Bongo Fury

Muzorewa wrote:Yes, it's a sophisticated fire-pit, on most sites you have a dig a hole in the soil but on these ones the fire-pit is properly built in with a good chimney to draw the flames. Cooks sausages just great (grate )

Jokes like that can be bad for your hearth.

No return tickets left on Hogwarts express for the 2 weeks I'm in Scotland. Woke up at 6 this morning with the idea of a single! Yay, it worked. Diesel tickets back were in limited supply as well so not sure what's going on. Scottish hols maybe?

We have one direction on the steam train booked, 4 hours for fish and chips in Mallaig and diesel back. So sorted. Next the Oban-Islay ferry booking, during whisky week, hmmm.

I presume your steam tickets are in allocated seats but regardless, the folk on the train are generally an amiable lot, try to get on the LH (sea side) side of the carriage for Glenfinnan viaduct so you can hang out of the window for the appropriate photos.

Four hours in Mallaig is about 3 more than you'll need. There are several chipshops, cafes and restaurants plus the J.Lawrie & Sons kipper shop but there's not a whole lot else.

For Islay, we wanted to tour the Bruichladdich distillery but the one day we were able to do so was the one day they were closed for the Whisky Olympics. Assuming all the other distilleries to be the same that day we jumped on the ferry to Jura and had a fabulous tour of their distillery. Plus tastings hic

Dare I say you've left your planning just a tad late in the day. We were sorting our ferries about 8 months prior to departure (I think as soon as the summer timetables were released) which gave plenty of time to fill in the gaps and decide where we were going to do any sightseeing and wild-camping.

4 Hours in Mallaig is 3hrs 55mins more than you need if there is no queue in the Chip Shop.

Look on it as advance reconnoitre for the next trip I certainly did not realise that certain attractions get soooo booked up.

Noticed your distillery visit on Jura, Muz! It will be Islay festival week so distilleries have open days in turn. I'll get on it! Might still be following in your tracks

It's take a book time for Mallaig then. Or would they notice if we hitched Bongo to the back of the train

When we initially enquired with Bruichladdich they said they were open every day of the year - except the one day we wanted in August. You should enjoy it whichever one you go to and they're probably very much the same. If they're distilling (which they probably will be) you won't be able to take photos - fortunately for us when we went to Jura the distillery itself was on summer shutdown so we were ok with cameras.

You've plenty of choice on Islay, there's Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Kilchoman, Lagavulin and Laphroaig all distilling, plus the old Port Charlotte distillery buildings are used for maturing some Bruichladdich barrels and there's a nice campsite at Port Charlotte too.

Muzorewa wrote:I presume your steam tickets are in allocated seats but regardless, the folk on the train are generally an amiable lot, try to get on the LH (sea side) side of the carriage for Glenfinnan viaduct so you can hang out of the window for the appropriate photos.

Four hours in Mallaig is about 3 more than you'll need. There are several chipshops, cafes and restaurants plus the J.Lawrie & Sons kipper shop but there's not a whole lot else.

For Islay, we wanted to tour the Bruichladdich distillery but the one day we were able to do so was the one day they were closed for the Whisky Olympics. Assuming all the other distilleries to be the same that day we jumped on the ferry to Jura and had a fabulous tour of their distillery. Plus tastings hic

Dare I say you've left your planning just a tad late in the day. We were sorting our ferries about 8 months prior to departure (I think as soon as the summer timetables were released) which gave plenty of time to fill in the gaps and decide where we were going to do any sightseeing and wild-camping.

scanner wrote:4 Hours in Mallaig is 3hrs 55mins more than you need if there is no queue in the Chip Shop.

Steam train trip turned into an epic. We were lucky to get away from Malaig in 6 hours!
On the the way to Hogwarts, aka Malaig, our steam engine stopped twice for breather and stopped a third time up the longest steep incline. It ran backwards for a mile to the bottom to take another run up. I joke not.
Apparently this week is the first week the steam train has been running for a while because the drivers were sent back to school following some serious near misses.
Anyway as part of using up the 4 hours we had a Muz-like super platter at Clachain Inn, then fully replite got on the diesel train only to find out the line was blocked by a broken down steam engine with 7 full red carriages. Rescue for us came hours later in the form of a posh coach. Who knows what happened to the unlucky steam train passengers stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Return to FW just in time to bleed Bongo in Morrisons car parkfollowing a hose leak incident. We aren't driving to Skye this evening!!

Excellent stuff (except the bleeding incident). We know that Morrisons carpark well