Thursday was a squally day with whips of wind and froths of foam. Would our sea trip be cancelled? No such luck! So we boarded the Jura Passenger Ferry from Tayvallich and bounced across the waters in a cabined box with a bear of a driver/pilot/skipper to Craighouse where I was very very happy to step onto dry and steady land.
I felt there was something other-worldly about Jura – and wondered whether the whisky fumes had infiltrated the bloodstreams of the islanders. Sally and I enjoyed a sticky treat in the Anchors Café with its super-friendly owner (who, reminiscent of Denis Lawson’s character in the film Local Hero, seemed to have a finger in every island pie.) Chris and Harriet took a full tour of the distillery and emerged alive!
Craoibh Haven
Jura felt stranger than many of the Scottish islands we’ve visited so far, although it ranks as one of the Inner Hebrides and I’ve yet to travel to the Outer Hebrides. A display of Ye Olde Photos of Jura in the local church had some quite disturbing historical visual records but I imagine many remote islands would have similar dark episodes in their past. During our week we had one meal out at The Lord of the Isles in Craiobh Haven (pronounced Croove Haven.) The restaurant served excellent food (monkfish, steaks, fish n chips) and had welcoming and jolly staff, as well as locals dining in alongside tourists like us.
Bonnie Scotland
It’s hard to explain why our holidays in Scotland always seem to suit us as a family: the awe-inspiring landscapes, the twisty, fascinating history, the welcoming people we always seem to meet… the habit we have on these holidays of hunkering down in the evenings with good food, good wine (and beer), a tiptop jigsaw (see bottom collage), playing cards (Uno), board games (Ludo), reading books and putting the world to rights.
Releasing cares
Scotland feels like a place where I can forget the cares of everyday life. I’m sure there are economic and cultural pressures on those who live there permanently, particularly in the remoter regions. But the rewards of the seasonal lifestyle seem, to me, satisfying. The views certainly are.
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