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Picture of the yard of Bruichladdich distillery Picture of the round church in Bowmore
Picture of the Cottage Restaurant in BowmoreAfter the at least reasonable weather the previous days the bad weather caught up with us this day: It rained almost the whole day. Luckily we had already planned this day to be a "rest day" after two days of walking and potentially more walking the next day. Hence we used the day for quite a bit of sightseeing and shopping:

We started in Bruichladdich, where we visited Bruichladdich distillery. Next stop was Bowmore for a variety of places, among others Roy's Celtic House, Bowmore distillery and the offices of the Ileach (thanks to Carl for the tour!). Then it was time for a lunch, we went to the Cottage Restaurant (no website) in Main Street. Not haute cuisine but filling and good value for money.

For the afternoon we turned north-east: First we drove to Islay House Square, where we visited Elizabeth Sykes Batiks and the Islay Ales Brewery. Paul Hathaway gave us an excellent overview of the brewing process, thanks Paul! Next was the Islay Woollen Mill, where Gordon Covell gave a quick tour and Imke could see where her blanket came from.

Then it was time for some history and we drove to Finlaggan, the ancient seat of the Lord of the the Isles. Despite the rain we decided to walk down to the crannog of Eilean Mor and take a look at the ruins and carved gravestones.

Picture of Imke in the rain at Finlaggan Picture of Finlaggan in the rain
Picture of a vase with flowersPicture of a lighthouse from the potteryThe walk at Finlaggan turned out even wetter than we expected, yet we still enjoyed it. There is a certain magic to the place, making it enjoyable even in bad weather.

Now it was time to warm up again: Our last stop for the day was Persabus Pottery near Port Askaig. We had a nice chat with Arra Fletcher and both found a great souvenir to take home: Imke bought the vase you can see on the left, I bought the Port Charlotte Lighthouse you can see on the right.

Late in the afternoon we returned to Port Charlotte where we had dinner at the hotel before attending a presentation about the local wildlife at the Islay Wildlife Centre.

It turned out to be a quite busy day despite the bad weather and having been planned as a "rest day". But at least there is quite a lot to do on Islay even when the weather is bad. There are also the swimming pool at the McTaggart Centre in Bowmore or the Museum of Islay Life in Port Charlotte to mention further alternatives for a rainy day.

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