Distilleries in Campbeltown

After doing our laundry at Davaar Laundrette, we headed out to the two distilleries in Campbeltown for tours. We weren't allowed to take photos in Glen Scotia; however, our guide was fun and knowledgable and we had a great time learning about Campbeltown whisky. At one time there were 37 distilleries in Campbeltown. This of course does not count the "illegal" distilling which was also going on all over the area as well.

Next up was Springbank Distillery. I wasn't certain anything could top the Glen Scotia tour, but I was wrong. The really cool thing was they had no problems letting us take photos anywhere we wanted of anything we wanted.

Springbank is Blue's favorite whisky, the one he would take to a deserted island with him. This was a Red Letter Day!

Springbank starts the process by malting ALL of its barley. Typically distilleries contract malting houses to malt barley to their specifications; Springbank does this themselves. Then they dry the barley, peating it as needed for their peated brew. This is why they produce so much less than others, and why it can be challenging to find their whisky to purchase.

We were allowed into one of the bonded dunnage houses. Above are casks in various stages of aging, in various types of casks. The master of the dunnage knows exactly where each and every barrel is - at least that's what they say.

We had hoped to do some shopping in town after the tours, but they ran long, and we ran out of time. We only had time to walk down a couple of streets. Here is a lovely scene of produce and plants outside a store.

Low tide was at 6:00 pm tonight so we made plans to walk out to Devaar Island. Once the tide goes out the Dhorlin is exposed - a wide rocky spit of earth which is covered during high tide.

We wanted to walk out to view a piece of now famous artwork painted on the wall of a cave. The painting was done by a teacher named Archibald MacKinnon in 1887. He had a dream which told him to paint this life sized crucifixion in this, the last cave on the south side of the island. The story goes he didn't tell anyone he was painting it, and when it was discovered, people thought it was magic, or devilry. Once the locals found out it was Archibald, they were miffed as only Victorians could be, and they ran him out of town.

A view of the island from the Dhorlin. The caves were around the cliffs on the right in this photo.

Campbeltown is out there, past the pier in the foreground. Look hard and you can see the church steeples and cranes on the pier.

On a sadder note, the candy shop we hoped to visit today was not open. Apparently the floor from the flat above collapsed into the shop and the place had to be closed down. They are moving locations, but aren't in the new place yet. When we walked by this evening the fire rescue team was entering the upstairs through ladders and retrieving the tenant's belongings.

Dun Skieg, Cairnbaan and Skipness

Today we travelled back north to finish seeing all we wanted to see in Kilmartin Glen. Along the way we stopped at Clachan and hiked up Dun Skieg.

Blue has done a lot of research on this Dun or fort. I know that I took a photo of it two years ago while on the ferry from Islay to mainland Scotland, so visiting seemed a full circle.

The sun showed its face and the wind took a break, so we had a lovely hike. Once atop the dun I remembered that I am the King of Scotland, or at least of the People of the Moss. Looking out across the ocean, surveying my kingdom ... it has such a nice ring!

The dun actually consisted of two forts and a broch (prehistoric stone tower). Blue is standing on the outer edge of the remains of a large oval structure.  You can see the Isle of Gigha in the background. One of the forts made use of vitrified stone - stone melted together to form a stronger building material. We found examples of this type of material atop the dun.

We were able to climb into the broch - this type of structure is found only in Scotland and the Isles. Quite a bit of the original stonework is  still extant.

Here comes the ferry from Islay! How fitting - so we took a photo of it this year while on Dun Skieg.

From Dun Skieg we travelled to Achnabreck and Cairnbaan to hike in to see a few of the cup marked stones still visible. These stones were marked in the same time period of, and sometimes pre-date, the standing stones we visited yesterday. No one knows why these markings were made, but they are very impressive to see. This stone, above, is about 8' x 4' in size. You can see the spirals, whorls and at the bottom right, very faintly, is a "sunburst" shape.

After a quick lunch along the Crinan Canal, we headed for Skipness Castle on the east coast of Kintyre. I took this picture of a rhodededron in bloom along the walkway to the castle site. I've never seen such tall rhodies, and they are everywhere out here.

Skipness Castle - first stages of construction started in the 12th century and was added onto for several centuries after that. At some point the Campbells built themselves a new manor, then the estate workers lived in the castle. This was occupied by laborers until the late 1800s.

Near the castle is Skipness Chapel. All the buildings in this area feature this red sandstone trim, even the new manor house.
There were lots of skulls and crossed bones in this cemetery, too. They weren't so happy looking, however.

After dinner and "a few" at Whisky Mac's, we walked down to the quay to watch this huge container vessel being loaded. The long white "parts" are sections of wind mills which are constructed near Campbeltown. These are being shipped to Hull, in England.

Good night, from Campbeltown!

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/skipness-castle-and-chapel/

Kilmartin Glen

Today we took the rental car north from Campbeltown to Kilmartin Glen. We have been researching this place since we first saw it last year on our bus trip from Oban to Lochgilphead.

Our first stop was at Dunadd, the administrative seat of Del Riata and more. On the top of the Dun is the Footstep of Fealty, and let it be known that as of today, I am the King of Scotland because my foot, including my boot, fit into the footstep carved in the rock. WOOT!

Views of the countryside around Dunadd from the top of the fort. This is a view of Moine Mohr - a peat moor which measures 30 feet deep. The Ogham script on the Stone of Fealty references "People of the Moss ... " for good reason.

Another view - you can see our rental car down near the River Add. Like yesterday, we trekked through a farmyard to access the dun.

Kilmartin Glen has been a center for people - ancient and modern - to gather and mark important events through building monuments and creating rituals. Ensuing generations and millenia of people added to and subtracted from the monuments.

Further along the highway we stopped at Duncraigaig to see the Ballymeanoch standing stones. These stones are more than 12' tall and are stiuated along a line from one burial cairn to another up the valley.

This is what remains of the only henge in this area of Scotland. In the center of concentric circles was a stone burial site, shown here. This site also include a circle of stones, long since repurposed elsewhere.

It is a challenge to take photos of what we saw today, to represent the deep history and presence of this place. Pictured above is Temple Wood, pre-dating the pyramids in Egypt. This site includes two stone cairns  - rounded river rock, mind you - surrounded by a circle of standing stones.

In the center of the stones is a cist - a stone burial chamber. At one time this burial and the standing stones was completely covered with rounded river rock so you could not see the standing stones.

Another cairn and stone burial chamber.

Blue and I found ourselves trying to imagine people so ancient. These ancestors of modern humans striving to find meaning, to make sense of their world, developing systems of belief long lost to us "modern" people.

This place requires a certain suspension of our supposed superior knowledge. Wandering through Kilmartin Glen provided a look into the past, a sense of these people's struggle to understand their world, and an energy which is palpable and unforgettable.

And we finished this drizzly grey day at the Black Sheep Pub on the Campbeltown Harbor.

For more info:

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Kilmartin-Glen/

Southend, Saints and Saddell

We picked up our rental car this morning and headed out for a full day of adventuring, mixed with trepidation and anxiety around left handed driving. Blue got the hang of it pretty quickly once we got out of Campbeltown.

We headed south to Southend where we tried to climb Dunaverty, the last McDonald stronghold on the Kintyre. When it finally fell it is said the coquerors threw the survivors off the ramparts into the sea.

Like many historical sites in Scotland and England, getting to them means crossing private property. It feels strange to us to open front gates and walk through, but when in Rome, as they say.

The wind was HOWLING today, gusts in the 50 mph range. Getting to the top of the Dun was not possible. While taking photos the wind whipped my phone out of my hands and then took care to plop it down in some seagull poo. Sigh. At least the phone didn't take a dive off the cliff after the McDonalds.

From Dunaverty we crossed to the other side of the bay to St. Columba's church, cemetery, monastery and all things Saintly. The caves, above, are called Kiels caves and much lore and mystery surround them. We found them full of pigeons.

Did I mention that the wind was very blustery today?

Footsteps carved into stone to commemorate St. Columba's landing in Scotland. Later St. Columba traveled to Iona to establish a monastery there - we visited it last year.

The Well at St. Columba's church -  now in the midst of a sheep field.

Yes, this is Blue escaping INTO the church yard and cemetery.

Skull and crossed bones on a grave in St. Columba's church ruins. This skull is a happy one.

I was awed by the ocean today. The waves were massive and powerful, the sound was impressive, the pulse filled my heart and soul.

Limpet shells and seaweed on the shore.

After St. Columba's we traveled to the west side of the Kintyre to Macrahanish. There we looked west across the Atlantic ocean to America. Just outside Machrahanish is a standing stone and cairn; we managed to find it in a farmer's field situated on a high bench above a valley dedicated to agriculture - dairy, sheep and grass.

And near the standing stones was Kilkiven, another church ruin with several outstanding mideval stone slabs.

The wild primrose and buttercups were riotous.

Back on the east side of the Kintyre peninsula, we stopped at Kildonan Dun. This hilltop fortress was probably constructed in the first or second century AD. It is quite well preserved. In this photo you can see the site of another Dun across the water - look on the left along the horizon for the monument stone.

At Saddell some recovery and preservation has taken place for the grave slabs. Saddell was the home of a Cistercian monastery built after Somerled ran the Vikings out of Scotland, around 1150. Many of these "effigy" and high cross stones were carved in Iona and shipped across to Kintyre.

Not much remains of the monastery; this founding stone is still in place, however.

Goofing around with a bike in the Campbeltown Museum. Cannot imagine how to get on or off that thing.

A well earned pint at the Harborview. The odometer told us we drove 57 miles today; it felt like 357.

We met some interesting folk at the pub including Alec, a local historian and Gaelic scholar. He has visited North Carolina to trace the Campbeltown immigrants there. The barmaids had a blast with our horrible pronunciations of their local historical sites, but I took good notes and will be able to sound like a local by Wednesday!

And we discovered this amazing candy shop on the corner of our B&B street. Can't wait to try a few of these unheard of treats.

The Island of Gigha

Good morning from Campbeltown! A very cool and windy day looking east toward Davaar Island and the sun - when it peaks its head out.

Today we traveled to Tayinloan (Ten lowan) where we caught the ferry to Gigha, the southernmost Hebridean island, situated three miles off the west coast of the Kintyre Peninsula. You can see it here in the foreground with the Paps of Jura showing behind.

Gigha is a community-owned island since 2002. The old estate of Achamore is publicly accessible, especially the gardens. The estate house is for sale.

The gardens on the estate have been allowed to become overgrown and unkempt. That said there are many varieties of plants I had never seen before - like this strange thing (gunera manicata) growing everywhere. Many of the plants seemed to be natives of South America.

Blue strolling down the avenue of camellias. The person responsible for planning this garden also went wild over rhodedendron - there were amazing varieties all through the forest.

This is the outer wall of a walled garden - reminded me of The Secret Garden. The amount of biomass growing on the stone walls is amazing - and the primrose grows wild everywhere here.

On the estate grounds is the ruins of Kilchatten, a church built in honor of St. Cathan, plus a cemetery. It dates from the 15th century and was once paved with more than 30 grave slabs. The church was replaced in the 18th century and this one has gone to ruin in the ensuing years. The cemetery seems current.

Most early churches in Scotland were built near ancient worship sites and this was no different. Situated just above the church is this standing stone. One side features Ogham script; however we were unable to distinguish any of the markings as the stone is covered in moss. The yellow flowers surrounding the stone are gorse bushes, also known as whin. They smell just like coconut.

http://www.gigha.org.uk

Five Days!

Maybe it is the April showers. Maybe it is the list of "do this" on the W place. Maybe it is news of Brexit. Whatever "it" is, I find myself a bit discombobulated just five days out from this year's Scotland adventure.

I even dreamed I forgot my passport and money and couldn't board the plane. Thus, another new list is started - I hope I remember to check the lists!

Regardless, we soldier on. Taxes paid. Gear found and cleaned for Scotland hiking. House cleaned (good enough). Projects at work nearly finished or on hold. Towering pile of "stuff" to pack. A plan for Cat's care. Drink plenty of Emergen-C in an attempt to remain healthy.

Just the usual pre-trip jitters. And so worth it. See you in Scotland!

The mountains are my bones. The rivers are my veins.

The forests are my thoughts and the stars are my dreams. 

The ocean is my heart, its pounding is my pulse. 

The songs of the earth write the music of my soul.

 - Author Unknown