September 20, 2007 19:44

I've had another great day on Islay. I picked up a few souvenirs from the store here at the hotel, and not long after that my taxi picked me up to take me to Lagavulin distillery. For those of you not in the know, Lagavulin is the whisky I normally declare as my favourite. It has the wonderful smokey flavour from the peat that is so prevalent on Islay, and yet is superbly smooth. The drive took a little over five minutes, going south from the hotel to Port Ellen, and then east, past Laphroaig (tomorrow).

The tour was excellent, and the tour guide, Kristen (guessing at spelling) was informative and cute (two of my favourite things). At the end of the tour (no, I'm not giving details; you'll just have to come to Islay and do it yourself) we had a wee dram. We did not get the 16 year old (what I expected), nor did we get the 12 year old cask strength (the typically available in the UK). Instead, we got the Distillers Edition, which is consists of 16 year old mixed with whiskey aged in sherry barrels. I think it's one we've had before, but it was still very tasty.

After the tasting, I engaged in some purchases (although now regretting what I didn't buy), and then started the walk up the road to Ardbeg.

Ardbeg is just under a mile along the road from Lagavulin, just as Laphroaig is just under a mile in the other direction. As I was walking past the few houses located in the immediate vicinity of the Lagavulin distillery, there was a guy checking the oil on a mini. There was a girl with him, so it could have been her car. Anyway, he looks at me and says, "you're a long way from home, aren't you?" I laughed, and agreed. So we had a brief chat. I explained that I was in Scotland for the Rugby World Cup and that I was on Islay for the whisky, and had just visited Lagavulin. He said that his brother worked there. After exchanging a few pleasantries and explaining I was on my way to Ardbeg we wished each other a good day and I carried on along my way.

The road, as are most on the island, was narrow. Getting two cars past each other is a very tight squeeze. The land on either side is farmland, with hills in the north east and the coast on the south. Cows and sheep were being farmed. The wind was chilly, and the rain started to come in as I arrived at Ardbeg. I was a little wet as I walked down the driveway to the visitor's center.

The visitor's center has a cafe/restaurant and a shop. I booked myself into the 2:30pm tour at the same time as booking a table for lunch, which didn't take long to come up. There was a table for six available, which had been given to a party of three. One of the Ardbeg staff asked if I would mind sitting with the group of three; I replied that it wouldn't bother me, so she checked with the party at the table and it was fine with them so I joined them. They were from Sydney; a married couple whose kids were at university, travelling with (I think) the husband's father. We chatted through lunch (I had leek and parmesan soup with a roll, and cheese and onion toastie). They had just finished the tour prior to lunch,

Oh yeah, prior to lunch, I saw and chatted with a German girl who had been on the Bowmore tour with me yesterday. She had just finished the Ardbeg tour and was going to head down into Port Ellen for a look around. She had enjoyed the tour, so that was a good reference.

After lunch it was my turn to join the tour. Having done two previously (not counting the Jack Daniels tour of six or seven years ago), I was now looking out for differences. There were a few. We ended the tour with the regulation tasting, whereupon I chatted with a family (mum, dad, baby, grandmum, granddad) from South Africa as we tried two different Ardbegs - the regular 10 year old, and the expression that starts with a U that includes the older, port-aged whisky. And then I did a round of souvenir shopping.

I then ran up the driveway to the bus stop, in time to catch what I think was the last bus back. When the bus got to Port Ellen, my young German friend boarded the bus, so we chatted until I got to my stop. She was staying at a youth hostel on the other side of the island, so there wasn't really much opportunity to arrange catching up later on.

Now I was faced with the mile walk down the driverway with a westerly breeze buffeting me. I zipped up my windbreaker and headed into the wind. When I was about halfway along the driveway, a fuel truck came barrelling along behind me. He slowed down, and stopped, and the driver offered me a lift the rest of the way. You know, something I have not mentioned as yet is that everyone here on Islay has been really friendly and helpful. It's been really nice in that respect; the people at the hotel, the bus driver, the lade at the information center, the people at the distilleries, the people at the pub I ate at yesterday, the taxi lady, the guy on the side of the street today. Very friendly, indeed. And the guests here at the hotel, too.

After getting back, I changed my shirt and went down to the bar for a beer and to read my rugby magazine. I had three pints of Tennants, learned that Jose Mourinho had left Chelsea (which caused some conversation with fellow guests), and then had some dinner. Dinner was good. Dinner was tasty. Dinner was two entrees (that's appetizers for you Americans): prawns wrapped in raw salmon with a tasty sauce and a hard boiled egg on top, and chicken stuffed with haggis on a bed of garlic and onion mashed potatoes. Very tasty, both of them. I had hoped to eat haggis on this trip, but I think this is as close as I am going to get.

Now I've updated my blog (at least the entry to be uploaded at a later date) I think I'll head back to the bar for another pint or two, and maybe a drop of the good stuff.

September 20, 2007 09:16

Happy birthday Celise!

Alas, it's not as nice a morning as yesterday. The sky is overcast and grey, and there is moisture in the air. This is the west coast of Scotland, so this should be expected.

I caught most of the England vs India Twenty20 match after I went back to the bar last night. India put on 212, with Yuvraj Singh hitting six 6s in one over. Amazing. England looked slow at first, but then seemed to hit a good rhythm. I didn't see the end of the game, but I'm told that India did manage to win. I missed the end because we had to switch on the football - Champions League play, Celtic vs Stuttgart. They seemed pretty evenly matched, and the 2-1 result was a good one.

During the football I switched from beer to sample a couple of the whiskies: Ardbeg Aurigh Nam Beist and Caol Ila Moscatel finished. The former had an encompassing fiery start. I was expecting some chewiness, but it was not forthcoming, and as I continued the drink, it seemed to have, almost paradoxically, a lightness to it. The contrasts were good; an enjoyable dram. The Caol Ila tasty slightly musty, perhaps seaweedy. There was a softness that played to the back of the tongue, and afterwards, a hint of fruit, like bananas, or maybe raisins. Another excellent drop.

After the game I watched some of the highlights and then went back to my room, where I played Civ for a while. The new expansion pack for Civ4 should be out by now, I will have to look for it when I get home.

One thing that I've observed is that the Scots really like it when the English lose in sport. It doesnn't matter who it is, they always get excited when they hear (or see) England lose. It's like how us kiwis feel when Aussies lose, but with a deeper sense of "fuck off England."

Another thing I've been meaning to explain is Twenty20 cricket (for the benefit of my North American readers). Back in the old days, there was cricket, and it was played over several days. Then in the '60s or '70s, a shorter version of the game was introduced, called "limited overs cricket," which evolved into "One Day Cricket." The reason for the limited version of the game was to boost sagging numbers of supporters at games. The shortened version was also intended to be more exciting, since there was a limited amount of time to get as many runs as possible. In the last few years, there has been more tweaking and the introduction of an even shorter version of the game, with a smaller field and where each side gets only 20 overs (hence the name). A World Cup of Twenty20 cricket is currently going on in South Africa. And since the games are now shorter (about 3 hours from start to finish), it is possible to get three games in on one day on the same pitch, which makes it possible to cram in a World Cup in a very short period of time. If you don't know cricket, well, I'm not going to explain cricket here. Try looking it up on Wikipedia.

Today's agenda consists of a trip to the Lagavulin distillery. I am booked on a tour of the distillery at 11:15, and I am looking forward to that with great anticipation, as this is my favourite single malt. Hell, it's my favourite whisky, period. Depending on how long I spend there, I will head to either the Ardbeg distillery or to Port Ellen aftwards.

You may have noticed that I've not talked about rugby over the past couple of days. That's because I haven't been able to get any news about it. This is a little frustrating, but not to matter, I will be back into again come Saturday.

September 19, 2007 15:01

The walk to the road for the bus was a bit longer than I thought, a bit over a mile. But I did take several photographs of the scenery. It's a kind of bleak scenery, the grasses being more orange in colour, yet interspersed with patches of bright green. Paddocks of sheep lined the sides of the driveway and then empty fields of darker grasses..

The bus appeared as planned, a little after David turned into the driveway. The trip to to Bowmore took about 10 minutes, past the airport and then past a number of farms and farmhouses. I got off outside the Royal Bank of Scotland in downtown Islay. Not that there is much of a downtown, really, in a town with a population of about 1000. There were about a dozen stores, including the post office, bank, information center, pharmacy, and general store. The information center was my first port of call, and I did a little souvenir shopping there, the first of the entire trip. From there it was (literally) a hop, step and jump to the Bowmore distillery, where I signed up for the next tour. Since there was about 30 minutes to go I wandered a little around the town, largely spent taking photos from the wharf.

The tour of Bowmore distillery was very impressive. From the malting of the barley, through the mashing to the fermentation and distillation, and finally the aging in barrels, this was a very comprehensive tour. Bowmore does not bottle on site, so we didn't see any aspect of that part of the process. But it was very educational, and we did finish with a wee dram. It was the 12 year old, but with some prodding our guide (Heather) also let us try the 16 year old port barrel expression - so nice.

After the Bowmore experience, I went across the road to the pub for lunch (it was just after noon). I had a pint of Tennant's lager and smoked haddock fishcakes, which were really good. The fishcakes were served with a spicy sauce and a salad and bread, for seven quid. And seeing as it was all very tasty, I was happy with the price. I had a second pint afterwards and then caught the bus back to the hotel. I was considering getting to another distillery, but the bus didn't appear to be helping me out timewise, so I decided to skip it and relax at the hotel instead.

Pete got in touch with me to say that the accomodation for Saturday night in Edinburgh had run into a snag, so I had him look for a hotel in Glasgow for me instead. That way, I'd come across first thing on Sunday morning and drop off my bags and then we could go to the match on Sunday afternoon. It also meant I could get a night out in Glasgow (which could be dangerous for a Liverpool-supporting kiwi the night before NZ plays Scotland in the Rugby World Cup).

Wandering back down the mile or so to the hotel I startled a young deer. If I had been smart, I would have had my camera out, but I didn't so I missed a fantastic photo opportunity. Maybe tomorrow I'll get another chance.

Back at the hotel, I followed up with the receptionist about transport to my tours for tomorrow and Friday. Friday was sorted, but she was still working on Thursday's. Then I popped into the pub and saw the the NZ vs South Africa Twenty20 match was on; New Zealand were batting and falling apart. I watched until the end of the innings and then went back to my room to write this. I'll head back for the South African innings in just a little bit.

Later...

Well I can say with all confidence that Jacob Oram bowling 10 full tosses in his last two overs cost New Zealand the game. Granted it was a low score to defend, but MacMillan, Bond and Vettori were bowling tight and restricting runs. In one over, South Africa went from needing 10 runs an over to needing one a ball. At that stage, the advantage is for the batting team. Very disappointing.

I think I'm going to read for a while and then wander back to the bar. I will be going for bar food tonight, since last night's meal was on the pricey side.

September 19, 2007 09:00

A beautiful morning, in stark contrast to last night. The sky is bright, although there plenty of clouds around, depending on which direction you look. I imagine it is still fairly cool outside, but that's no biggie, as I do have a jack and sweatshirt.

A hot breakfast was first on my mind, at least after shaving and bathing. A sign in the bathroom advises that the water is not potable; indeed, the brown colour is somewhat off-putting. But you can still get clean, and I did. Then dressed and off to the dining room for breakfast: marmite and toast, poached egges, bacon, sausage, mushrooms. And orange juice. De-lish. There were many more potential items on the menu that I decided to skip (fried tomoto, fried black pudding, kippers, for a small sampling).

My plans today are fairly simple: arrange taxis to my distillery tours tomorrow; catch to bus into Bowmore; check out the Islay Museum, check out Bowmore distillery, see what else I can get up to. The hotel is ome distance from the township of Port Ellen, so when I'm back here in the evening, I am definitely back here. That's okay, because the bar is well stocked, and I do have things that I can do.

Okay, now to get on with my day.

September 18, 2007 23:28

I didn't sleep as well I would have hoped and had some crazy dreams. The craziest that I remember involved an old friend from high school (Martin M) signing me up to play American Football for the University of Georgia. Very bizarre.

Anyways, once up, I sorted out my crap, packed, showered, dressed, checked my email (not necessarily in that exact order). I uploaded a bunch of photos from the past week to my new Facebook account. Then I headed off to the train station, and thence to Heathrow, for my trip northward.

The weather in London was not great when I left. The weather in Glasgow was worse - cold and wet. And after I switched to the puddle-jumper that was taking me to Islay, the weather was worse. The pilot even said that he was hoping to beat the front into Islay. We flew through cloud, and we got to a point where there was cloud above and cloud below. But coming down onto Islay gave a breathtaking view of a rough and windswept island. As we banked, I could see out of the window opposite what appeared to be a distillery. This is going to be great.

It was cold and wet when we landed. I called the hotel and they said they'd come pick me up in about 10 minutes. And they did.

The hotel was 5 minutes from the airport, and once delivered, my driver checked me into the hotel. I wandered to my room, which is nice enough, and sorted myself out. I also turned on the heater and started to dry some of my clothes that were still a little damp from London. I then headed to the hotel bar, where my driver, David, also served me my first drink in Scotland. I felt the only correct thing to do was to have a whiskey - Bowmore Dawn.

The whisky was a cask strength, and the small pitcher of spring water supplied is something I'd like to pick up. The whisky was very good (as is expected from a Bowmore). I switched to beer (Scottish) after my whisky, and had dinner. And dinner was very tasty. I had an appetizer of sauteed mushrooms in a garlic wine cream sauce, and a main of Highland venison in a rosemary and red wine sauce. The venison was so tender, it was awesome. And it was served with fresh vegetables and potatoes. Very very tasty.

After dinner, I wandered back into the lounge to watch football - Champions league game between a Ukrainian team and Celtic (I am in Scotland, after all). Celtic lost, and really did not look good. I did catch the score of the Porto vs Liverpool game (1-1), and then went back to my room to watch the news to get the results of the other sports that I was interested in today (World Cup Rugby, Twenty20 cricket).

While travelling today, and while waiting for football to happen, I read a book loaned to me by Bianca - The Penguin History of New Zealand. I know the same basic histoty of NZ that most kiwis of my generation do: Abel Tasman, Captian Cook, Governer Grey, Land Wars, Maori suffrage, women's suffrage (first in world). This book is repairing some of the deficiencies and innacuracies in my education about my home country.

My hotel does not have internet connectivity, so you probably won't read this until I'm in Edinburgh on Saturday at the earliest.

September 17, 2007 23:11

So I ended up getting fish and chips for lunch down at the pub. That was after stopping by the stationers and picking up the latest Liverpool FC magazine, the latest Wisden, a recent Rugby magazine, and the Daily Telegraph. The fish and chips were really good, especially with the pint of London Pride. And then I went to visit Bianca, where we chatted for a good bit and then made scones, after which, we ate said scones with butter and black currant jam. And it was all good.

Then I made my way back to Ealing Broadway by more-or-less the reverse route I took to Bianca's (change trains at Paddington Station) and met up with Thomo at the Northern Star pub. From there we went to O'Neil's, an Irish pub and watched some Twenty20 cricket (Pakistan was slaughtering Sri Lanka) and then the Derby vs Newcastle match. Shae joined us for a couple of drinks, and then Mel and Sean, and finally Kylie. Shae was the first to leave, then Thomo and Kylie, and then I wandered back to the flat with Mel and Sean.

Just for the record, the last time I remember seeing Mel (prior to yesterday) was at Thomo's 21st birthday, fourteen years ago. Frightening, really, since she was probably about 11 or 12 at the time.

And now I'm back at the flat, where my laundry is still not dry (damn) and I'm now less than commando.

Earlier on today I managed to book a couple of distillery tours for later this week. I think I will try to randomly hit a couple more, along with museums and general walk abouts. The temperature has dropped considerably here in London, so I can imagine that what I have brought in terms of warm clothes is going to be insufficient in Scotland, so I am expecting now to buy a new jumper or two. It's no matter, 'cos it's all part of the fun of travelling.

PS: I'm on Facebook now. Crap, another social networking deal to keep up with...Just remember, the best way to keep up with me is here. When I remember to update.

September 17, 2007 10:35

It's Monday morning. Today is a bit of a rest and recovery day from the past week. My most important task is laundry, which I got on to not long after I had gotten up. I ran into Shae, who was running late for work, and then Erin, who was also running late for work. I got my laundry started and sat down to update these jounral pages.

I have updated pretty much all of the entries up to Lyon. Aside from a couple of corrections, all new material is separated from the original text by a line in the journal entry.

The weather in London is overcast. It looks like it's going to rain, so my clothes are hanging on clothes-horses inside the flat. The BBC says the expected high is 16C (61F), which is on the cold side for me, overcast, and 80% humidity, although rain is not forecast.

The flat, by the way, is pretty good. It is three levels. On the bottom level there is a bedroom, laundry, and the garage, which has been converted into a dossing room (American readers, see below for a definition of dossing). The middle floor has the living room and kitchen. The top floor has three bedrooms and the bathroom. Currently there's Mel and Sean, and three Australian girls (Shea, Erin, and the third whose name has slipped my head). Another couple had moved out last week, so I've got their bedroom for a couple of days.

To doss: to stay/sleep informally. When Antipodeans travel to London, it's not uncommon for them to congregate with Antipodeans already in London and crash for a night or 30 on the floor at someone's flat. This is referred to as dossing, and is a cheap way to handle accomodation. Typically the person holding the lease at the flat charges a small amount of money to cover power and water and rent.

September 16, 2007 23:23

We left the hotel around 9ish and hit the road. We grabbed breakfast from the railway station across the road and headed out.

The drive back to Calais was much like the start of the trip, only in reverse. We made good time courtesy of good roads and high speeds.

We stopped for gas at a barebones service stop, and I got my first look at a French squat toilet. I was grateful that I never had to use one for anything other than taking a leak. I took a photo for your viewing pleasure.

We lunched at a services - Saucisses de Toulouse et frites, et de l'eau. Then back on the road to Calais.

We got to Calais in plenty of time. Passport control was much more serious business than upon leaving England. As we waited in line, we switched the radio on and picked up coverage of the last few laps of the Spa Grand Prix. The Tunnel took 30 minutes, but with all the overhead of loading, unloading and dealing with passports, just under an hour all up.

On our way to Pete's place, we passed the Circus Tavern, famous for being the location of the World Darts Championships. The place was a dive from the outside; and right next to a lap-dance club.

Pete was dropped off, then Sorty, and then Thomo dropped me off at his sister Mel's place, where he had arranged a room for me. I met her sister and her husband and two of their room-mates. Thomo took off, I had a shower and then hung out with the flatties while checking my email. Thomo came back later and we wandered over to his place, where Kylie had made dinner. We watched the end of the South Africa v England Twenty20 match, the end of the first half of France v Namibia World Cup Rugby and then I went back to the flat.

Back at the flat, I updated some of the earlier journal entries and wrote this briefy. It's getting on a bit, so I think I will hit the sack and update the rest tomorrow.

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Update from Thomo - we drove about 2300 miles over the past week (well, ten days - Friday to Sunday). Not bad considering the car didn't move at all on two of those days.

September 16, 2007 11:23

We left the hotel around 9ish and hit the road. We grabbed breakfast from the railway station across the road and headed out.

The drive back to Calais was much like the start of the trip, only in reverse. We made good time courtesy of good roads and high speeds.

We stopped for gas at a barebones service stop, and I got my first look at a French squat toilet. I was grateful that I never had to use one for anything other than taking a leak. I took a photo for your viewing pleasure.

We lunched at a services - Saucisses de Toulouse et frites, et de l'eau. Then back on the road to Calais.

We got to Calais in plenty of time. Passport control was much more serious business than upon leaving England. As we waited in line, we switched the radio on and picked up coverage of the last few laps of the Spa Grand Prix. The Tunnel took 30 minutes, but with all the overhead of loading, unloading and dealing with passports, just under an hour all up.

On our way to Pete's place, we passed the Circus Tavern, famous for being the location of the World Darts Championships. The place was a dive from the outside; and right next to a lap-dance club.

Pete was dropped off, then Sorty, and then Thomo dropped me off at his sister Mel's place, where he had arranged a room for me. I met her sister and her husband and two of their room-mates. Thomo took off, I had a shower and then hung out with the flatties while checking my email. Thomo came back later and we wandered over to his place, where Kylie had made dinner. We watched the end of the South Africa v England Twenty20 match, the end of the first half of France v Namibia World Cup Rugby and then I went back to the flat.

Back at the flat, I updated some of the earlier journal entries and wrote this briefy. It's getting on a bit, so I think I will hit the sack and update the rest tomorrow.

September 15, 2007 23:48

A quick update of the past couple of days. We left St-Etienne around 11am on Friday and hit Lyon around lunchtime. Our hotel took a little finding, but was well worth it, with Wi-Fi, nice rooms, right by the train station, and cheap at 45 Euros per room.

Lyon was also very nice to walk around. We checked out Roman ampitheatres and a huge-as-fuck church that overlooks the city. For lunch I had a random pastry containing pork, which turned out to be like a sausage roll. Very good. There were lots of photo ops around the place. Then back to the hotel to shower and get dressed for the evening's festivities.

The evening's festivities took place largely in the old town (as usual). Dinner was Salade Lyonnaisse (lettuce, poached egg, bacon, croutons), followed by chicken in a Basque sauce with rice, and a custard and meringue desert finised it all off. Then off to watch rugby and drink beer.

England looked awful and deserved to lose with no points on the board at all. South Africe looked very dangerous and desirous of wins. The old town was crawling with New Zealanders, and a few poms and boks. We hung out until around midnight, including some wandering and then headed back to the hotel before the Metro stopped at 0h20. There were several people hanging out there, so Thomo, Sorty and I had more beers. Later they went to bed and I chatted to a couple of kiwi girls in town for the rugby.

This morning was a little rough. A bit too much to drink last night. All good though. Pete, Sorty and I went out to pick up some water and some wine to take back to England, then we met up with Thomo around 11am to check out, load the car and then head to the rugby.

The stadium was good - shaded, thankfully. The game was rather one-sided, but Portugal actually did look pretty good. Their number 14 was especially good. We ducked out with 5 minutes left to go; the ABs had broken the century mark, so there was no need to stick around. We hoofed it to the Metro, but were stopped part way by a news crew from One Network News (NZ). We answered a couple of questions and charged onwards. We beat the crowds quite nicely (in contrast to last week) and got on the road to Dijon around 3:30pm.

Dijon was nice. The downtown shopping and socializing area (the old town again) was very pleasant. (Hopefully I'll add more about that later).

Had dinner and watched the Ireland vs Georgia match at Cafe Leffe. I had veal in a white sauce (didn't write down the name of the dish), which was quite nice. I was toying with the local beef dish, but decided for the veal instead. In the rugby, Ireland won, but only barely. Georgia looked really good - strong and hungry. They were unlucky to not actually win the game, as pretty much the entire second half was played in Irish territory.

Okay, I'm off to bed. We need to be on the road around 9am tomorrow morning to make it to Calais for our designated crossing of the Channel. There's a bunch of stuff I want to talk about from the trip, but right now I need to sleep.

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One other thing to add. Since we had gone to Dijon straight frm the game, we were all still wearing our All Blacks jerseys. So we were wandering around Dijon, looking for dining and drinking options and we werwe accosted by a group of teenage boys who called out "All Blacks! Hundred points! All Blacks!" and rushed over to give us all hugs and then charged off on their merry way. It was a bizarre experience.