Showing posts with label Harbour Inn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harbour Inn. Show all posts

2012-09-09

120703 Skottland-Scotland , day 10 Tuesday, Islay

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Click to enlarge All photos NF Photo120703
120703 Tuesday, day 10 Islay
Bridgend
Woke up 6.15. Morning walk in a forest in Bridgend not far away.  Not much birds but we did see a treecreeper and a few others. And a cool tree to. We managed to see a treecreeper wich was a new species for the trip.  It was a quiet and relaxing morning walk.  :)

Breakfast at 8 and this time it worked a little better. We did order egg and other warm food even before the cereals and such on the buffe. The staff seemed a bit confused but it worked. Departure at 9 to a destillery. It is a rainy morning again.



Lagavulin
We went to Lagavulin for the first tour through a destillarey today. This destillary is more modern then what we seen before. And for some reason we were not allowed to take shots. Could not understand the reason for it. After the factory tour we went to a storage building. There we were met by Ian. He told us a lot about the destillary and its whisky. We were given 6 samples to try. One at a time of course. The first one was the youngest and was clear in color. Really strong, around 70% I think. Those who did not expect any surprises suddenly had to spit out. Because that smple was really strong. :) Then it got lower in strenght, more colorful and more tasty as we moved on to older malts.

Then we moved to the next destillary, Ardbeg,  At the last one, Laphroaig, we had our lunch. Now the weather had become a bit better.  I bought myself a bottle at the second destillary. The barrel on the image was the coolest thing we saw this day.

Done with the whisky we left and drove along birding along Loch Indaal. Stoped at an inlet looking for seals and birds. And talked to a biking swedish couple. Here we also spotted some seals again and three otters. They are quite fun to watch.

 We had planned to go to Oa, the south point, but the weather was still misty so we headed north again. We also visited an old church ruin that we were passing by.

Arrived at the hotel Harbour Inn in Bowmore at 15.45. Surprisingly early. I took a stroll around the city center to chck for some whisky syrup but did not fine any. Then I went back to the hotel, I took a cup of coffee and went to sleep for an h. Then worked a bit on the internet before going to dinner at 18.55 at a nearby hotel. This meal took only 2h. Much better. This restaurant was better still. It has an interesting view. As our dinner progressed we could see the tide going out and revealing the stone circle.

Then the birdlist at the other hotel lounge where Ola stays. Back to my room at 22.15. Fixed a blogpost for WBW and wrote this. It is past midnight and I am going to bed. There were a program about Simon (Garfunkel) about an album called Graceland. Quite interesting.

Tomorrow is sleeping morning. Breakfast at 8 before going to Jura at 9
120701-04 Harbour Inn, Bowmore Islay http://www.harbour-inn.com/





Mer om Skottland på NF Photo och Fågelarter
More about Scotland on NF Photo and Bird species
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Birding at Bridgend forest, then whisky day.
Lagavulin
Ardbeg
Laphroaig
sightseeing in Port Ellen
Bowmore destilleri mm
birding in Loch Indaal
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2012-09-03

120702 Skottland-Scotland , day 9 Monday, Islay

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Click to enlarge All photos NF Photo 120702
120702 Monday, day 9
Woke up 7.00 but stayed in bed until 7.25. It is another rainy day. Am tired after that long day yesterday. Breakfast at 8 and departure at 9. We will be birding the north part today with Malcolm as guide.
Breakfast took all morning as they absolutely have to serve at the table. And I guess only have one cook. We have started to order extra strong coffee and only dark toast as all of us like it.

We got lunch packs and left short after 9. We headed to the Nature Reserve, Loch Gruinart at the north west point of Islay to meet with Malcolm. We walked a while through a nice forest and arrived at a balcony at first with a view over the wetland. We stayed there for a while, then headed down to two different hides. It was a beautiful place but not much birds. A few ducks and herons and cows. :) Finches was hard to see as they spent their time in the bushes. Only a Linnet (hämpling) family was seen in the open. A Corncrake was heard.

View Loch Gruinart

After being there for a while we walked back and then paid a visit to the station and RSBP visitor centre. And they had some important facilities too. :)

Then we left for Ardnave Point and had our lunch picknick on the slope at the parking area. This is the place where we could find the Red-billed Chough (Alpkråka) and we did.  I think we counted 12 of them. It is also a place for a lot of sheep with colormarkingson them. I think the markings was for different owners, otherwise it seemed to have no purpose.

We were walking on the path to look for the Red-billed Choughs, sheep and some cows among other things. It was a nice area built up by sand dunes as far up north as you could come.  It was sunny and warm now. After a couple of  hours walk we needed some refreshment and had some

 afternoon coffee at the destillary Kilchoman and then we said goodby to malcolm at 17.00 ca. On our way there we passed Loch Gorm and made a stop to get some shots of a Common Stonechat(Svarthakad Buskskvätta)
 sitting nicely on a pole.

Red-billed Choughs
We headed south after the coffeebrake and drove to the Portnahaven and found us three Twites (vinterhämpling)sailing the sky. So fast I had really problems to catch them. vinterhämpling. Cool birds that was even quicker then barn swallows. I managed to get one flying shot of  2 of them. Under exposed, but still it is possible to see it is them.
Portnahaven

We were back at the hotel  a little late. Dinner was supposed to be at 19.00h. We arrived at the hotel at 18.50 so we were a bit late to the lounge. 19,12. This was a terrible restaurant. We ordered staters at 19.20. Then main dinner and dessert. This took 3h an 5min. It was more then 10 a´clock pm before we finished dinner. I was hungry again! I really had other things to do then spend an entire evening at a table. I think it is rude to let your guests wait so long for everything. :(

Well, then we had the meeting to go through the todays birds, and yesterdays too, as it was a late eveing yesterday as well. Then finally I could go back to my room. Shower? Sorry. too late for that. Fixing shots and wrote a little then off to bed.

Morning birding tomorrow at 6.45

Birding on Islay. Guide Malcolm Ogilvie.
Loch Gruinart, ducks and vaders
Ardnave Point
Loch Indaal
Loch Gorm
Machir Bay
Portnahaven if times permit it.

120701-04 Harbour Inn, Bowmore Islay http://www.harbour-inn.com/
 

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2012-08-30

120701 Skottland-Scotland , day 8 Sunday, Ferry

 Welcome to join my memes. Välkomna till mina memen.    NF MEMES
 
Click to enlarge All photos 120701, Scotland
120701 Sunday, day 8
 Half way through.
 

Machrihanish
Woke up 5.30. Met the birders at 6.30 and we were heading back to Kintyre and the Bird Observatory. Lots of rain and wind at first but then it calmed down a bit. Still fun to shoot the Gannets. Now I start to learn their behaviour. They have a cool habit of swooping down to the watersurface. Make a turn and dip the tip of the wing in the water. Sometimes with a result of making them wobble a bit. Seemed like fun. I think the gang, Ola really, saw at least one seasvallow (?). Not sure if there was more. I looked for Twite (vinterhämpling) but did not see any. But I learned how to shoot the gannets at Machrihanish Seabird Obervatory . :)  Map
 
Check out the "stockings" :)
 
Back to breakfast Craigard House Hotel at 9.15 and departure to the ferry at 10.30.

Now we left Campbeltown to go to  Kennacraig and the Ferry Berth. It was a large and fairly new ferry with some treats in the design. Well, for me that is.  The  Ferry departured as sceduled and we had 1h45min to do some birding onboard and whatever we wanted to do. . I had prepared a lunchpack, coffee and cookies, on the hotell so I had a thermos with me. I thought it was enough for me. Quite nice to not have so much in the stomach for once. I went out on the front balcony to look around while people eat a lot of lunch. And I took a tour around the ferry.

Mindre Lira - Manx Shearwater
It was windy. Of course I almost said. And for a moment hard to stand upright. To start with not much action on the water. Spent the time watching the sea and taking some shots. Finally there were some gannets comming into sight. And then mindre lira. And lots of them. And they came close. So fun to see them in the front of the ferry. The sun came out too and made the lirorna glimmer when they moved and circled the wateres. Finally they sat down on the water on the left side. Only to be on the wings again a moment later. Running the water before being airborne. So fun to watch. Some people did se some dolphins too but not me. :(
Decoration on the Ferry to the left.

Then we headed in between the two islands and soon the tour to Islay was over. We landed at Port Askaig. We headed for the other side of the island and our new hotel, the Harbour Inn in Bowmore. We got our rooms and 16.15 we left again for some easy birding along the shore and the low tide area.


Isle of Jura




At 18 we met Malcolm and had dinner at a smaller restaurant. After that Malcolm had an intersting lecture about what they do at the Islay Wildlife Centre in Port Charlotte, and about the birds in the area.
 
On the way back to the hotel we made a stop at the wetland hopeing for  Great Grey Owl (lappuggla)to hunt the wetland. But there was only the regular birds.

We were back at the hotel at 22.45. A bit too late for my taste. It ment No Shower.  At midnight I realised that I could not get the TV to work. I found a late woman in the staff that was on her way home. She helped me with that. To bed at 00.30.


120701-04 Harbour Inn, Bowmore Islay http://www.harbour-inn.com/
 
MAP OF Islay      Svensk dagbok

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2012-06-17

Scotland 120624-120708 Travel data

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Scotland 120624-120708
Some links and data for my trip to Scotland

Rese beskrivning på AviFauna   http://www.avifauna.se/avifauna/program/europa/skottland-2012/


Under  "I Blickfånget" brukar de lägga ut dagliga snuttar om någon vill följa resan.
http://www.avifauna.se/avifauna/rapporter-arkiv/i-blickfanget/
 .
120624 Flight  Arlanda - Edingburgh,  11.25 - 11.45 ( Flight SK 2541) latest check in 9.45
120708 Flight Edingburgh - Arlanda,  12.40 - 15.50 ( Flight SK 2542) latesat check in 11.55
Guide: Ola.bondesson@tele2.se

Whisky destillerier:
Classic Malt   http://www.malts.com/index.php/Gateway-en
http://www.arranwhisky.com/Home/
http://www.springbankdistillers.com/
http://www.isleofjura.com/home.aspx
http://www.isleofjura.com/communityspirit/   fototävling

http://whiskyguiden.se/index2.html
http://peat.se/
http://lfw.co.uk/
http://wmcadenhead.com/

Hotell
120624      Open Arms, Dirleton               http://www.openarmshotel.com/
120625-26 Bamburgh Castle Inn, Seahouses  http://www.bamburghcastlehotel.co.uk/
120627-28 Lochranza Hotel, Lochranza Arran  http://www.lochranzahotel.co.uk/
120629-30 Craigard House Hotel, Campbeltown  http://www.craigard-house.co.uk/
120701-04 Harbour Inn, Bowmore Islay      http://www.harbour-inn.com/
120705-06 The George Hotel, Inveraray    http://www.thegeorgehotel.co.uk/
120707      Bonsyde House Hotel, Linlithgow   http://www.bonsydehouse.co.uk/
120708      Hemresa

120623, 05,00 Checking routes to Arlanda:
K - Björkvik-s of Nyköping- E4 to Arlanda.         Estimated time 2h 10 min.   201km
K - Vrena-Nyköping- E4 to Arlanda.                   Estimated time 2h 16min.   196 km
K - Gnesta- Järna - E4 to Arlanda                       Estimated time 2h 20min.   174,8 km
K - Strängnäs - Enköping - Arlanda                     Estimated time 2h 51min.   169,3km
SO, BETWEEN THE FIRST THREE IT IS REALLY DOWN TO PETROL.

Checkpoints time:
Plane leaves:                    10:25
Latest incheck:                 9:45, preferred 8:45
Latest arrival Parkinglot:    7:45
Departure K                      4:45      

Scotland is Swedish time -1h
http://www.lundberg-lagerstedt.se/time/
Utsikter i Edingourgh, Holyrood park.
http://www.panoramicearth.com/4346/Edinburgh/Salisbury_Crags
http://www.scottishsport.co.uk/walking/arthurseat.htm
Mer om Skottland här:
Skottland
http://www.machrihanishbirds.org.uk/news/index.htm
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