Morning came with fingers crossed for the forecast being incorrect about the wind strength and the possibility of ferry cancellations...and a check of the Calmac ferries website showing that 28 of 30 services were affected and/or cancelled in the morning. Thankfully though, our large ferry was one of the two that were to go.

So, with the time of arrival at 2:30pm for checkin for a 3pm sailing, we weren't 100% sure what to do with our time. We thought that perhaps we could go to Laphroaig...but alas, we were to find it was closed as well. Next thought was to go to a standing stone near the west of Islay. Unfortunately, poorly signposted and tricky to work out where the exact road was, we almost got stuck in the mud...mission aborted! Next, we thought that we might just go for a drive around to another distillery (shock horror), and so we went to Bhunahaghain (spelling abhorrent here). It is pronounced Bonnaharven anyways.

A delightful spot indeed with blue green waters in a great protected harbour and a really well presented distillery. The young lady serving us was a delight and spoke so well about the distillery, super knowledgeable and interested in the process and products. She was very kind to allow us to try their 21 year old sherry cask whisky...Bronnie's favourite. We even managed to spot some rare water birds and an otter (at a distance).

Next, onto Caol Ila (actually pronounced Kahlila)...mostly for a coffee and reliable free wifi. Quite a commercial place and surpisingly it is the highest producer of whisky on Islay, but most of it goes into the blended whiskies sold as Johnnie Walker!!!! Indeed, even with the current interest in single malt scotch whiskies, it is the mainstream blends that have the majority of sales revenue. Similar in principle to Lagavulin being used for 5% of a blend, still popular in South America, known as White Horse...something of a saviour for them too during the bust times of whisky production.

While we were there, we made a booking for sending some things home. Mostly presents plus our nice new jumpers...ready for winter on our return to Canberra. Two fantastic young fellas were so accommodating and ran around finding some boxes for us to use to get them packed and collected from our accommodation in Glasgow tomorrow.

The ferry ride was lovely with some great sunlit final views of Islay and thankfully, the drive to Glasgow, whilst pretty tired at the time was uneventful despite the VERY fast small van drivers that typify Scottish driving. A late quick tea and some planning for tomorrow's escapades by bus in Glasgow. Islay was SICK!