Some Islay history from the YouTube channel of the Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle – Islay Gaelic Centre today. Some old Gaelic tunes sung by a variety of people from Islay, combined with pictures and film footage from around the time the recordings were made, during a Ceilidh in Bowmore in 1967. I hope you enjoy them:
Islay Ceilidh 1967 – Marion MacArthur
Islay Ceilidh 1967 – Lily MacLean
Islay Ceilidh 1967 – Robert Forrest
Islay Ceilidh 1967 – Cam Shaw
Islay Ceilidh 1967 – Tom and Cath Crawford
The original recordings were loaned to Gaelic Centre by Etta Shaw, the Gaelic Centre then digitised them and added the pictures and film footage from the time. Great work by everyone involved!
I’ve had a few rather busy weeks in the day job, so haven’t got around posting here since New Year’s Day. But today I had a day off and used the opportunity to quickly edit a short Islay video. This video is kind of a first for me, as it’s my first vertical video apart from the Islay Shorts clips I’ve uploaded. But then I thought waterfalls filmed on a mobile phone really fit the vertical format:
Waterfalls at Kilchiaran, Isle of Islay
I hope you like the video, the footage is just as recorded with the phone. While that means there is some slight wind noise (in particular on the fourth clip) I feel the original sound of the waterfalls works best.
While they are not very big I think these waterfalls are very nice and “videogenic” (not sure if that is a word? Is that the correct equivalent to “photogenic”?). So many of them in such a small area is quite impressive.
This post left me with a decision to make, which category to pick? Same as the two previous posts it mentions an Islay whisky, in addition it also features a new Islay video (even though you need to read all the way to the end to find it). In the end I decided to go with the Islay video option. So what have I been up to on Christmas Day?
Laphroaig Càirdeas 2022 Warehouse 1 Islay single malt whisky
Well, less than I had originally planned. I stayed up later last night than I had originally planned, leading to me sleeping in this morning. When I finally got up it rained quite heavily, so in the end I decided to skip my walk today and just take it easy at home. I relaxed, ate a lot of chocolate, Lebkuchen and food like that. Also some Chipolata sausages and rolls baked yesterday. And tea. And hot chocolate.
For my tea I has some nice beef steaks with garlic butter as planned. With them I enjoyed a bottle of the Innis & Gunn Laphroaig Islay whisky cask real ale (something I thought I had blogged about already, but it seems I haven’t). Followed by some chocolate cheesecake.
Then of course there’s today’s Islay whisky. I decided to go with the distillery I was tending towards when thinking about it last night and picked the Laphroaig Càirdeas 2022 Warehouse 1 as my Christmas Day Islay single malt. As regular readers might remember Laphroaig was my first love and remains one of my go to Islay whiskies. It doesn’t disappoint and for me it’s a great choice as my Christmas Day dram.
But there’s still a new Islay video to come. The footage as such is a bit older, from November 2015 to be precise, but at the same time it also reminded me of my most recent Islay visit in November 2022. While I had sunny spell there was also plenty rain and wind, which this video is about:
November Rain and Wind on Kilchoman Beach, Isle of Islay
I recommend to watch it in full screen on a larger display/monitor, you’ll get to see much more of the rain coming down on the beach. In the second part of the video you get to see the beach on the move, I hope the footage gives a feel of a windy day on Kilchoman beach.
That’s all for today. Not sure yet what I’ll do tomorrow, but if the weather is nice I’m hoping to get out somewhere in West Berkshire or north Hampshire. There will probably also be a Boxing Day Islay single malt whisky (after the fish I’ve got on the menu for tea tomorrow).
The logical follow up to the Nice timelapse video from a flight to Islay post is quite obvious: The return flight. It takes a different route, flying across Islay and then along the west coast of Jura, including a view of Scarba with the Corryvreckan at the northern end of Jura. Didn’t look like it was running when Paul passed though. I hope you’ll enjoy the return flight as much as the outbound flight:
N3600X Islay to Perth
I’m hoping there will be more videos like this showing Islay and her neighbours in all their glory. Paul has hinted there might be videos with both straight ahead and side views, showing different angles.
I’ve shared a few videos of flights to/from Islay over the years, although I don’t think I’ve had a flight from Perth yet. Well, that’s what I found today. A nice timelapse video by Paul Barnett of a flight from Perth to Islay, passing Loch Lomond and the Clyde on the way. It’s only just over two minutes long, enjoy the fleeting views:
Perth to Islay SR22
I quite liked the explanations of the places Paul passed on his way, thought this was really nicely done. Also found the views of the clouds flying past strangely fascinating yet soothing (obviously they don’t do that in real time). Well done Paul, thanks for sharing.
John Munday and his best friend went to Islay in March 2022, staying at Easter Ellister Farmhouse. They mainly went for the whisky, but there were also visits to the beautiful beaches and some paddleboarding. Oh, and they were lucky enough to enjoy some amazing weather:
Islay March 2022
I hope you enjoyed the lovely views from the air and from the water, from the distilleries and from the beaches, all in glorious Islay sunshine. Nice work, John!
It’s time for this week’s Islay video. This weekend we’re going to Saligo Bay again (and will again in a future video, as it’s so videogenic, if that’s a word). The occasion was a breezy April evening a few years back with waves rolling in from the Atlantic and algae foam being blown across the beach by the blustery wind. I hope you enjoy the walk and views along the beach:
Islay’s Saligo Bay on a breezy April evening
This was during high tide, so the water was coming up almost all the way to dunes, pushing in also by the strong winds. Managed to walk along the rocks at the foot of the dunes for some nice views in the beautiful mild evening light.
If you’d like to see more, I’ve just created an Islay’s Saligo Bay playlist with all my videos from this beach. Currently it contains 10 videos, I hope to add at least one more over the coming weeks. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel (if you’re not already subscribed), then you can be alerted to new videos whenever I upload one.
To close, well, if you’re a regular reader you know the drill: While I can’t promise anything I hope to publish another video next weekend. It will probably be a drone video, either revisiting Port Charlotte (long in the pipeline…) or of Finlaggan. Fingers crossed and watch this space.
This one took me a bit longer to edit than expected, so it’s only going out quite late this Sunday evening. But I hope the wait was worth it and you’ll enjoy this video of a drone flight around Lagavulin Bay. Obviously views of Lagavulin distillery and Dunyvaig Castle (well, the ruin of it). But there’s more, as I flew around the whole bay, so you get to see the Islay Marine Centre, Stormpods, the village of Lagavulin and more. There are also brief distant views of Texa, towards Port Ellen and over to Ardbeg.
Islay’s Lagavulin distillery and Dunyvaig Castle from the air
And of course there’s something else: How good are your eyes (and attention)? Did you spot the Seal on the rock in the bay? If not you might want to watch the video again and see if you can spot it this time.
I’m hoping to edit another Islay video next weekend as well, but as usual no promises. The topic of the video will probably be Saligo Bay, but I haven’t made a final decision yet.
Time to share this weekend’s Islay video editing project. No 360° or drone footage this time, instead we actually stay quite low to the ground. For a brief moment we even go under water. We take a closer look at the old wreck of the Patti on Kilchoman beach as it looked in June 2015. As many will know the beach moves almost constantly and with it the visibility of the wreck changes. Sometimes it disappears completely, sometimes only the highest parts towards the stern are visible, sometimes the outline of the whole ship is visible. When I filmed the footage for this video it was the latter:
Wreck of the Patti on Kilchoman beach, Isle of Islay
Not a lot is known about the wreck, I’ve been told the following: It is believed to be an early steamship with a square boiler, wrecked in the 1840s and called “Patti”. That’s about all known about her.
I filmed the footage with a GoPro camera in a waterproof housing, allowing me to get quite close to the ground and at one point even to go under water. Thought a different perspective of the wreck might be interesting for some. Also tried to pass quite low along the wreck, as the GoPro doesn’t have a gimbal its a bit rough, but I think it’s good enough to share. I hope you like what I’ve edited together.
Hoping to edit another video next weekend again, but as usual of course no promises. Haven’t made a decision yet, but most likely it will be another drone video, either of Lagavulin and Dunyvaig or of Finlaggan. As the saying goes, watch this blog (or subscribe to my YouTube channel).
As mentioned last weekend I was hoping to edit another Saligo Bay Islay video this week. Luckily I managed to do just that and YouTube processed it quite quickly as well (previous 360° videos for some reason took a long time), as this weekend’s new Islay video is a 360° video of a June sunset at Saligo Bay. It’s a about 11 minutes of all round views of the sunset from three different locations, starting down on the beach and ending up on the top of the dunes. I hope you’ll enjoy the views and the light:
Saligo Bay sunset, Islay, in 360°
Similar to previous 360° videos you can spot me loitering around in the background, walking around, enjoying the sunset and taking pictures. If you happen to look into the right direction at the right time you’ll also see me appearing out of / disappearing into thin air a couple of times. Haven’t worked out a way yet to avoid that when cutting together multiple clips from the same location.
Again no promises, but I’m hoping to complete another video next week. Haven’t decided yet what it will be, but I’m currently considering three options: The wreck on Kilchoman beach, Port Charlotte from the air revisited or Lagavulin & Dunyvaig from the air. Fingers crossed I can get one of them done.
