry that there would be lots of people telling us where to go. She seemed a little annoyed with herself or embarrassed to be there so early with just the tourists and told us that she had allowed a lot of time to get to the ferry, too, since the Commonwealth Games were going on in Glasgow making the traffic bad all around it. As it turned out for us, the traffic wasn't too bad, and we came upon only a couple of places with road construction that slowed us down.

Leaving Fort William, we drove south along Loch Linnhe. Soon we passed by Castle Stalker which sits just offshore a short way. It takes a boat and advance reservations to get to see the castle so we did not stop. The castle appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as "The Castle of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh".

We did stop in Kilmartin to see the House Museum of Ancient Culture. It is a fairly small museum in what used to be a house, but is quite interesting. There was a small admission charge, and we were able to get the concession price. (Concession prices are for students, unemployed people, and seniors over sixty.) The displays are of local archeological finds mostly from the neolithic and bronze ages. I liked the rock art, in particular. The area is one of the richest in Scotland in terms of ancient artifacts. We also walked next door to the Church of Scotland Kilmartin and its graveyard with crosses and interesting headstones some as old as the 13th century. Behind the museum and church is a field with standing stones and sheep grazing.

Kilmartin means the cell (or room) of the monk Martin. OR it means the chapel that is dedicated to Saint Martin. AND that also means the Church of Saint Martin. There is a reconstructed kil outside the museum which shows what monks may have lived in.

After visiting the museum and the church, we stopped in the museum cafe which prided itself on serving locally sourced foods. It was very good. We also shopped in the gift shop for a while. The woman working told us she was a volunteer, but spent a lot of time there. We had great service in both the cafe and the gift shop.

Back in the car we headed for the ferry terminal. The two-hour crossing started out a bit rocky, but smoothed out quickly as we moved out into deeper water. We were able to have dinner on the boat cafeteria-style. Some of the foods we chose were cooked to order and one of the workers brought the rest of the meal out to us. After eating, we settled into a couple of chairs on the aft deck and watched the scenery go by. Everything is very, very green. There was a Scandinavian couple sitting nearby with their dog. The dog knew a few commands, and his owner seemed happy to show off what he could get the dog to do. When it got too cold to sit outside, we went in to the bar area. There were a lots of kids on the ferry who spent the whole time running around and up and down the stairs. I did not see parents with the kids.

When we were talking with the woman at the ferry terminal, she asked where we were staying. We told her that we had reservations at the Islay Hotel. She praised it as one with very nice rooms and said it would be easy to see about as soon as we left the ferry. She was right. It was just a short distance, and we parked in the first spot we saw although it was in front of a driveway, and we knew we'd have to move. Check in went smoothly, and the desk clerk recommended that we park across from the hotel on the street. She emphasized several times that we were not to park on a corner as the lorries went through very fast and the corners were tight.

This was a great day for interacting with locals. The times we get to talk to people about real things--the tires, the ferry entrance, parking to avoid getting sideswiped--are the most interesting and usually fun.

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Photos

Construction Zone
We saw this just one time. In the construction zone where the traffic went down to one lane, a large truck went back and forth in front of each row of cars as they passed through the one-lane section. In all the other places where traffic went down to one lane because of construction, there was either a traffic light or a person at each end directing traffic.

On Board the Ferry
Our car is first in line on the left.