Tobermory, Isle of Mull

[Kyle]In the Morning of Maryanne’s Birthday – Observed, we went for a run on the trail to the lighthouse north of town. The trail started off nice, but by the time we got to the lighthouse, it was a thin track of ankle twisting rocks and shoe sucking mud. At one point, some helpful soul had put down a series of milk crates and tubs to use as stepping stones. We could not imagine what the trail was like when there had not been a five day stretch of no rain.


Muddy hike to the Tobermory lighthouse
After running, we had nice, hot showers and went for the tour at the Tobermory distillery. It wasn’t much of a tour. The only part of the process performed on site was the actual distilling, which was on hold for repairs. Our guide pretty much phoned in the rest of the tour – she just wanted to get through it. We tasted their two varieties; the Tobermory and Ledaig (pronounced, late chick). Neither inspired us to buy any. The Ledaig was interesting because it was made with the peaty water of both varieties but the malt was also smoked over peat, giving it a really strong flavor. I’m generally not a fan of super peaty whiskies but it was interesting to try one where the taste stood out so well.



Distillery and more Tobermory scenes
Following that, we had a Scottish lunch of Irn Bru and fish and chips from a truck on the pier. We then headed out on the trail on the other side of the town. This one was in better shape. It started by climbing up to the ridge line for some stunning views of the harbor. We then had much steep up and down as we passed by various impressive waterfalls. We eventually came to a quiet loch and followed the trail all the way around its shore. I can think of few ways to pass an afternoon that are as pleasant as having a nice walk past streams and through trees, with the crunch of leaf litter and gravel under my feet, particularly on a day so rarely warm and sunny as this.



Plenty of waterfalls on our hike
By the time we did all of the hills all over again, we were pretty tired, particularly when added to the morning’s run. We had heard that there was also a brewery in town just two doors from the distillery. They did not have a tour, but they did have a pub {acutally the brewery has moved to Oban recently}. We had been interested in trying an ale from the same region. Ale, also made from barley, is actually one of the preliminary steps toward making whisky. Distilleries use faster acting yeast, but ale, which distilleries call wash, is the result of fermentation. After that, distilleries distill the ale to produce the spirit which then becomes whisky. The first thought I had when being served my ale was that it smelled just like wash. I think we go on too many tours. Anyway, it was very nice – much smoother than other ales I’ve had. It was still hard, while tasting it, to detect any hint of an early whisky.