Sconcer Baby Coos and a Dram at Torabhaig Distillery, Sleat

Once again, no alarm set - and a leisurely start to the day. We had a simple breaky of toast and tea (coffee for Vince) and Vince worked on his photos, whilst I sorted out the blog post from yesterday. I was having a bit of a down day as I'd had a dream about my son Kyle - it's the anniversary of his death tomorrow, and although there's not a day I don't think of him, this time of year is always more difficult for me.

The weather forecast was for no wind and a little rain - WRONG AGAIN! It was both windy and rained non stop all day. But we headed out anyway living in hope of a change in the weather - which can be frequent here on Skye.

I made up a thermos of soup, and packed some chocolate cake (which I cooked last night) and some bottles of water and a couple of diet cokes. We were headed to Sleat for the day and last time we went very hungry as nothing was open - so this time I'm prepared.

We stopped off in Portree at the Granary for a drink and I bought a cute gingerbread reindeer - I thought the Grandies would like it - so I ate it even though I wasn't hungry. We chatted to a lady called Liz (who writes novels) and her poodle, Rea. Both were very friendly and it is always interesting to get a local perspective on things.

We stopped next door at Mackenzies Bakery for some bread rolls (to go with our soup) and headed off for the longish drive to Sleat (about two hours from Willie McLeod's House).

Even though it was windy and raining we couldn't help ourselves when we passed the Sconcer fold of Hielan Coos, the babies were out and right up at the fence line. I had a wonderful time being licked and snuggled and nudged to be patted by the little ones - just too cute for words! Vince took an impromptu YaYa Vlog (no 12 I think). I had so much fun and it made my day and really cheered me up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlXi1v8Re5A

The rain and wind just didn't let up and photos were not really on the agenda because of that. We had hoped to do the Ord Loop again and get some photos of Dunscaith Castle (or Tokavaig) ruins Also called Fortress of Shadows, it is named after and was the home of the warrior maiden Scathach. But the weather was not going to give us very good shots, so we called into the new distillery on Skye, Torabhaig. Most people are familiar with Talisker Distillery, the oldest on Skye, and Torabhaig is only the second ever licensed Single Malt Whiskey distillery on the Island.

The old farmstead at Torabhaig was chosen for this small traditional distillery and the 19th century buildings were restored and renovated. They have even build in a roof that can be easily removed should the pot stills need replacing without disturbing the old building.

It has been a fully operational Single Malt Scotch Whiskey distillery since January 2017. We met Anne, the Visitor Centre Manager, and she explained that there first lot of whiskey went into barrel around April 2017 and it must be at least 3 years old before it can be released. So at this point the heavily peated Toravhaig whiskey is not ready for tasting or sale. However, their parent company Mossburn Distillers have recently released some exclusive single malt blends including the rich and smokey Island blend and the Speyside Blend, which were both available for tasting at Torabhaig. We tried both and ended up buying a bottle of the Island Blend to take home.

We met some other visitors there, David and Ann Hickey and Brenda, their 90 year old mother. The conversations started around my camera, photography and Australian bushfires and wildlife. From there I ended up with two email addresses to forward information about sewing joey pouches for both the Ann's. David is a photographer and is about to release a book about Skye, "Photographer's Guide, Isle of Skye and the North West of Scotland : David Hickey : 9781527204218". So Vince has put his hand up to purchase a copy when it's available. We gave our contact details to David to let us know and we will organise to come and collect a signed copy from him - how exciting!

Brenda was telling me she had a pen pal in Victoria, Australia, called Grace. It came about when she was at school aged 10 and the teacher awarded the best pupil the opportunity for an Australian pen pal, and a life long friendship developed. What an amazing story.

After we said good-bye to our new friends, and Vince and Dave talked camera "Shiny Things" - ie the Small Rig Gear we use, Vince and I went to the cafe (which was opened!) and had some lunch. There we met young Shannon, who as it turns out was born and lives in Croft 2 Camuscross. I shared with her what I knew about my family from there and she took my business card and will get in touch if she thinks of anywhere I might get more information. Everyone here is so friendly and helpful.

As we left the cafe we spoke with two men who were mending the roof, Neil Nicholson and Ewan. It turns out that Neil knows Alan (our crofter friend) and told us how he used to have "Duncan's Emporium" - we will have to ask Alan about that! We had a nice chat with the men who were both very friendly and welcoming of us to Skye.

Back in the shop we spoke with Graham to organise our purchase of the Island Blend (43 GBP) and he was telling us about where he lives in Elgol, and how he has a wild Stag that lives in his back garden, he calls "Lefty". He showed us some pictures on his iPhone and they were awesome, particularly some he had taken with beautiful natural side lighting. He also told us about the other wildlife he sees regularly, such as white tale and golden eagles and also about the many, many Otters! I was so awestruck - and perhaps a little jealous - how lucky is he!

Then it was back into the rain and wind to get to the car (lucky we had the foresight to wear our wet weather gear) and as it was now 3.30pm and light was fading, we just headed off for our 2hr drive home.

Because we hadn't eaten the food we had taken with us, we just had that for an easy dinner and worked on our photos, Vlogs and Blogs for the evening.