The warmest of welcomes

Laden with fuel, water, gas and groceries, we boarded the MV Finlaggan ferry to Islay at Kennacraig on Sunday 31st March, one day before our start date at Lagavulin distillery. Before we were out of the ferry terminal traffic, we received the warmest of welcomes from Cat’s mum and stepdad, Audrey and Neillie, who greeted us at the port. They generously took us on a tour of Port Ellen and Bowmore to get us acquainted with our new island home. We stopped in briefly at Lagavulin to show our faces (keen beans!) and met some of our new colleagues. Auds and Neillie blew us away with their amazing hospitality, giving us a place to stay while we get on our feet and cooking us delicious meals, and completely spoiling us with a welcome bottle of Bowmore and matching mugs (which have proven to be handy for our two favourite beverages, coffee and whisky 😉) and will be a wonderful memento of our time on Islay.

Neillie, a.k.a. The World’s Best Tour Guide, also gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of his old workplace, Bowmore distillery, where he was an operator for 26 years. We had one of the best drams we’ve had so far on Islay, a 23 year old sherry cask Bowmore that was special to the warehouse tasting and not for sale!

In our short time so far on the island, Auds and Neillie have been so incredibly helpful with all our queries, and generous with their time in taking us to see some of the sights on Islay. We are so lucky to have two people who already feel like family with us on our new island home!