Country life...
Apr. 12th, 2010 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
f4f3Up earlyish this morning, with the sort of head I'd normally put down to a hangover. Strangely, I only had one glass of wine last night.
Ah well.
Did some quick ferry checking, which revealed that I'd need to be at Tayvallich by about 9.30, and surrender £35 of my guid Scottish pounds for a return journey to Jura. Upside is that it's a quick crossing - downside it's expensive, and there isn't another one until Friday. Given that I hadn't arranged dog-sitting for Merlin, today was out. Looking at the small print of the Calmac timetable (as romantic a set of tables as you'll come across outside of a speed-dating venue) I found that the Wednesday crossing from Kintyre to Islay calls at Port Askaig, which is a hop, skip and 15 minute ferry from Jura. Times work out well too, leaving at 7.45 and getting in at 9.50, then leaving 10 hours later, which should be long enough for me to visit Jura, tour the distillery, and maybe even head up to the end of the island where George Orwell wrote 1984. Maybe not, though, as the house has tenants, and I'd feel a little ghoulish. The Calmac ferry is half the price, although it takes twice as long, and there's always the chance of a fry-up on the way out and a chicken curry on the way back. Good job I'm talking my bike...
Rather than launch myself cold into that on Wednesday, I had a wee warm up ride today along the Crinan Canal, sometimes described as "Scotland's most scenic short-cut", since it allows commercial and pleasure craft to cut out the dangerous trip around the Mull of Kintyre. If you're biking it, it's 9 miles of dead flat tow path, with views ranging from pretty (the tow path between Lochgilphead and Cairnban), and stunning (the Crinan end, as the view opens up to take in Jura).
It was a beautiful day, but I'd forgotten that any wind at all gets channeled down Kilmartin Glen and does its best to blow you back to Ardrishaig, which meant that the nine miles took about 45 minutes. No worries, I thought, I'll pep myself up with coffee and a bacon roll at the Crinan Tearoom, a nice little offshoot of the excellent (if pricey) Crinan Hotel.
Ops. Tearoom doesn't open until May. Still, bound to be home made soup and fresh bread at the hotel bar. Which there was, at a very reasonable price. Unfortunately, there was also their seafood stew, at a price best described as "good value", for something which consists of monkfish, salmon, scallops, mussels, prawns and langoustines (oh, and bacon - no concessions to the faux vegetarians up here). And there was also a half bottle of Sauvignon for fully half the price of a full bottle. I didn't grudge myself the treat. The weather was splendid, I sat outside overlooking the sea-lock, and lingered over every last creamy spoonful and crisp sip.
The trip back, with the wind behind me, was a joy, and I go back in time to walk Merlin. I was so stuffed, though, that I took on the Ardrishaig Hill Climb, from sea level to the top of the village, a few hundred feet above me. I proved that I'm not as fit as I was last summer, since I stopped fifty yards or so before the summit. I'll try harder tomorrow.
Tomorrow night, by the way, I've booked a ticket for Avatar (in 3D) at the Screen Machine mobile cinema. Having seen the movie for the first time in Glasgow's IMAX, I'm ridiculously excited about seeing it in the back of a truck, basically.
Right - off to make myself some grub and decide on tonight's choice of viewing...
Ah well.
Did some quick ferry checking, which revealed that I'd need to be at Tayvallich by about 9.30, and surrender £35 of my guid Scottish pounds for a return journey to Jura. Upside is that it's a quick crossing - downside it's expensive, and there isn't another one until Friday. Given that I hadn't arranged dog-sitting for Merlin, today was out. Looking at the small print of the Calmac timetable (as romantic a set of tables as you'll come across outside of a speed-dating venue) I found that the Wednesday crossing from Kintyre to Islay calls at Port Askaig, which is a hop, skip and 15 minute ferry from Jura. Times work out well too, leaving at 7.45 and getting in at 9.50, then leaving 10 hours later, which should be long enough for me to visit Jura, tour the distillery, and maybe even head up to the end of the island where George Orwell wrote 1984. Maybe not, though, as the house has tenants, and I'd feel a little ghoulish. The Calmac ferry is half the price, although it takes twice as long, and there's always the chance of a fry-up on the way out and a chicken curry on the way back. Good job I'm talking my bike...
Rather than launch myself cold into that on Wednesday, I had a wee warm up ride today along the Crinan Canal, sometimes described as "Scotland's most scenic short-cut", since it allows commercial and pleasure craft to cut out the dangerous trip around the Mull of Kintyre. If you're biking it, it's 9 miles of dead flat tow path, with views ranging from pretty (the tow path between Lochgilphead and Cairnban), and stunning (the Crinan end, as the view opens up to take in Jura).
It was a beautiful day, but I'd forgotten that any wind at all gets channeled down Kilmartin Glen and does its best to blow you back to Ardrishaig, which meant that the nine miles took about 45 minutes. No worries, I thought, I'll pep myself up with coffee and a bacon roll at the Crinan Tearoom, a nice little offshoot of the excellent (if pricey) Crinan Hotel.
Ops. Tearoom doesn't open until May. Still, bound to be home made soup and fresh bread at the hotel bar. Which there was, at a very reasonable price. Unfortunately, there was also their seafood stew, at a price best described as "good value", for something which consists of monkfish, salmon, scallops, mussels, prawns and langoustines (oh, and bacon - no concessions to the faux vegetarians up here). And there was also a half bottle of Sauvignon for fully half the price of a full bottle. I didn't grudge myself the treat. The weather was splendid, I sat outside overlooking the sea-lock, and lingered over every last creamy spoonful and crisp sip.
The trip back, with the wind behind me, was a joy, and I go back in time to walk Merlin. I was so stuffed, though, that I took on the Ardrishaig Hill Climb, from sea level to the top of the village, a few hundred feet above me. I proved that I'm not as fit as I was last summer, since I stopped fifty yards or so before the summit. I'll try harder tomorrow.
Tomorrow night, by the way, I've booked a ticket for Avatar (in 3D) at the Screen Machine mobile cinema. Having seen the movie for the first time in Glasgow's IMAX, I'm ridiculously excited about seeing it in the back of a truck, basically.
Right - off to make myself some grub and decide on tonight's choice of viewing...
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-13 07:09 am (UTC)Jura! Island hopping! Bicycles!
I need to go back to Skye, and Ardnamurchan, and Gairloch, and Achiltibuie.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-13 08:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-14 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-14 09:46 pm (UTC)