Whisky Galore!

My destination was the isle of Jura; the ferry from Port Askaig inly three miles away. But there were a couple of distilleries just a few miles off the route, so I felt duty bound to visit, and picked up some great views of the paps of Jura on the way.  The first distillery, Bunnabhain, was in a photogenic spot on the coast, reached with great pleasure down a big hill.  There didn't seem to be anyone around so I showed myself around.  Huge stills filled a massive hall, probably four storeys high. As I climbed up ladders to get a photo, the intoxicating smell grew stronger.
The second, Caol Ila, again down a hill by the coast, was more organised with a shop and No Entry signs.  I was not tempted to do a tasting.  Sadly I don't like whisky after an unfortunate experience when I was seventeen - in fact a few people reading this may even remember it. I don't.
But back to the story.  I caught a slightly later ferry than planned across the Sound of Islay (not the sound of Jura, as I incorrectly called it yesterday), and took the A846 - the only road on the island, also called The Long Road.  It is appropriately shaped like a J, going round the bottom of Jura and then up the right hand side to nowhere in particular, until it peters out about 3/4 of the way to the top.  A shame, because at the very north tip there is a famous whirlpool, Corryveckan, caused by strong tidal flows past the island, and officially recognised by the Admiralty as un-navigable, so I'm told.  Even more interesting: it was claimed in a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation programme in 1985 that Odysseus visited Jura in his ten-year voyage, and Corryveckan is in fact the whirlpool Charybdis.  The biographer of St. Columba calls Corryveckan "Charybdis brecani". So there.
There is also a more contemporary story of Jura...next time.