Bobby Murdoch
Jings!!,
Where did the time go? its nearly the end of the year, the last time I wrote on here was in July, so I thought I had better sort my shit out and bring it up to date so I can continue my drivel on a clean slate next spring.

Mount Solitary, Blue Mountains, New South Wales.
Where am I now, I am in the blue mountains a few hours west of Sydney, hiding from the craziness that is Sydney at the new year, saying that though, I'm in Katoomba which is like a Disney world for tremendous views, There is even a place called "scenic world" that you can pay to look at the views, how mental is that, and because we are so close to the city, it's jammed, but you don't have to go far to get away from the maddening crowd, and its quiet in the morning and at night time.
I have been back in Australia for the last few months building the sailing kitty back up again as normal, work is work I guess, a needs to an end, but I also get to hang out wae the weans when I'm here, so it's all good 😊

Check out the wee man, he was loving it until he had to put his Christmas shirt on and get his photo taken, wasn't too happy about that, total huff! 😊
The last time I was on here I was back in Kerrera, just about to go to the Oban distillery, which I did, wasn't that flash to be honest, compared to the other places I've been, the guide didn't know his arse from his single malt, and.................he was English! FFS, but then again, it seems that the entire west coast region of this beautiful country of ours has been colonised(again) by our friends from South of the border, but hey! I'm not judging, I live in somebody else's country too, but if your going to work in a distillery as a tour guide, know your shit sunshine! numpty!, rant over.

I did, however, taste their beverages, they were way better than the tour.

Gylen Castle, Kerrera, old hoose of the MacDougalls.
Went back to Linnhe Marina and spent a few lovely days hanging out with some very old friends of mine, who I last seen when we were in Falmouth last year, the weather was kind enough to give us a few hours for a wee sail across the loch and back, happy days indeed.

The family Wibrew.

Old pals.......
So speaking of whisky, I sailed down to Islay next, to Port Ellen for a few days of tasting the water of life, you know, just to make sure it was ok. There are nine distilleries on Islay, and I never had the time or a big enough liver to visit them all, so I went to three.

Carraig Fhada Lighthouse, Islay.

Ardbeg.
Went here first, pretty good, smoky, the guide was all over it, made the guy at Oban look like a right dafty, but we knew that already.

Lagavulin.
Now, this is a nice drop, I wouldn't know how to describe it, complex perhaps, you should drink some and find out for yourself.

Bruichladdich
Turns out I saved the best for last, done a tasting here where the take some pretty special whisky's straight out of the barrel for you, the guide was the best yet, and her measures were huge, I might have been just a wee bit pished when I left!
And when one of the other visitors asked about the weather, (it was raining heavily outside), her answer was the best ever, "Todays rain, is tomorrows whisky" how about that eh? makes you look at the rain in a completely different way.

Summer forecast for Scotland in August!

Tomorrows whisky falling on the boat.
Once tomorrow's whisky had stopped coming from the sky after two days, I headed off and had a boisterous journey back around the Mull of Kintyre, I was full of whisky, the boat was full of whisky, clinking as the wind heeled her over, it was time to head back to Ardrossan.

Captain Meg.
Had a few wee day trips but that was pretty much it for the summer, had my Maw out up to Millport and back, had a great sail back in a brisk breeze.

Out she comes.
So there she is, parked up in sunny Ardrossan, getting a wee bit more work done over the winter before wee head off in search of the sunshine in May. Ireland - Spain - Portugal is that half a plan, as always we shall see.....

All tucked up, winter is coming.......
Health and happiness to you all for the new year ahead :-)