I must say today was the best day of touring Scotland so far. Great weather and stunning vistas. Great weather does not mean no rain. It rains all the time so far everyday. Its about how often it rains and how heavy. Overall the rain today was minimal and a welcome change. There is truly beauty in not knowing. Well I thought this might ring true in daily life wouldn’t it ? Some of the greatest surprises and delights come from the unplanned. Share your story at the comments section below. What was the unplanned delight you have experienced so far.
Back to my trip. The initial plan got wrecked because after cycling furiously 17 km from Claonaig to Kennacraig ferry terminal, I was told the ferry to Port Ellen was cancelled. What! Anyway the next ferry to Islay ( Land of peaty single malts) was 1pm to Port Askig instead. Port Askig is around 30km north of Port Ellen. Oops. Change of plan. So decided to ride off to explore the area a bit since I had about 3 hours to spare.
I headed for the next town called Tarbert. Delight no. 1, what a quaint little town. Walk around it for awhile and decided to go into a bistro for brunch and bumped into a lady tourer from UK called Linda. I meet her on the big climb to Lochranza a couple days ago. So I join her for a great chat while trying to finish of the humungous serving of Scottish breakfast. I only manage half and the other half I kept for dinner.
We parted ways, she heading to Oban up north on the mainland and me back to Kennacraig to catch the ferry to Port Askig.
This time the ferry was even larger and very comfortable for the 2 hour plus journey. I spent the time mainly updating my blog and catching up on social media while plugged in to power up all my devices.
While on board, I was thinking what should I do for 2 days. My ferry to Oban from Port Askig is scheduled to leave at 12 noon on Saturday.
I finally decided to head for the Isle of Jura. Big reason is at heart of Jura in Craighouse, there is a campsite that cost only £5. Also I am told there is a music festival starting on Friday.
So on checking there is a short 5 minute ferry ride from Port Askig to
Feolin. From there it’s around 13km ride to Craighouse where the campsite is.
I am told that Jura is rugged and barren and the least populated of the Hebrides. And it looks like it.
On reaching Craighouse which have one hotel, one pub and one post office cum grocery and that’s that. Oh it helps that the Jura Whisky distillery is next door as well.
Paid the camping fee. I decided to stay for 2 nights since it’s value for money. Also there is a music festival starting tomorrow so a chance to join the festivities. Tomorrow my plan is to explore Jura further by riding as far north as possible before the road runs out and double back.
Reflective Saddle 
I kept on refreshing ‘day 3’ thinking ‘day 4’ would appear. As it did not I thought you were in trouble. Now I’ve realised there were more posts. A lot of beaches in Scotland are strewn with kelp like that, I’m sure it’s a sign of clean water. I think the water is brown because of the peat, sometimes it’s reddish because of iron in the stone the stream flows through. Your blog is informative and photos evocative – even in bad weather it looks lovely.
Adrian
Thanks Adrian. Yes despite the weather Scotland is stunning. Jura is really exceedingly stunning.