Whisky isle tour, Sept 2011

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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I'll book next week too, just want to double/triple check that my passenger can make it before buying the ferry ticket :lol:
 
Been looking at Islay pubs n food dispensers and came across this review if the Lochindall Hotel in Port Charlotte, approx a 10 -15 WALK from the campsite.

Shall I book us a table :) :)

What can I say? Do not stay at this hotel if you are looking for everything pristine organised and to be fussed over. If you are a fan of Fawlty Towers and enjoy local banter in a down to earth no frills place then this is a good place for you.
We just spent a weekend there. Yeah we had some bother getting our booking confirmed and no the barman had not a clue we were coming but hey we got led through the out building and up to our room and left to it. There was someone booked in to the next room to us but he never stayed and just drove off in the night without paying! No sense of adventure i guess. Breakfast was in the lounge bar no order was taken you just got the works the first morning and then the guy judged by what you left what you might want the next day. Clever stuff. In the evenings we would spend a little while in the bar have a few drinks and met some really nice local people. Due to an inordinate amount of attention from the local constabulary on the Saturday night once the youngsters had headed to the local dance the barman decided to shut shop and no one was getting in not even the police! That was until a few local boys arrived back from the dance having only been away about 20 mins. Not being able to get in the door they proceeded to climb in an open toilet window. Can i say this feat was done without spilling a drop of the drink he carried in an open plastic pint glass. Impressive. However the quote of the weekend for me was when he said I know i kinda broke in but any chance of a drink!! Cool or what? We then decided it was time for bed and were ushered out the back door through the out building and left in complete blackness to find the narrow steps up to where our room was. Lesson learned next night we left the outside light on. Ok so you need a sense of humour to stay here but the people were friendly and it wasn't their fault they were running out of alcohol big time oh and the chef forgot to buy bacon on our last morning and because of catching an early ferry the shop wouldn't be open before breakfast. Still he gave us a burger on our plate in exchange for that. In fairness the landlord/owner had been away and we only saw him on our last night. He was very friendly and hospitable, so I am not sure if this kind of entertainment is put on every weekend. All I can say is I never laughed so much in ages. Instead of Fawlty Towers they should make a programme of this hotel. All I can say is thanks for the entertainment guys.
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Nosa, firstly, sounds like a quality establishment!

Am a little confused with what needs doing / booking... any chance of a PM with some idea of who I need to speak to book what? Don't want to end up on the wrong ferry!
 
PawnSacrifice said:
Nosa, firstly, sounds like a quality establishment!
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Yep, sounds similar to a place I stayed at on Friday night - service at breakfast in the morning was interesting to say the least...

Matt, ferry times are in an earlier-but-recent post in this thread. Best booked through the CalMac website. I think...
 
PawnSacrifice said:
Am a little confused with what needs doing / booking... any chance of a PM with some idea of who I need to speak to book what? Don't want to end up on the wrong ferry!
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Don't know if this helps Matt but I have booked the following

Thursday 1st September
Falkirk Central Premier Inn, Tony is booked in there aswell, currently £29.00 a room.

We are using http://www.calmac.co.uk/ for the Ferry, not sure why but yesterday it had the booking info on that screen, not sure why it's not coming up today on my PC anyway.

and I have booked the following with them

Date
02/09/11 KENNACRAIG to PORT ASKAIG departs 13:00 arrives 15:05
04/09/11 PORT ASKAIG to KENNACRAIG departs 09:45 arrives 11:30

It is £120.50 for a Zed and 2 passengers.

Steve has said he has block booking at the campsite, assuming you are camping again.

That's about it at the moment hope it helps.
 
Richard, that's spot on, thanks. I'll drop John a line too, make sure he gets on it before space runs out.

And, yes, will be camping again!

Steve, thanks for the PM - our leader ( :? ) is on the ball!

But really, Ally, read the thread? :roll:
 
PawnSacrifice said:
Richard, that's spot on, thanks. I'll drop John a line too, make sure he gets on it before space runs out.

And, yes, will be camping again!

Steve, thanks for the PM - our leader ( :? ) is on the ball!

But really, Ally, read the thread? :roll:
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I'm booked and ready. After seeing all the pics from the Skye meet this year and having such a great time last year - ain't no chance I'm missing this one :)
 
So, so tempted. I'm just worried that having zero interest in Whisky, the limited amount of roads on Islay will make for a dull driving experience. Or am I missing the point as usual?! :?
 
Bradders75 said:
So, so tempted. I'm just worried that having zero interest in Whisky, I'll be sober enough to enjoy the limited amount of police on Islay which will make for a full driving experience. Or am I missing the points on my licene as usual?! :?
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There, fixed it for you :)
 
Bradders75 said:
So, so tempted. I'm just worried that having zero interest in Whisky, the limited amount of roads on Islay will make for a dull driving experience. Or am I missing the point as usual?! :?
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I'm sure you'll find something on the island to keep you satisfied! :rofl:

BigEckShaggingSheep.jpg
 
I have had a reply from the airport on Islay
............................................................................................................................................................................................


Well it's not a no and it is a possible.
However it is a bit more involved than I had niavly thought.

Here is the reply

Couple of things to go back to Stephen on in the first instance



· Insurance and Public Liability. £25 million minimum

· Management of the event

· Risk assessments and Safety Surveys

· Public attending event



I don’t want to dampen the enthu9ismsm but these are what we need sorted out initially before we can look at the event in any depth





Regards
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I have replied asking if it is possible to call him direct to pick his brains, But in the meantime if any one has any experience with anything listed I would welcome any (sensible ...Mr G :poke: ) help or advice
 
Nosa said:
(sensible ...Mr G )
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To what do you infer :idunno:
His answer does not surprise me, in these days of health and safety and litegation overkill.
My guess is he his basically saying we are running a track day and that in my humble opinion would require a minimum of Track side Marshall's and possibly on site Paramedics.
This on top of any insurance costs would in my eyes at least make it a non starter despite how good a laugh it may have been, you're just not allowed to have a bit of good clean irresponsible fun these days.
 
Hmm, that sounds like a lot of hurdles to clear - TBH my gut feeling is it's a complete non-starter from a H&S point of view, PL Insurance would cost a fecking fortune too :(

On the good news, I think we (my mate and me) will contribute to achieving the 10 tents required for the cheaper camping rate but bringing a small tent each rather than sharing a Richard-sized mansion tent...

Yet to book ferry, just been busy in the evenings but I WILL do it.
 
I'm now fully booked, sorry but won't be camping as i am unable to fit the tent in the car. I booked Falkirk central but got charged £60 sheets, you guys getting it for £29 were lucky, i ended up phoning up and was told they only allocate a set amount of rooms for that price.
If anyone is driving north on Sept 1 give me a pm to meet up and drive up!
 
glewpot said:
I'm now fully booked, sorry but won't be camping as i am unable to fit the tent in the car. I booked Falkirk central but got charged £60 sheets, you guys getting it for £29 were lucky, i ended up phoning up and was told they only allocate a set amount of rooms for that price.
If anyone is driving north on Sept 1 give me a pm to meet up and drive up!
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I'll be driving up from Liverpool/Manchester :)
 
glewpot said:
I'm now fully booked, sorry but won't be camping as i am unable to fit the tent in the car.
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Why what on earth are you taking,
I'll have my favoured Bedouin Tent, 2 sleeping Bags, Fondue Set, 2 Air Mattresses, 2 chairs, Cooking Stuff, Picnic Blanket, Cuddly Toy, Picnic Hamper meanwhile SWMBO will have 37 pairs of shoes 103 changes of clothes and a spare set in case she changes her mind more cosmetics than Boots and I'll find room for my Tooth Brush and we are probably heading further North for a few days and taking gear for that.

Guess I lucky on the room, anyhow see you for a beer in the Bar on the 1st.
 
Siftah said:
RichardG said:
Fondue Set
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FONDUE MIDGES!

*yum*
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Well we'll end up eating the little feckers whether you like it or not, so that's not a half-bad idea... I'm gonna try and fit in a small BBQ although highly doubtful - could be disposables instead.

Hotels for Thu night:
If folk didn't mind splitting up, the Premier Inn website is still currently showing £29 rooms for Falkirk (Larbert) - that's the one Siftah, Pawnsacrifice and ZermattV stayed at last time. It's approx 4 miles from the Falkirk Central on the route that the Falkirk Central folk will take to get to the meet point. Taxi!

There's also a Travelodge at the actual Stirling Services (called "Stirling M80") with £39.50 rooms, or the Falkirk Travelodge (M9 J5 - very quick access to M9 to get to Stirling) for £25.50.

Or if anyone's felling brave, there's the Metro Inn at Polmont (Falkirk) directly next to the Travelodge for £30 but it's f**king grim!
 
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