Whisky ride - Islay next spring/early summer

I am aware there are a number of whisky lovers here.

There are rumours that some of us have also been known to sometimes use bikes.

So who would be up for a trip to Islay to pedal around a bit and sample a few drams?

Brian at thewashingmachinepost has put up some v useful info on the cycling bit.

http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net/cycle/index.html

I am sure we can contact a few distilleries....

Good idea.

Obviously impending life time debt is putting me off committing to much but I'm certainly interested.

I'm in, dependent on date/finances/actually being in the UK etc.

I'm considering giving up drink.

Maybe just after this.

Sounds interesting, I'd love to hear plans as they evolve.

I went to the whisky festival in Islay in April (I think) 2008. It was a good time to be there and the weather was great. All of the distilleries offer open houses and tours on different days of the week so there's always something going on.

Many Swedes there cycled but I think they were mainly staying in Port Ellen and cycling to Ardbeg and Laphroaig. It's not a big island by any means, but some of the roads can be a bit winding and hairy. When I was there there was only one stoplight on the island and a single main road connecting east and west.

I think it's doable on bikes but would be best travelling in a group so people are more visible to cars on some of those roads.

If you're looking at doing it during the whisky festival, you would need to book ASAP. Most places are probably already filled up but it was a hell of a lot of fun and I would highly recommend it if you like whisky.

Agree with the above

not sure if we should do it during the festival, am asking some residents for advice

possibly accom and travel will be a little cheaper at a different time

this is probably one where proper advanced planning will be best to get the early bird tickets etc

In!

Jim let's practise for this on Friday night.
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-922.aspx

I've got some of that in my room! Oh, no sorry I drank that last week.

You should look at The Washing Machine Post. The guy who writes it lives on Islay.

Want

The old black Bowmore. There is a great whiskey shop in Paternoster Row by St. Pauls.

I would love to do this ride but as my wife has been on at me to take her to Scotland for a while now I don't think telling her I am cycling up there with a load of forumungers would go down too well!

You should look at The Washing Machine Post. The guy who writes it lives on Islay.

Read the OP a bit closer.. or perhaps visit the Washing Machine Post instead.. http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net/cycle/index.html

I met him at Londres-Paris.

Brian's been talking to us about getting Rollapaluza up there....

could be up for this - if there early Jun could celebrate my cask of Bruichladdich's 4th birthday... only another 10 or so to go!

Winston

How about a Rolla/lfgss trip?

Combined forces of ineptitude and destruction could be hilarious/disastrous

A coach for the people, a van for the bikes...

April time looks good

all over this - tweeded up for added island flair!

That's right! There is a shop there called Islay Woolen Mills that the Mrs. and I popped into. The guy was an old Yorkshireman (is that the right terminology?) who made amazing tweed and wool bits. He took us for a tour, offered us tea and showed us photos of the royal family wearing his duds.

I always regretted that we just bought baby blankets for presents and didn't get more for myself. Now I can fix that.

Barring the fact that I don't have a clue what I'm doing around April next year, I'd love to do this.

Me and the family (the family and I) are doing a Scotland tour in a motorhome next year. I'll try to pass this off as a little reconnoitre, she'll go for that I'm sure.

Read the OP a bit closer.. or perhaps visit the Washing Machine Post instead.. http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net/cycle/index.html

I met him at Londres-Paris.

Oops. I've not been well...

How is the recovery

I've been thinking about doing something similar for a while now so think this is a great idea. It would be much more awesome to take mountain bikes...

http://www.islayblog.com/2008entries/20080819-mountainbiking.shtml[URL="http://www.discoverislay.co.uk/cycling_on_islay.html"][/URL]

Ride of The Falling Rain is late Aug, but maybe you could use the route as the basis for a tour?
http://www.rideofthefallingrain.net

I'm sure Brian would be more than happy to help out with out-of-season planning and advice, send him an email through TWMP. He's a top bloke and Colnago owners will probably be piped off the ferry by him.