As we had no books to exchange, I left a couple of pounds in the honesty box. We had dinner at Norie's once again, but this time we ate inside.
Monday, July 15th.: Breakfast sandwiches from Tesco, a quick fill up with petrol, then off to Kennacraig for the ferry to Islay. I think that we had too much to drink with breakfast, as we had to stop at the public loos at Kilmartin, and then again in Lochgilphead. As there was a charge for the public loos in Lochgilphead, we headed across the road to the free loos in the Community Center. All these stops along the way made us late for the ferry in Kennacraig, and we were told that we had to queue up until they knew if there was space for us. Fortunately, the ferry was the MV Finlaggan, so there was just enough room for us and two other latecomers.
Once we docked in Port Ellen, we checked in to our favourite lodging in the town, Eilidh's Guest House, which overlooks the beach and harbour, then shared a Meal Deal at the Co-op down the street. As we had arrived early, we took a drive out to Kildalton Church and its 8th century Celtic cross, walked around both beaches, and then walked out to the poignant memorial at the east end of the town.
Tuesday, July 16th.: We found a charity shop on Islay! It's the Re-jig shop, in Bridgend. They have one of the most unusual selections of things for sale that we've ever found in a charity shop. Two CDs and a book later, we were off for Port Askaig and the Jura ferry. It was a brisk day, so Mrs A was a bit concerned about the ferry, as when it approached it was being buffeted by the wind. However, we crossed safely, and made our way to Craighouse. It was our first time on Jura, and we were taken by the quietness and solitude. The Paps were beautiful in the sun. We had an excellent lunch (sandwich and tomato soup) at the Jura Hotel, while watching a seaplane taking off from the bay. We took a delightful walk on the Corran Sands, but the river walk was heavily overgrown, so we had to return by road.
Once we returned to Islay, we went in search of the ancient Finlaggan site, but the visitor center was closed. By this time, we were both in need of a toilet, but there was none nearby. So we arrived in Bowmore, but the public loos were closed. We asked in the Co-op, but they wouldn't let us use their toilet. Back out on to the street, we finally found Duffie's Bar, and their very welcome toilet facilities. By this time, we were getting hungry, so we saw that there was a doorway from Duffie's in to the adjoining Lochside Restaurant. We went through, and asked if we could eat dinner there. "Do you have a reservation?", the maitre d' asked. I replied that I didn't know that we needed one. "Sorry, we are full tonight," was his reply. He recommended the Peatzeria, just down the street. This turned out to be one of the highlights of our time on Islay. The hostess at the Peatzeria told us that there were no seats available, as we hadn't made a reservation, but they would try to squeeze us in. And to their credit, they did. We were seated next two gentleman whom we had seen earlier waiting for a table. We struck up a conversation with them, as one does. They said that they were on a nine distillery whisky tour on Islay, but they lived on Skye. I asked them where they lived on Skye, and they said a little place called Breakish. Well, Breakish is our home away from home on Skye, so we asked them if they knew our friends there. Not only did they know them, but they were neighbours, and they also run a B&B. So we had a delightful conversation, sharing anecdotes about our mutual friends. In addition, we also had a delicious Hawaiian pizza!
Wednesday, July 17th.: Our host at Eilidh's Guest House had told us that there would be a traditional music session at the Port Charlotte Hotel that evening, so we decided to head there later. (But you'll have to go to the next segment for more...)