Island Do Two - Islay 20-23rd July
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We are pleased to announce the Island Do Two The venue this time is Islay – one of the southernmost of the Hebrides. Well known for its seven distilleries, it’s also quite a bit larger than Barra. There’s a Loganair service into Islay airport – the one Prince Charles crashed at for those interested – from Glasgow. Unfortunately, not such good tier point opportunities – but it is on a Saab 340, so we will not be so limited for seats as when we were going to Barra. Oh, and it’s pronounced Eye-la Dates – 20-23rd of July Timetable of activities Friday: 15:30 - Tour of Ardbeg distillery 19:30 - Dinner at Harbour Inn, Bowmore Saturday: Tour of Bowmore distillery 20:00 Dinner at Machrie Hotel Sunday: To be decided! Do website, including downloadable pdf: http://web.mac.com/jenbel/iWeb/Islay/Welcome.html Weekdays there are 3 flights per day – weekends one flight. GLA-ILY Friday 20th July – 0830, 1420 and 1700 Saturday 21st July – 0830 Sunday 22nd July – 1700 ILY – GLA Saturday 21st July – 0940 Sunday 22nd July – 1815 Monday 23rd July – 0940, 1530 and 1810 If you want to come up on the Saturday from London, you will need to night stop in Glasgow – there’s not an early enough flight up to allow a connection through… Prices – From London: Arriving Friday (on the early flights, so you arrive on Islay on the Friday), returning Sunday or Monday – currently around £116 Arriving Saturday, returning Sunday or Monday - £160 Do check out booking through AA, it may be possible to get a cheaper fare. Accommodation: There’s only one hotel on the island big enough to take a group this size – the Machrie Hotel (www.machrie.com). It’s located close to the airport, but is pretty remote from everywhere else – currently, there are 10 twin rooms, five doubles and nine lodges available for this weekend. Rates: Per person for rooms: 1 night £59 2 nights £112 3 nights £165 If you are travelling alone and wish a room to yourself there is a £12.50 per night single supplement. Another option would be the lodges – these sleep four in two twin bedded rooms. Rates per night for the lodge are: 1 night £110 2 nights £199 3 nights £285 If you want to get groups together to share lodges, I’m happy to act as a lodge consolidator, to form groups (randomly) together. Let me know if you’d be happy to be in a lodge, and what dates you intend to be there for, and I’ll let you know as and when groups are formed, so you can go ahead and book. Please note – it will be up to you guys to book your own flights and accommodation for this trip. Please let me know if and when you’ve booked – I’ll try and keep track of the rooms available. And yes, the hotel does take Amex. However there is an interesting note on the hotel website about requiring a £50/person deposit – it’s unclear if this is for lodges only or for rooms as well. Activities: Obviously, we’ve got to do one distillery tour… and possibly two if we can fit them both in on the Saturday. It may be possible to either hire a people carrier on the island (at about £60/day) or possibly bring a minibus over from the mainland to provide transport. We obviously have a number of distilleries to chose from – I’m intending visiting Bowmore, which a more middle of the road Islay malt, distilled in the main centre of population for the island (which also gives those interested in sight-seeing a chance for a look around – it’s got a completely circular church for example, built so that the devil cannot hide in the corners). Unfortunately, the most distinctive malts (Laphroaig and Lagavullin) are either closed in July/August or don’t have tours on a Saturday – but that does still leave us Ardbeg, Kilchoman and Bruichladdich to choose from! Sunday is likely to be a lot less organised. There’s some good walking on the island, and anyone who wants to go wildlife watching, I’ll have a look around to see what there is at that time of year – seals are guaranteed anyway, and I’m perfectly willing to see what else I can find you. The hotel is in an area of machair, does have a golf course, and is close to a fabulous beach… so suggestions welcome! So who’s interested then? Other links: www.ba.com - for flight booking www.americanairlines.co.uk - also for flight booking www.machrie.com - for hotel information http://www.scotland-inverness.co.uk/islay.htm - general island information http://www.isle-of-islay.com/map/index.html - map of Islay |
Attendees
Jenbel (+ Sheep) Moomba Prospero AJLondon Swanhunter (but may not acknowledge us ;)) jhm Traveloguy studio76 phaleesy monitor + Franny RestlessinRNO Aerotec (possible) Steady-EDI lots@LHR |
Yes Please :D
Outbound on Fri early afternoon arrival Back Sun evening Thanks as ever for organising Jenbel you are a:-: |
Flights:
Outbound 20th July LHR-GLA 1496 jhm phaleesy LGW-GLA 2958 Moomba LCY-GLA 8730 studio76 Traveloguy GLA-ILY 8925 Jenbel/Sheep Moomba Prospero RestlessinRNO GLA-ILY 8927 monitor Franny 21st July GLA-ILY 8921 jhm AJLondon studio76 Traveloguy phaleesy Return 21st July ILY-GLA 8922 Prospero 22nd July ILY-GLA 8928 Moomba jhm AJLondon studio76 Traveloguy phaleesy RestlessinRNO GLA-LHR 1497 Moomba jhm studio76 Traveloguy phaleesy RestlessinRNO 23rd July ILY-GLA 8922 monitor Franny ILY-GLA 8926 Jenbel/Sheep GLA-LHR 1483 monitor Franny |
I'm definitely up for this - Island do's rock!
Thanks Jenbel ^ ^ Heads up: Loganair bookings do not incur BA's £15 offline fee or the £3 credit card surcharge. |
online they incur the £3 credit card surcharge :( :mad:
|
Sorry! You are absolutely correct - I phrased that terribly. I'll try again. :)
Book offline at BA and you won't incur the £15 booking fee or the £3 credit card fee. |
Hi Folks,
Years ago I spent a whole month on Isaly and stayed at the Machrie Hotel. It was fantastic. The selection of whisky behind the bar is very good and the breakfast is well worth the trip. I will not be going as I will just be back from my holiday in the USA which is a pity as I live in Glasgow and so easy for me to travel. Hope you all enjoy it. regards |
Ohhhhhh. Islay. Island of Bunnanbhain and Port Ellen. Very tempting, if only as a chance to show those who like JW Blue what real whisky tastes like. ;)
Put me as very interesting but not confirmed owing to being too close to my birthday (and my mothers). :) |
You might just spot a well known radio personality on the island at the same time and a "friend"... ;)
I hope you all pay attention to the safety briefing... questions may be asked in the Friday evening quiz! Off to swat up on airline colour schemes of the Orient. Spottie PS And this time, when I say that I will be bringing a load of fruits with me on my flight .... |
Scurry away to look up flight options. With the flights to Islay being from GLA it is gonna be a lot of connections.
If I leave on 19th I can get to Islay 36 hours & 5 flights later, Sunday return flight is too late to connect, return instead on 23rd and get back home 40 hours & 4 flights later. Dang - not enough leave to pull it off :( |
Originally Posted by Kiwi Flyer
(Post 7184431)
Scurry away to look up flight options. With the flights to Islay being from GLA it is gonna be a lot of connections.
|
How exciting - would TOTALLY have been there, alas have a wedding in Inverness that Saturday, so not possible for me this time:(
Have fun!:D |
Having read about and watched the Barra video, I've been looking forward to such a Do! Many thanks to Jenbel :-: for organising. I'm booked:
BA1496 - Fri 20 July LHR 20:20 GLA 21:40 BA8921 - Sat 21 July GLA 08:30 ILY 09:15 BA8928 - Sun 22 July ILY 18:15 GLA 19:00 BA1497 - Sun 22 July GLA 19:50 LHR 21:15 When I selected a multi-city itinerary on ba.com, it wouldn't book the last two flights (claiming a MCT of 90 mins) so I booked through aa.com for the same price - £131. I currently have a flexible reservation on Fri night at the Hilton Glasgow hotel unless anyone has any better suggestions. (No SPG!) |
Originally Posted by jhm
(Post 7184927)
Having read about and watched the Barra video, I've been looking forward to such a Do! Many thanks to Jenbel :-: for organising. I'm booked:
I currently have a flexible reservation on Fri night at the Hilton Glasgow hotel unless anyone has any better suggestions. (No SPG!) Also if there are a number of you the "Yen" is great but you can also go across the river to Masala Jacks (nice new Indian resturant). regards |
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