Portnahaven and Port Weymss
Kilkiarian Chapel and Bay
Port Charlotte Main Street
Main roadway on Islay, shared with sheep as needed.
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ISLAY Port Askaig
We made it! It was a long and exhausting flight, but we are here!
After picking up our rental car and making it safely to Port Askaig and our hotel, we enjoyed steak and ale pie with a tall glass of Tennets ale. Then some jaw wagging and to bed.
It was sunny but cold on Wednesday. We managed Finlaggen, home of the Lords of the Isles.
After picking up our rental car and making it safely to Port Askaig and our hotel, we enjoyed steak and ale pie with a tall glass of Tennets ale. Then some jaw wagging and to bed.
It was sunny but cold on Wednesday. We managed Finlaggen, home of the Lords of the Isles.
Dun Nosebridge, an Iron age Fort. Bridgend for ginger cookies and water.
Kilnave on Loch Gruinart. Bird preserve.
Kilchoman and a peek at Machir Bay.
Whisky and Wall Itinerary
Monday
Bon Voyage! Spokane to Seattle to Iceland to Glasgow (arrive 3/21)
Tuesday
Glasgow Paisley Museum then a short flight to Islay, arriving in the evening. Renting a car and driving to Port Askaig to our hotel.
Wednesday through Friday
Islay: stone circles, Celtic crosses, woolen mill, whisky distilleries, the Oa, the Rhinns, pubs and more.
Saturday
Depart Port Ellen via ferry for Glasgow then Carlisle England.
Sunday
Carlisle Cathedral, Carlisle castle, Tuille House Museum, then to Haltwhistle England
Monday and Tuesday
Hadrian's Wall walk, Whitley Castle (Epiacum), laundry, post office. We will stay at the Center of Britain Hotel. Look it up on You Tube.
Wednesday and Thursday
To Newcastle England on the East coast. Whitley Bay, Hancock Museum, quayside and amazing bridges.
Thursday afternoon head for Glasgow Scotland via Edinburgh.
Friday
Head back to Spokane from Glasgow via Iceland via Seattle. Home.
Bon Voyage! Spokane to Seattle to Iceland to Glasgow (arrive 3/21)
Glasgow Paisley Museum then a short flight to Islay, arriving in the evening. Renting a car and driving to Port Askaig to our hotel.
Wednesday through Friday
Islay: stone circles, Celtic crosses, woolen mill, whisky distilleries, the Oa, the Rhinns, pubs and more.
Saturday
Depart Port Ellen via ferry for Glasgow then Carlisle England.
Sunday
Carlisle Cathedral, Carlisle castle, Tuille House Museum, then to Haltwhistle England
Monday and Tuesday
Hadrian's Wall walk, Whitley Castle (Epiacum), laundry, post office. We will stay at the Center of Britain Hotel. Look it up on You Tube.
Wednesday and Thursday
To Newcastle England on the East coast. Whitley Bay, Hancock Museum, quayside and amazing bridges.
Thursday afternoon head for Glasgow Scotland via Edinburgh.
Friday
Head back to Spokane from Glasgow via Iceland via Seattle. Home.
One Day
Go day is almost here! We are down to a quart of milk, eight hamburger rolls and a can of soup to clear out the cupboards. The cat is in the garage with boxes of litter and food and water. Furnace is turned off. Floor swept. Plants watered. Bills paid. I removed my work email from my phone, changed my phone messages, and am deciding if there is a really a good reason to dust before we go.
Blue has been practice packing for some time and it was my turn today. Here are my before and after pictures. The three compression bags Silas gave us each for Christmas certainly made a difference in getting six days of clothes, shoes and sundries in the packs. Blue and I plan to only carry on our one backpack each. If needed we can check the bags coming home depending on how many bottles of whisky and yards of tartan we score.
Blue has been practice packing for some time and it was my turn today. Here are my before and after pictures. The three compression bags Silas gave us each for Christmas certainly made a difference in getting six days of clothes, shoes and sundries in the packs. Blue and I plan to only carry on our one backpack each. If needed we can check the bags coming home depending on how many bottles of whisky and yards of tartan we score.
We have been checking the weather on Islay and in Haltwhistle. Looks like there will be a number of clear days while on the island. This is good news since we plan to hike Dun Nosebridge from which I hope we can see the ocean surrounding the island. They say you can see Ireland from Islay on a clear day, so looking forward to that as well. And the two hour ferry ride back to mainland Scotland should be sunny, too!
I will share our planned itinerary in a separate post.
9 Days
Just 9 more days until lift off! It is still nearly a dream that we are heading out on this adventure. I know it is getting closer to go time because the days at work are interminable, the to-do list is getting longer and no closer to being completed, and the worries, doubts, questions dance the dervish in my mind at 3:00 am and in my stomach throughout the day.
Ah well, get over it old girl. Blue and I are already planning next year's trip, so all this pre-flight jitters will get easier and more normal!
For those of you receiving this notice for the first time, I hope to update this blog every evening (GMT 0) with photos and commentary on what we are seeing. Feel free to completely ignore it as I know this is our adventure and not yours, or join in while we regale you with photos of us drinking whisky, climbing around stone circles, walking along Hadrians wall, standing in the sea spray of the North Atlantic, exploring Whitley Castle and Whitley Bay, and more.
Here's a photo of our technology: this phone and a folding Bluetooth keyboard. So slick.
Ah well, get over it old girl. Blue and I are already planning next year's trip, so all this pre-flight jitters will get easier and more normal!
Here's a photo of our technology: this phone and a folding Bluetooth keyboard. So slick.
15 Days
Just 15 more days! It is still hard to believe we are actually going!
I've been trying to reserve our seats on IcelandAir, but their website only allows me to chose ONE seat for ONE flyer. I keep thinking that the website will work "tomorrow", and every tomorrow I log in and the situation hasn't improved. Now the seats are disappearing rapidly. It never occurred to me that the flights overseas would be so full. I will give the airline a phone call "tomorrow".
With the exception of a couple buses or trains or taxis, we have everything arranged for Islay and N. England. We have broad brushstrokes of to-dos each day, with "must do" items grounding the itineraries.
For some reason the to do list here at home keeps getting longer. Pay bills. Check. Cat litter and food. No Check. Download free E-books to phone. Check. Water plants. No Check. Recycle. No Check. Currently there are more No Checks than Checks, so I imagine we will stay busy until take off.
29 Days
It seems like the days are flying by, while, at the same time, the vacation will never arrive. This must be what it was like when I was a child, waiting for my next birthday with the days dragging and the year whizzing by.
I think we are finally all set. Blue has new shirts, jeans and a belt. He will look like a shiny new American tourist instead of his usual ragamuffin self (his words).
See? His new boots and gaiters, ready to stroll Islay's peat bogs and oceanside cliffs and Hadrian's Wall and Whitley Castle. AND he managed to pack all his clothes into his backpack, including a pair of tennis shoes.
I think we are finally all set. Blue has new shirts, jeans and a belt. He will look like a shiny new American tourist instead of his usual ragamuffin self (his words).
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