Trip to Islay May day bank holiday week 2015

snowy55 · May 2, 2015

First night, Saturday, we are at Britstop 632 nr Penrith en route from Leicester to the ferry from McInroys Point near Glasgow to Hunters Quay near Dunoon.
Sat in the Cali after magnificent home made steak and ale pie and a couple of pints. Hoping to make it to Kintyre for Sunday night but this involves 2 ferry rides, we'll see what Sunday brings!

snowy55 · May 4, 2015

Sunday served us rainfall on a Biblical scale, Noah would have been down B&Q buying all the wood he could lay his hands on!
Both ferries, Gourock to Dunoon and Portavadie to Tarbert on Kintyre were smooth, we encountered flooded roads and had to scrabble over a landslide on Glen Lean but it fined up when we reached Kintyre,we spent the night next to the sea at Killegruer Caravan Site .
Monday morning we took the ferry to Islay in clear sunshine and the views were wonderful, we are now in the sand dunes overlooking Laggan Bay.

Stopped for lunch on Sunday in the pouring rain and howling wind.

motacyclist · May 4, 2015

Hope the weather improves for you!

snowy55 · May 5, 2015

Gentle rain today but the wind has disappeared. Lovely scenery even in the wet. Took the opportunity to visit the local distillery,as much whisky as you wanted at the end of the tour :bananadance

Staying at the Port Mor campsite tonight.

snowy55 · May 7, 2015

Wednesday we took the ferry from Islay to Jura, only a 10 minute hop, a bit scary because you had to reverse on, the ferry is very small and only takes 5 cars.
We traveled the full length of the only road and it was breathtaking scenery, lots of Red Deer, Feral Goats,Seals.
There are no campsites for camper vans so we wild camped next to a beach, nobody else in sight.

snowy55 · May 7, 2015

Sunset on Islay.

snowy55 · May 8, 2015

So we have just completed "Three Ferry Friday "
1 Port Ellen, Islay to Kennacraig, Kintyre.
2 Tarbert, Kintyre to Pontaverdie, Cowal.
3 Colintraive, Cowal to Rhubodach, Isle of Bute.
We are now in the campsite at Rothesay, back to the mainland Saturday morning on the ferry to Wemyss (pronounced Weems according to the lady at the CalMac ferry office ) for the journey south so just Saturday night to sort out.

larrylamb · May 8, 2015

Great pics snowy, if we are out when you pass through Lancashire just leave the malt whiskey round the back, cheers :thumb

snowy55 · May 9, 2015

larrylamb said:
Great pics snowy, if we are out when you pass through Lancashire just leave the malt whiskey round the back, cheers

OK, will do!

snowy55 · May 9, 2015

Found ourselves in pole position on the ferry from Bute back to the mainland.

So our last night of this holiday will be at the Tan Hill Inn, and we are parked next to a white 14 plate Cali S E the first we have seen all week in nearly 900 miles, I was beginning to think we were the only one on the road this week!

snowy55 · May 10, 2015

Well, after a week of no Calis another one turned up making 3 in total all parked in a line at the back of the pub.

snowy55 · May 12, 2015

Back home now. Had a fantastic time, this is what we did.

8 nights away, 1 Britstop, 5 campsites, 1 wild camp and 1 pub car park.

9 ferries

1046 miles.

39.4 mpg.

here are some more photos.

motacyclist · May 12, 2015

Great, thanks for posts and photos, feel like we've been away too but haven't spent anything on diesel! :thumb

Skylark2.0 · May 15, 2015

I've really enjoyed seeing your pics and reading about the trip. We're off to Islay so i particularly liked seeing the Jura wild camp. I'd love to try wild camping but can't persuade himself that it will be ok!

PC-Flyer · Apr 15, 2016

Thanks Snowy55, I really appreciate you pointing out this thread, I am now really excited about Islay and Jura. I have been to Islay before, just for the day though and I cycled across the island. Always wanted to go back and spend more time there and this year it will happen. Sounds like you had a great time

Skylark2.0 · Apr 15, 2016

PC-Flyer said:
Thanks Snowy55, I really appreciate you pointing out this thread, I am now really excited about Islay and Jura. I have been to Islay before, just for the day though and I cycled across the island. Always wanted to go back and spend more time there and this year it will happen. Sounds like you had a great time

We had a great ime last July despite gale force winds.
You could easily spend a week between the two islands.
Make sure you leave enough time to visit Colonsay if you can on the way back to Oban. I wish we had made time as it's not easy to get to otherwise.

PC-Flyer · Apr 15, 2016

Skylark2.0 said:
We had a great ime last July despite gale force winds.
You could easily spend a week between the two islands.
Make sure you leave enough time to visit Colonsay if you can on the way back to Oban. I wish we had made time as it's not easy to get to otherwise.

I will, thank you. Again Colonsay is an island I have visited for a day just cycling. Fantastic beach. I really like islands as for me, the ferry trip is all part of the adventure