All my life I’ve climbed Scottish mountains and looked out at the islands and wondered how it would be to explore them by boat. Then as a wedding present a friend gave us the very excellent The Scottish Islands by Hamish Haswell-Smith, which only increased my interest.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-The-Scottish-Islands-Bestselling-Island/dp/1847672779
Now it’s happening! An old friend has got a Swallow Boat with a cabin and on 15 May I’m meeting him at Rhu marina, just west of Helensburgh, and we’re going to spend a week exploring the lochs and islands then sailing through the Crinan Canal, along the south shore of Islay stopping off at the varous bays, each of which has a distillery, then finishing in Oban where he’s going to join a Swallow Boats regatta. This will be just a few days after my 60th birthday, so a fitting way to mark a milestone. We plan to sleep in the cabin or ashore in a tent or B&B, whatever comes up. May is traditionally good in Scotland with anticyclonic weather, warm sun and no midges… fingers crossed.
My pal was given a bottle of malt a few years ago, which came with a form to fill. He sent it back to the distillery and in exchange received the title deeds to one square foot of Islay, which the distillery rents from him for one dram a year. So naturally we plan to call in to collect the rent….
