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Sunday, 16/Mar/2008
Islay Blogging Roundup #27
Finally the rain has stopped. After something like 18 hours of (I think uninterrupted) rain there is quite a bit of flooding down here. I could see quite a bit of flooding in the fields next to disused rail track where I go running. The picture on Islay was quite different, as you can also see in the picture on the right (taken at 7:00 this morning). Blue sky and sunshine, just some clouds in the distance. I'm told we're going to get something like that Monday through Wednesday, when I'm in the office at work. But back to the topic at hand, what have the blogs been writing about sunny Islay and Jura this week?
Let me start with a view to Islay's neighbour Jura: Sunset over the Enchanted Mountain (Click on the picture for a larger version). Isn't that just breathtakingly beautiful?
From sunrises and sunsets straight to the Islay single malt whiskies: A Japanese blog writes about a Laphroaig Whisky Fair 2007 special bottling. Why the bottle has an image of Eilean Donan Castle on it is beyond me though. I wonder if Marcel van Gils will get one of them?
The Bruichladdich Blog (probably not very surprisingly) writes about the 9% Duty Hike, attracting a few worried comments by whisky cask owners. There are also reports of a Rare Sighting.
Manny De Montaigne in the meantime is positively surprised by a Laphroaig 15yo after earlier thinking it wasn't for him.
WhiskyGrotto.com picks up on the guitar made out of a whisky cask in Smoke your audience with a Lagavulin single malt guitar, also mentioned on this blog earlier in the week.
I'm not entirely sure if Onversneden is a Dutch or a Belgian blog (judging from the links I think it's Belgian). Johan tastes a few single malts by the alphabet in Enkele klassiekers - de letter B. Three of the four he picks are from Islay, Bowmore, Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain.
On to the boats: Elliott of Islay Sea Shipping posted several pictures of the M.V Hebrides travelling through the Sound of Islay (see also M.V Hebrides 2, M.V Hebrides 3 and M.V Hebrides 4. I wonder if there is an Oban blog to follow her journey northwards, as she was also seen by ClydeSights in ‘HEBRIDES outbound’ earlier.
From the boats to the birds: The Islay Birds blog expands its coverage from Islay and Jura over to Oronsay with Greylag Geese and Canada Geese. It seems Stacey lost the challenge to spot the first Wheatear to Andy Schofield on Islay though. The weekend brought sunny weather, Hen Harriers, Whooper Swans and Choughs.
Jeremy Hastings went on a 24 Hour Wilderness course (to teach mainly) with a lot of wild- and birdlife sightings. You can read more from him in Ron's Islay Nature Report nr 10.
Ron also brings a few Dougie MacDougall stories in Still (Islay) Waters Run Deep and Dougie MacDougall - The Ghost that never was.
And I think that was about it this week, a comparably quiet week. As usual I finish with the reference to the Scottish Roundup, this week Swearing, but not swearing allegiance.
PS: Spoke with my mother earlier, she's still weak but slowly gaining some strength again. My sister is with my parents this week, we'll talk more over the coming days, hopefully with Skype working again (while we were both online we couldn't call each other, as we were showing as offline for each other. Strange.)
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