120704 Skottland-Scotland , day 11 Wednesday Jura

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120704 Wednesday, day 11, Jura

 

 



Raining in Port Askaig Harbour

Woke up at 7.30. Then breakfast at 8. We had our dark coffee and dark toast. :) It was a rainy morning so it did not look good. We left for the ferry to Jura at 9. Raining all the way to Port Askaig Harbour. The ferry left at 9.02 and was on Jura at 9.08. It took only 6 min to go across The Sound of Islay to Jura. :) No need for drinking coffee on the ferry. Or try to be birding.

We went north and stoped at one place and did a little birding and "sealing" before going to the Destillery. We spotted a herrier and a short-eared owl.

 

 We were taking the tour around the distillery and had a very unexperienced guide. A young woman that was not at all used to talk to a group. Or handle a group. She started the lecture long before everybody had come into the room where we were. So I had to ask her to slow down and wait.

Well, this tour was slightly different from the others. We was allowed to smell the head, heart and tail liquids and in the end of the tour we were allowed to smell in some barrels. The sherry barrel had a very appealing scent.  :)  Isle of Jura Destillary After the Destillary we went to check out a small art shop they had downhill. And checking out the small harbour and view over the ocean.

 

After that we went birding for an hour before coming back to Juras only hotel for lunch. Today I was a bit annoyed. For the first time I wanted to have a cup of coffee and a whisky cheesecake as dessert. And for the first time the others decided desert was not needed. So I could not have it. :(

 We was supposed to do some birding  on the north part of Islay, but we stayed on Jura as the weather started to be really good. And it payed off. We spotted some female hen harrier feeding a young. And some Short-eared Owls (jordugglor). And a nice view of a Common Stonechat (svarthakad buskskvätta). The view over The Paps of Jura  was quite amazing. I really like those mountains.

 

Above, Craighouse I think. 

This Ringed Plower (större strandpipare) stood on one leg as long as I saw it. Maybe it only had one.  We also got good sightings on Stonechat (svarthakad buskskvätta) and short-eared owl (jorduggla).

 

And now we were running out of time. Of course interesting stuff  happens in the last moments so you don´t really can enjoy them. We had to hurry a bit not to miss the ferry back to the mainland or we had to stay on Jura for the night. That was not really an option.

We arrived 10 min before the ferry should depart, but they were almost in the landing and no traffic. I guess they kept track of the visitors on Jura. We were the only car returning to the mainland adn as soon as we were onboard they left to take us over. Then we had a 30 min drive back to Bowmore and the hotel.

At 19.00h we were at the nearby hotel for dinner. Same as yesterday. I ordered some chicken breast with Cheddar cheesecovering.  It was very good. Then we went to the lounge to deal with the birdlist. A short but nice list today.

I took a shower and wrote this of course. Did check out the blogs too.

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

Tomorrow we meet at breakfast and are supposed to be packed to leave at 9.30.

 

 The view over The Paps of Jura was quite amazing.

Map of Jura


Himmelsk 102   Sky Watch Friday

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Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, Sverige, Sweden, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding, Skottland, Scotland Islay, Scotland, Skottland, whisky, Isle of Jura, Jura, destillary, ferry, Short-eared Owl, stonechat Islay, Isle of Jura, Jura, Port Askaig Harbour, Scotland, Short-eared Owl, Skottland, stonechat, whisky, Paps of Jura, Craighouse, hamn, harbour, distillary

 

120703 Skottland-Scotland , day 10 Tuesday, Islay

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Our World Tuesday

 

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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/

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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

Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, , Sverige, Sweden,  sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding, Skottland, Scotland Bowmore, Bowmore Islay, Scotland, Skottland, whisky, Bridgend, Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Harbour Inn, Loch Indaal, Islay

120629 Skottland-Scotland , day 6 Friday, Kintyre

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S O O C (all images except the first one)

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120629 Friday, day 6 

Woke up 4 because my wristwatch wa accidently set on alarm. It was raining on my "roof window" so there was no need for birding this morning. I went to sleep again. Then woke up at the proper time to pack my things for loading in the car at 8.10. Breakfast at 8.20 and leaving to the ferry at 9.10. This hotel had a very late breakfast so we had to arrange with them to make it a bit early and fast this morning. They had prepared so everything went smothly.

At Arran ferry berth

As it was still raining there were no need to try to look for birds on the ferry. So everyone stayed in the car. We arrived at Claonaig on Kintyre at 10.00 and drove south on a single lane road. Lots of them around here. Once and again we stoped at meeting spots to let cars pass us. Still raining. The forest looks a bit like rainforest so a bit strange. We drove along the coast down to Carradales harbor where we birded for a while. At this location we had a nice view over Arran we just left. And now the sun peeked through the clouds and mist so we had a rather nice time birding.

The birds has a kind of "highway" where most of them flew.  It was in between the two land masses. It made it possible to study the flight of  the Manx Shearwater (mindre lira). Quite interesting, they fly with stiff wings close to the watersurface.  Then they flap the wings fast and then glides for a few seconds again. There was also a lot of gannets flying the same route but higher up in the sky.

Fishingboat in Carradale

 Leaving the harbour we went to a Coffee shop for a light meal. Suited me perfectly. A cup of coffee and a cupcake and a Meringue, just what I wanted, no more no less. :) No need to throw anything away. I liked the building opposite the Coffee shop. It is beautiful and...it was a small museum in it. Showing the life of fishermen. And it seems like you can play chess on the ground. :)



Heading south again. We arrived at Craigard House Hotel in  Campbeltown at 13,05 and got our rooms. I was on the second floor on the back of the hotel.  Today I have 3 beds and both a shower cabin and a bathtub. Gosh, I´ll be very clean. :)  A backdraw here is the plugs, again! But I manage.

The hotel has a birdfeeder outside, quite fun to watch,  and a fat dog that anyone is allowed to take for a walk.

At 13.40h we were picked up by a taxi to go to the destilleries Springbank and Glengyle.  It was raining heavilly again so taxi was great. At first we was given a tour around both factories. It was midseason so there was no workers present. Therefore easy to see it all.

We could also taste the early version of the whisky. Long before it was finished  (mäsk). After seeing both destilleries we went to "The Tasting Room" at Cadenheads.  We could taste 6 diffrent whiskys of their own making. And a little snack to it. It was interesting to notice what a diffence the barrels and the storage time made to the final product.

When we were finished it had stoped raining so we walked back to the hotel. A few birds appeared on the way and it was a nice walk along the shore.

Campbeltown bay, our hotel on the left side.

Dinner was served at 19.15. I chosed a dish with Brie stuffed chicken. It was really good but I thought the tomato sauce was a bit too strongly flavored thus spoiling the taste of the cheese.

After dinner we ended the day by checking our birdlist for today. Not so many, bit nice, birds today.

Talked with my daughter on SKYPE tonight. Not long because the connection was lousy. Wrote on my diary and checked the mail. And todays shots.

A cool hotel, isn´t it?

Morning birding at 7 tomorrow.
120629-30 Craigard House Hotel, Campbeltown http://www.craigard-house.co.uk/

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Swedish:
Här med utsikt över Arran som vi kom ifrån. Vi hade tur och hade uppehållsväder mest hela tiden vi var där. Det var dimma först men den lättade.

Här fick jag möjlighet att se hur Mindre Liran uppförde sig. Den sveper nära vattnet med stela vingar. Några snabba slag och sen glider den någon sekund. Intressant! Vi fick också lite närmare kontakt med havssulan. Bla annat kom det några ungfåglar.

På väg därifrån gick vi in på ett Cofee room  och åt lite lätt lunch. Jag tog kaffe, scones  och en maräng

Vi anlände till hotel Craigard House Hotel vid 13.05. Jag fick ett tre sängsrum med både duschkabin och badkar. Ingen vidare utsikt, men det går ju att gå ut. De har en fågelmatning, det var lite kul. Och en fet jycke som vill bli omklappad.

Kl 13-40 blev vi hämtade av en taxi för att komma till destillerierna Springbank and Glengyle och wisky provning. Det hällregnade igen så det var skönt att vara inne på visningen av fabriken. Det såg ut precis som modellen vi såg häromdagen. ....oops, swedish :(      

Middag ingår i priset

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