Islay Holiday - Part 7

Thursday

It dawned lovely and clear today. We decided that the food at the Ardbeg distillery was just too good not to experience again so thought that we should go back down, explore the Mull of Oa next to Port Ellen and then have lunch. It was a fair old slug down to the Mull of Oa, but we were rewarded with a beautiful scene: deep blue skies, highland moos (or ‘woollies’ as we now call them) and lovely green rolling hills. We decided to do the circular route and were glad we did. Tom started off well, happily toddling along the path but fell over in a muddy puddle which caused lots of tears (we discovered later on that he scuffed his knees so must have been some stones at the bottom) so I ended up with him on my back. Just as well really because the path went quite close to the edge of the cliffs – I wouldn’t have trusted him on his own.

The sea was calm, we could see the mainland and Northern Ireland quite clearly and even saw some freight ships heading off to North America, and one on its way to Scotland. We really could see for miles. It got a little windy once we got to the very tip of the Mull, but nothing bad, looked round the monument (in remembrance of some US Naval personnel who were torpedoed in 1918) and then made our way back.

Once out of the wind and on the down hill section I let Tom out of the rucksack so he could toddle on down. He wasn’t happy, in fact he was livid – he cried and snot and tears covered his face, but Matt was insistent (he has more patience than me) and forced him to walk. There was nothing wrong with him – he just was being stubborn. It spoiled the end of what was a lovely walk, but hey ho – tantrums are part of being a toddler!

Next stop was Ardbeg. I had been dreaming of having Seafood Paella again, but it wasn’t on the menu – instead I settled for Moules Marinere which once again was very good. It came with garlic bread which Tom decided was his (he gave me back the crusts). He then went on to have a scone with butter, jam and cream – greedy thing. Matt had a haggis and red onion baked potato which he devoured in no time at all. We then had another look round Ardbeg. We didn’t realise last time we were here that you could walk down to the shore – so we did this and took yet more photos – the distillery was looking very pretty in the sun.

Next stop was Port Ellen to pick up some meat and veg for dinner and then home.