You probably wonder what the Mount Everest has to do with our Islay Blog? The Islay High School is raising funds for their India Project and what better way is there than to invite legendary mountaineer Doug Scott to Islay to give a talk about mountaineering and his personal experience as a lead climber which led him to the summit of Mount Everest in 1975.

Doug and Dougal Haston became the first Britons to reach the summit of Everest as lead climbers on Chris Bonington’s epic expedition to the mountain’s south-west face. As darkness fell they scraped a small cave in the snow 100 metres below the summit and survived the highest bivouac ever – without bottled oxygen, sleeping bags and, as it turned out, frostbite. For Doug Scott, it was the fulfilment of a fortune-teller’s prophesy given to his mother: that her eldest son would be in danger in a high place with the whole world watching. Scott and Haston returned home national heroes with their image splashed across the front pages. Scott went on to become one of Britain’s greatest ever mountaineers, pioneering new climbs in the remotest corners of the globe. Read more....

A good tip when you're on Islay between May and October is to visit the Made on Islay & Jura Art & Craft Market. It's an opportunity to get to know some of the local artists and craftspeople, to find out what it's like to live and work on Islay and at the same time buy locally made items for yourself or as a gift for the people back home.

Islay & Jura Art and Craft Market in Bruichladdich Hall

There is a good variety of locally produced items from original paintings and high quality prints to photos, books, jewelry and quilting, which aren't for sale somewhere else on the island. If you can't find what you're looking for there's a good chance one of the artists can make it for you. All the more reason to pay them a visit at the Bruichladdich Hall.

The craft markets take place throughout the tourist season on Tuesdays and Thursdays, May to October, between 10:30 and 16:30. You can find these and other events listed in our Islay Events Calendar.

Tag: craft art market

The new Islay and Jura Distillery Tour Times Leaflet for 2019 has been published and is now available as download on the Islay Blog and for viewing online from all the Distillery Pages on Islay Info. New in this year's leaflet are the tour times for Ardnahoe Distillery, as well as info on Nerabus Gin Ltd and Lussa Gin on the Isle of Jura.

The Distillery Tour Times leaflet is typically the thing you need at hand when you are doing distillery tours on Islay and Jura as it has all information about:

• Opening Hours of all the whisky and gin distilleries on Islay and Jura
• Overview of the Special Distillery Tours
• Info on prices of Tours and Tastings
• A section with general info on eating out and public transport

With this in your pocket, or on your tablet or smartphone, you always know where to get a dram, public transport or a bite to eat! Continue reading...

These are exciting times for the whisky Industry on Islay. With a new distillery recently being opened and others in the planning to be built, as well as the major reconstruction plans for some of the existing distilleries, I thought it would be a good idea to write about the upcoming changes as the (distillery) landscape on Islay is rapidly changing.

Ardnahoe Distillery

Let's start with the most exciting news as recently, early April, Islay's ninth distillery opened for the public. Ardnahoe Distillery is located a mile south of Bunnahabhain. I'm sure many visitors to Islay will take the opportunity and visit Islay's latest distillery and take a tour. The interior of the distillery is beautiful and the views are amazing. There is a large restaurant with nice views too so if you're not a whisky fan you still want to make the trip and have lunch or a drink.

Ardnahoe offers several tours; The "normal tour" named Spirit of Ardnahoe starts at 10am, 2pm and 3.30pm. There are also two special tours available. All tours can be booked online which is always recommended. More info on their website www.ardnahoedistillery.com, phone 01496 840777 or email shop@ardnahoedistillery.com. Read more.....