Port Ellen

Back home today.  Our ferry was due at lunchtime and it looked like it was going to be plain sailing with no interruptions from the weather.  We said bye to the cottage and went back to Bowmore for a coffee and a hot chocolate in the Celtic crafts shop.  Then it was back to Port Ellen for a mooch around before the ferry.

It was definitley the best weather of the week, which was a shame on the way home, but did make for a great crossing.  P was feeling a little under the weather so stayed below decks whilst I went out with the camera.  There were lots of guillemots and gannets in the sea, plus I almost some shots of the Paps of Jura when not all of them were in cloud.  The other highlight was pulling up next to the big boat that had been sat out in the bay all week.  It looked a bit like an oil carrier but I didn't think that there would be that much demand for oil on Islay. Lo and behold, it was a barley ship and you could see the barley being extracted by pipes from the ferry deck - presumably going into the silo on the docks for distribution to the distilleries.  It was fun to see.

The way home was a little longer than we'd liked as it looked like someone had driven off the road and down the banks of Loch Fyne and the traffic lights for the clean up crew had stopped working.  After debating whether or not to add an extra hour onto the journey to go north to Tyndrum, the traffic moved and we were away.  We got home to some very hungry and desperate cats!

Forgot to mention earleir that we also spotted a stoat earlier in the week which was fun too.  Blip is of Port Ellen as we were sailing away - you can see the barley silo to the left of the picture.