Islay

The obvious reason to go to Islay is for the scotch.  Well I'm not much of a Scotch drinker (as in I don't drink it at all - tastes too much like swallowing fire) but my dad enjoys it.  So the trip was going to work out pretty well.  I could drive him around from distillery to distillery getting to see all the scenery on the way and he could taste as much scotch as he would like.  

There are 8 distilleries on Islay and they are building a new one.  Over the course of our 4 days on Islay we managed to visit them all!  We visited Bunnahabhain the first day because it was about a 15 minute drive from where the ferry dropped us off.  Fun fact:  The distilleries all painted their names on the shore side so that in the olden days when boats were delivering their goods, they would deliver it to the right distillery.

Over the next days we visited Kilchoman (it uses barley actually grown on site), Laphroaig (which we toured and they are the only whiskey to carry the Royal Warrant of the Prince of Wales), Lagavulin, Ardbeg (which was my favourite purely from a cosmetic point of view), Bruichladdich (pronouced brook-la-dee for those who are confused like we were), Bowmore, Coal Ila (produces the most scotch on Islay - 6 500 000L per year!).  And we even visited a distillery that isn't open yet, Ardnahoe opening in 2018.

Barrel Signed and corked by Prince Charles - It will be sold for charity

Ardbeg's Scotch Display

  We did do some non-scotch related activities as well.  We visited the Kildalton Cross which is considered the best surviving celtic cross in Scotland carved around 800 AD.

We also did some hiking.  We hiked through a field of sheep to get to Machir Bay.  The weather wasn't in our favour but it was still a lovely walk.

To most countries this would be a weed - But to Scotland it's their national flower!

Baby Blackface

Machir Bay

We also hiked around the Mull of OA which was a stunning hike.  When we got to the coast we could actually see Northern Ireland.  The hike was made even better by a very large herd of highland cows who were very obliging for my paparazzi style photography.

Striking the model pose

Our last and definitely most wet hike was to the square lighthouse and Singing Sands beach.  I was trying to take a photograph of Lagavulin from the beach when a wave came up around a rock and soaked me from behind.  My pants were wet up to about mid shin... Not my finest moment!  And the picture I got was definitely not worth being that wet.

Carraig Fhada Lighthouse

On our way home we took a ferry from Islay to Oban (my dad loves boats and this was a longer boat ride than the normal ferry).  We finished the trip with a nice drive home from Oban and a pitstop to visit Kilchurn castle, because no trip in Scotland is complete without visiting at least one castle!

And I think I will leave it there.  Amazingly I am in my fourth week of rotations since this trip.  The next post will include some information about those rotations and my many many firework photo attempts!

Summer is over already

Well summer flew by and now I am back on rotations already!

Over the summer break I spent 3 weeks back home in Canada.  I spent a fair amount of time at my dad's veterinary clinic gaining as much experience as I could.  I got to place quite a few catheters draw blood and do a little bit of surgery.  They use a surgical laser (a laser beam is used to cut in place of a scalpel blade) which I had never used before.  To practice I tried burning some lines into a tongue depressor.  Unfortunately the surgery where I was going to be allowed to use the laser cancelled but I will be ready for the next time!

My straight(ish) lines to mimic incisions and writing my name to practice accuracy

The rest of the time was spent catching up on life in Canada and spending time at the lake.

Sunset by the lake

Mars in his "natural habitat"

I also had some fun with the dogs.  When I graduate and get into my working life I would love to set up a side pet photography business.  It would combine my love of animals and my love of photography.  So I decided to try some fun action photos with my dogs using some bubbles.  I got some mixed results!

Mars loved the bubbles

Jenny not so much...

After three weeks at home I flew back to Edinburgh.  My dad came with me and we went on a nice vacation.

We started out trip with a ferry to the Isle of Arran.  Arran is described as Scotland in Miniature.  It in many ways mimics the landscape of Scotland but just in a very small scale.  The day we arrived we headed over to our B&B which had an incredible ocean view.  We then toured a little bit and headed back to Brodick (the main town) and picked up take away fish and chips and sat on a picnic bench overlooking the water.

Our dinner view

Nice sand beach near our B&B

The next day was our hiking day.  We started with a hike to King's caves.  The hike started through a forrest and then the ocean came into view.  The weather was incredible.  Luckily I had bought some sunscreen before (I have never ever applied sunscreen my entire time in Scotland since it is pretty much never needed) or we would have been badly burnt!

Our next hike was to see Glenashdale Falls.  In the hot weather we were feeling the climbs but it was definitely worth the views.

After all our hiking we decided to have dinner in Brodick on the picnic benches again.  I had deep fried sausage.  The Scots will deep fry anything!  Hopefully all the hiking counteracted all the fat in my dinner, regardless it did taste amazing.  After dinner we headed back to our B&B and went for a walk along the beach.

Both my dad and I were looking at a rock thinking it was a really odd shape.  As we got closer we realized it wasn't a rock at all.  It was a seal.  There have been a few places in Scotland I have visited that are known for seal sightings and every time I have gone I have never seen one, so I was pleasantly surprised to come across this one on our walk.

Basking in the Evening Sun

The next day was our last on Arran.  We toured the north of the island which is known for its mountains.  Unfortunately it was misty so we didn't quite get the full benefit!  On our way to the north part we passed the ferry terminal and noticed that the ferry wasn't running.  There was some sort of technical error but it was supposed to be fixed by noon.  We figured no big deal since we weren't planning to catch a ferry until 5pm.  While we continued on (including a stop to the Arran cheese shop) I kept checking the ferry.  And every time I checked another ferry crossing was cancelled.  Eventually it said that they were sending in a replacement ferry and the first crossing would be 2:30.  So my dad and I decided to head back to the terminal a bit early because we figured there would be quite a line up.  And we were right.  When we arrived just before 3 we found the first crossing for the day was going to be 3:45.  Oh and also the replacement ferry only held 12 cars instead of 25 like the normal one.  I did some counting and it looked like we were going to be there a while.  Almost 5 hours later we headed across to Kintyre on a ferry that had seen better days. Something was wrong with the steering and the captain couldn't keep the boat in any sort of straight line! Luckily it was a nice calm crossing.

Our non-functional ferry

Leaving Arran

Arran

We arrived to our hotel on Kintyre just after 9pm.  And I think I will leave it there.  The next post will be about our time on Islay.