(New) IslayBlog.com, a blog about the Isle of Islay, Scotland
Cask Strength since 2006
Marc Princivalle visited Islay with his vintage VW camper van. In his luggage he also had a drone, which he used to great effect to film a few places from the air. They include Ardbeg, Port Charlotte (including Port Mòr campsite) and Loch Indaal:
I hope you enjoyed the views, some new and different perspectives I quite liked.
Some interesting news for avid readers on Islay over the next few weeks. I’ve been bookcrossing for many years (according to my bookcrossing profile I joined September 2007) and have released books in Swindon and Aldermaston Wharf over the years. I thought about taking some to Islay during my holidays and release them there, but for various reasons never got round to it. I think there have been a few individual releases over the years, but this year the Islay Book Festival team has decided to make Islay a bookcrossing heaven:
We have lift-off for our travelling books, which are going out into the wilds of Islay! Tweet #IBFwildbooks if you find one! #bookcrossing 📚 pic.twitter.com/Of9VXuvBGV
— Islay Book Festival (@islaybookfest) May 27, 2017
We're leaving our authors' books 📚 around the island over the next few weeks. Watch out for one of these and send us a tweet! #IBFwildbooks pic.twitter.com/15CPzTPdeN
— Islay Book Festival (@islaybookfest) May 27, 2017
Sounds good to me, hopefully there will be many Islay based bookcrossers soon (of course visitors can also join in), sending books on journeys from various locations on Islay!
As during every winter Islay is being battered by storms again. Donald and his dog Lady were visiting over Christmas, just as two storms were passing over. So Donald picked up his camera and went out to film some of the action. And Lady just enjoyed being out to investigate what the storm brought:
They were filmed 10 years apart, but both are a bit older, showing Islay 33 and 43 years ago respectively. The first one seems to be some old TV footage filmed in 1983, showing Port Charlotte and a few other places on Islay in a short clip:
Going back a further decade to 1973 we can watch some fascinating old footage with some long gone history, starting with the MV Arran ferry (not to be confused with the MV Isle of Arran, which was much later) leaving from the old West Loch Tarbert pier:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeZ03caJMfw&ab_channel=DaveSpencer32
The rest of the film shows a variety of familiar places, some in a way now gone: The Oa with the American Monument I believe before it became an RSPB reserve (not sure which year that happened?). Port Askaig long before it was redeveloped to what it is today. Ardbeg distillery with smoking pagodas. A brief glimpse of what I think is Western Ferries’ MV Sound of Jura. An excursion to Jura with of course plenty of deer.
The filmer seems to have also had some interest in birdwatching. I think there were a number of Whooper Swans (the quality of the footage isn’t great, making it difficult to see) and there’s some footage of the Barnacle Geese as well.