The Jura ferry ride was the most amazing boat ride yet.
The goal was to made Jura for the weekend-long music festival, and it was worth it!
Our wee ferry boat. Seems veeeeeery small....
As soon as we got on the boat we had to put on life vests. "Not a good sign," we thought. But we also realized that this guy knows what he's doing and we can trust him to get us across safely.
The waters were calm as we set out from Tavyallich on Loch Sween. We saw lovely views of the castle Sween as made our way south. It was so mellow that the girl in the back of the boat even fell asleep. It was uneventful until we reached the sound of Jura, where the waters became rougher and the passengers all had a good laugh- it felt like an amusement park ride- it was fun cruising along through the wild big waves. Then, the waters became even wilder and everyone suddenly became very quiet. The boat pitched up and then crashed down, water spraying up both sides and over the wind screen. Then up another wave and sideways down it! Then up another and the motor surged, and CRASH! back down with water spraying the windows. Is this boat really big enough for water like this? Please God, let us make it out of this boat alive! Visions of the 1800 Nova Scotia ship drifting across the Atlantic came to mind as we envisioned ourselves living off a tight ration of biscuits adrift somewhere off the coast of Ireland or ...?
Nearing Jura, through rain, and a beautiful misty teaser of what's to come.
Our first view of the 'Paps of Jura', the gorgeous mountains on the northern part of the island.
Thankfully, we made it across none the worse for wear, although a bit sore from being bashed about in the wee boat. We'll put up a video as soon as we can - it was a wild ride!
Here's the view from the pier once we arrived. A hotel. A wee shop. And a distillery. What else does one need?!
We pitched the tent in front of the hotel, as instructed. Odd to be tenting near other people for a change, but it's a festival so that's how it goes, right?
We were greeted quite quickly by the hotel kitty. Never learned her name, but she sure was friendly! Ah, fur therapy!
Here's one of the feral goats. Super neat looking creature - right out of a Dr. Seuss book! Long hair, darting movements, and kind of ellusive.
That night we showered, ate, and settled in amongst our neighbors. Yay to have a home for several days, and some time off the bikes!
Right next to the hotel at Craighouse is ..... A distillery!!! So the next morning, naturally, we took a tour and a taste...
In this distillery we could take a picture of the stills. We'll do another post about the whisky making process, and we'll include pictures of other stills so you can compare the shapes. It is amazing how the shape of the still can have a major impact on the flavors present in the end product! And to learn these things, one must sample many whiskers, of course!
There is indeed no better way to learn than by first hand experience.
As the weekend went on, the green in front of the hotel filled up! Some of neighbors pitched their tents obnoxiously close, but since it's a festival, that's just how it goes! Some of the other festival attendees were serious party animals, and stayed up until sunrise drinking and carrying on. Good thing we had earplugs.
Here's a couple of our neighbors:
Derek goes in a cycle tour every year, and ends it at Jura to attend the festival. Super neat guy, and plays flute and sings very well. We had fun commiserating about cycle touring in Scotland, cooking on a wee stove, and observing some of the party animal crowd that were close by.
Laira was on her first cycle tour! Her first night ever cycle-camping was on Arran, and she gave us tips for getting around that island since we were going to be there a few days hence. Laira is an architect, working in London on high-end residence projects. Her true passion is green building, and especially straw bale houses! We had a great conversation over delicious coffee with her.
Throughout the weekend we went to several concerts, sessions, and a couple of really fun workshops. The people were super friendly, and we enjoyed meeting lots of fun folks.
Here's Finlay MacDonald and Jen Butterworth, two of the talented musicians we were treated to. As a duo, they're amazing!
We also listened to Manran, one of Scotland's leading pop-folk bands. Very energizing, fun to watch, and quite loud! The guitar player is from Carloway on North Lewis - and we stayed there several weeks ago! It's cool to meet people from the amazing places we've visited. To know the people somehow makes the fabric of the landscape become more alive and vibrant.
With such lovely weather, it was hard to resist the urge to explore the island of Jura. We headed north for bit in search of a view of the Paps. What a treat!
It is easy to see how George Orwell became enchanted with Jura and eventually moved here to write and get away from the hectic nature of city life in London. It's so quite and wild here. He wrote his famous novel, 1984, at his home in northern Jura in 1940's. They even have a special batch of Jura whisky named in his honor- 1984 (and yes it was distilled, you guessed it, in 1984!). Too bad it costs a fortune. This 31 year old whisky could break the bank!
boB fiddled like mad while Melinda started Sunday off with a church service a la bagpipes and choir! Afterwards, the Jura Pipe Band led the congregation down the Main Street (well, really the ONLY street) back to town. It's difficult to describe the sensation exactly- but I'll try- it simply makes one's heart throb to march behind a pipe band. Perhaps it is the full aural quality of the pipes- you can feel them pulsing through your body. It quickens and envigors the step, lifts the soul, chokes you up and almost brings tears to your eyes. Quite the Scottish experience... Video to follow! Of the bagpipers- not Melinda getting choked up and stuff.
On Sunday night we saw Skippinish in the cooperage building. Notice the TWO highland pipers on the stage? This band was LOUD!! They, too, are a very popular pop-folk band, and the place was packed with diehard fans singing along to their favorite songs.
We had great weather for the entire weekend on Jura, and were treated to great sunsets...
Early on Monday morning we rolled onward to the other side of the island for the ferry at Feolin to go to Port Askaig on Islay. The ride was good and fast, and it felt good to be on the bikes again after taking several days rest.
The name Jura means 'Island of The Deer' in Norwegian, and reflects upon its Viking past. The island has over 9000 deer and on our ride to Feolin we saw several dozen of them. The human population is a bit over 200- we met many of them at the music festival!
Bye, Jura! It was wonderful!
Daily summaries:
25 September- RELAXED day off bikes. Tour of Jura distillery. Attended session at the Jura hotel. Concert of local musical talent in village hall.
26 September- another RELAXED day off bikes. Had 3 hour coffee/chat time at the hotel with Laira. Attended fiddle and song workshops by Archie MacAllister and the Lake District Choir respectively. Attended a phenomenal concert in village hall featuring Manran.
27 September- yet another relaxed day mostly off bicycles. Attended a musical church service with bagpipes. Took a small bike ride north to view the 'Paps of Jura'. More music- open mic format, concert at the Jura distillery cooperage in evening. Total 9 miles.
28 September- ride to Feolin for ferry to Islay. Start tour of Islay, details of which are found in the next post...
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