Arrival on Islay - Scotland Summer 2006

	After a good night's sleep at the West Loch Hotel I woke up to a glorious morning, blue sky and sunshine. In previous years I had used the 7:00am ferry when I had stayed at the West Loch Hotel, this year I had a more sensible ferry at 9:00am. This gave me time for a nice morning jog along the loch and a more relaxed breakfast. But then it was time for the quick drive to the ferry terminal at Kennacraig, where the ferry soon arrived, boarding was completed and we were on the last leg of the way to Islay. Unfortunately it clouded over after a while, so the views weren't as nice as I had hoped. Nevertheless I had some good views of the distilleries on Islay's south coast, in particular Ardbeg and Laphroaig. But more of them later...

Having passed the distilleries we approached our destination: Port Ellen. When the ferry slowed down and almost stopped to turn around for landing at the pier I managed to take the pictures for a panorama of Port Ellen. I didn't manage to get everything into the panorama, but then the Port Ellen Maltings aren't that beautiful anyway. You can also view a Quicktime VR panorama of Port Ellen as seen from the ferry arriving from Kennacraig:
	After disembarking from the ferry I decided to stay in Port Ellen for a while and have a look around. First I walked along Frederick Crescent and around Loch Leodamais, enjoying the sun which had broken through again. I also had a look around the harbour with the Port Ellen War Memorial for the dead of the two world wars and Port Ellen Marina. Then I turned west towards Traighgeiesger Bay.

	Trough Charlotte Street I reached Traighgeisger Bay, where I climbed down to the beach. Occasionally the sun broke through while I was walking along the beach, making it quite pleasant walking. After a while I arrived at the old warehouses of the long closed Port Ellen Distillery (it closed in 1983) Walking around through the old warehouses (there's still whisky in some of them) there are some interesting contrasts: The old distillery buildings are right next to the comparably new Port Ellen Maltings building. The maltings supply almost all of the distilleries on Islay, unfortunately the building is quite industrial. Turning back I had a nice view over the bay to the harbour and Port Ellen. Ramsay Hall and the White Hart Hotel are visible on the left in the panorama. As I had some time left I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon visiting the three southern distilleries: Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg.

If you are interested in more information about Islay, Colonsay and Jura you might also be interested in my Isle of Islay, a visit to the beautiful island off the west coast of Scotland pages. There you will find many more pictures and further information about Islay, Jura and Colonsay.

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