Bunnahabhain Guillemot

We had another lazy start to the day today and eventually wandered out to have lunch at the Kilchoman distillery which was highly rated by the visitors in the cottage guest book.  Kilchoman is the only family-owned distillery on the island and one of a very few not right on the shore.  When we pulled up a hare was sat right by the sign trying to shelter a bit from the rain.

After being well-fed we headed east to Finlaggan in what was due to be better weather.  Finlaggan is the seat of power for 'The Lord of the Isles' who ruled a good chunk of the Scottish islands and, at it's height, a good chunk of the western mainland too.  It's a settlement on a small island in the lake with some ruins still visible and is a pretty beautiful and fascinating place.  The women in the visitors centre gave us a brief history of Finlaggan (she was much better at contect than the display boards!) and we had a good explore.  En route I spotted an LBJ and a toad hanging around.  Definitley worth a visit if you're ever on Islay.

After Finlaggan, we decided to explore the north east bit of the island, drove to Port Askaig but there was literally nothing there so went around the loop and came back.  Then took a very bumpy road to the Bunnahabhain distillery.  I was hoping for a hot drink, but also, the only thing availble was whisky and water.  We noticed when we arrived that there were black guillemots nesting in the shoreline right underneath the visitor's centre, and they kept on coming back with food for thier chicks.  That was us sorted for entertainment for a good long while.  The favourite food seemed to be these orange eel-like things which I think might be butterfish.  A real highlight of the day!

After we got a bit chilly we headed back down the bumpy road to the Ardnahoe distillery (there's not much on Islay except birds and distilleries) which was very new and fancy and had a rather good cafe.  We sat on the balcony with hot drinks and I had a pot of Arran ice cream desperatley hoping that the cloud would clear from the Paps of Jura which could be seen just across the water.  Alas, despite my hopes the clouds wouldn't leave.