I attended this event with a friend under the impression there would be about 50/50 wine/whisky. However, unfortunatly when we arrived there was only one table of drams – Bruichladdich.

The Bruichladdich Table wasn’t bad though – no Octomore unfortunately:

Waves – £29.99

Peat – £32.99

12 yo (2nd Edition) – £34.99

Then got merrily tipsy on Pol Roger and Bollinger Champagne. All in all an alright event. Hopefully we’ll see more whiskies next time.

Old Bothwell is een jonge bottelaar, opgericht in 1998 en opererend vanuit het plaatsje Bothwell. Het bottelt allerlei sterke dranken, waaronder Single Cask whisky, maar het onderscheidt zich van andere onafhankelijke bottelaars door het personaliseren van hun flessen, voor eender welke gelegenheid. Wil je m.a.w. je eigen kop op een label, één adres.
Onderstaande Port Ellen van 1983 is één van de Port Ellens uit hun stock, naar het schijnt hebben ze nog een behoorlijke voorraad. Nu ja, daarmee zijn ze niet alleen, er ligt nog behoorlijk veel Port Ellen in allerlei opslagplaatsen te wachten op botteling, Port Ellen is Brora niet.

 
Port Ellen 26y 1983/2009, 54.9%, Old Bothwell, cask 220 – Islay – 91/100
Ondanks een opkomende verkoudheid ruik ik de zeer herkenbare Port Ellen neus van zilt, jodium en zeewier. Een strandwandeling in de winter. Rook, houtskool en een lichte houttoets er mooi doorheen. Een smeulend kampvuur op het strand dus eigenlijk. Dan komt het fruit opzetten: kruisbessen (de zeer ondergewaarde ’stekebezen’), maar ook appel. Noten, geroosterde. Complex! De smaak is stevig en vrij vettig met dezelfde elementen uit de neus (voor de grapjassen onder jullie: neen, geen snot), boter en veel turf. Kruiden (zoethout, gember) heb ik ook. Marsepein. Njummie. De afdronk is lang, erg lang, op zoete turf, zilt en kruiden. Een whisky om van te genieten op een koude winteravond, als het even kan op de pier van Oostende. Een erg lekkere Port Ellen dus en wat mij betreft beter dan de twee 1982′ers van Old Bothwell die ik op Spirits in the Sky dronk. Reviews van deze twee vind je trouwens terug op WhiskyNotes, maar als je er één wil aanschaffen, laat het dan de 1983 zijn.

Since late August this year, the filmmaking group that I run at school have been busy preparing, shotting, and editing the film that we have submitted for this year’s FilmG competition. One of the main focuses of the group is to create some films through the medium of Gaelic and because we knew that FilmG run an annual competition we were eager to submit something this year (and also it gave the group impetus to work towards a deadline and finish a film).

During the filmmaking process, the group experienced some highs and lows, and each member developed certain skills and (I hope) enjoyed it. During it we encountered technical difficulties, transport problems (that’s a whole embarrassing story in itself!), and were hampered by the temperamental Islay weather. However, I am extremely proud of all the pupils that were involved in the filming. These kids sacrificed earning money from their weekend jobs to film on a couple of Saturdays, they worked hard on creating the right atmosphere for the film, they were willing to work in a language that most of them are unfamiliar with, and they maintained a positive, patient and jovial attitude despite having to do take after take after take.

Among the skills that they have developed are: camera work using a Panasonic HMC151, storyboarding, editing using Vegas Pro, sound design, costume, how to work as a group, and how to overcome differences. No doubt there are many more that I’ve forgotten.

Since putting the film up online, the group has been encouraged by the feedback received, especially from some professionals in the industry. This response has encouraged the group to reflect upon the process and product, and they are planning to do a complete reshoot of the film, concentrating on the script and spending more time on getting all the shots and cuts just right. I can’t wait to see how this progresses

There are few thanks that have been omitted from the film: Annchris MacLean for helping with translations; Islay Estates for allowing us to film at the tower, Steven for staying after school to work on the final edit, and those who have donated money to allow us to purchase equipment for the group.

Would love to read any comments you have about the film, and these will be fed back to the group.

“I know only one thing about the technologies that await us in the future. We will find ways to tell stories with them.” - Jason Ohlar.

On Friday I had the pleasure to return to the beautiful isle of Islay to lead  a staff development day on Literacy with the staff of Islay High School and its associated primary schools. Like most of the profession in Scotland at the moment they are beginning to realise the significant implications of the  Curriculum for Excellence reforms, and are wrestling with some of the central issues, such as the notion of literacy development as the responsibility of all, and what that might look like in practical terms.

I hope I was able to demonstrate that the development of literacy is quite explicit in all of the curriculum frameworks, so in a sense there is no escaping that responsibility, no matter what sector you work in or what subject you teach, but the challenges for primary and secondary teachers are quite different, something which I will return to in another blog post. In the meantime, however, if people are to embrace that responsibility, the whole school community, including parents, must first come to a common understanding of what it is to be literate in 2010, what it might mean to be literate in 2020 and beyond, and to develop a common language around it. Here is an outline of my initial presentation to the staff - I would welcome your thoughts on it:

• The definition of  ’literacy’ in Curriculum for Excellence is “the set of skills which allows an individual to engage fully in society and in learning, through the different forms of language which society values and finds useful.” 
• The Literacy framework recognises that the meaning of ‘text’ has to include the huge range of texts with which we engage on a daily basis, and that we should use a range of texts to reflect  this in our learning and teaching.
• We live in a society where the image is becoming the dominant means of communication, and where once we used pictures to illustrate our written texts, increasingly we are using written text to illustrate the pictures.
• Most of us engage with moving image texts more than any other form of text in any given day, so the development of literacy skills in young people should recognise that fact.
• What links all of these texts is that they are all a form of narrative, so when we develop literacy skills in young people what we are developing is the set of skills which will enable them to engage critically with the range of narratives which are in the world, and to be able to construct their own effective narratives.
• As teachers we also learn, and teach, through narratives, and the quality of the narrative will determine the effectiveness of the learning. To put it simply, there is a range of ways to tell a story, and we should use all the tools at our disposal to make it as good a story as possible, whether the story is a fictional one, or the story of Ohm’s Law, or the story of the First World War.

I would like to thank the staff on Islay for engaging so willingly and positively with some tough questions and activities, including subjecting themselves to a spelling test! You are in a very good place, literally and metaphorically,to show the rest of us how collaborative working is the only way we can make progress, how new technologies make it easier for us to share both ideas and information, and how the the new vision of the curriculum is much more dependent on the quality of the relationships in a community and not about mechanical processes. Slainte!

To see all the photographs from the event click here.

Today was the closing date for the FilmG competition and I can now upload my filmmaking group’s entry to the competition.

I will write indepth about this project very soon, but for now here’s the short film:

Just a small update to mention that I’ve set up another blog – Media Studies Islay. This has been created with the specific intention to provide information for the pupils who attend my Intermediate One and Intermediate Two Media Studies class.

In the blog roll on Media Studies Islay I have included links to the blogs that each pupil has created. These have been set up to allow the pupils to record all details of their meetings in relation to the Production Unit that they are currently working on, where it is hoped they will reflect on their learning and will also give them a platform to express their ideas and concerns. They will also be publishing their assignments on their blogs. Please browse through them and feel free to make any comments on their work – I know that they would really appreciate this.

For a map of the backpacking route click here.

This trip very nearly didn’t happen as I came within minutes of missing the ferry.  Being a fairly organised sort of person I gave myself plenty of time to drive from Nottingham to the West coast of Scotland for 5.30pm.  So much time in fact that I left the night before and got three hours of driving out of the way before parking up on the high moors near the Tan Hill Inn.  However the next day I managed to get stuck for over three hours on the M8 in Glasgow, sweating thinking of the expensive ferry I had paid for sailing without me.  I was finally spat out of the traffic Jam with two hours to cover just under 100 miles of Highland roads.  With a sigh of relief I got there with twelve minutes to spare.  Pheew!

I was shattered as I drove onto the ferry, so found a reclining seat out of the way where I could read and close my eyes for a couple of hours.  It was a pretty rough crossing, which meant that I ended up with my eyes closed for most of the journey trying to pretend that I wasn’t swaying from side to side.  I just about managed not to be sick!  The bad weather diverted the ferry to the north of Islay at Port Askaig rather than Port Ellen.  This meant more driving for me when the ferry docked as I had to drive right across the Island.

The road from Port Ellen passed a couple of distilleries with familiar names, Laphroaig and Ardbeg before becoming single tracked as it wound its way through low wooded hills.  In the darkness with heavy rain and gale force winds I felt pretty disoriented, this was heightened when rounding a corner there were two large stags standing in the middle of the road!  At the end of the road I found a parking spot and went to sleep with the wind rocking the van pretty violently, my last thought being whether it was possible for the van to be blown over!

I awoke to more wet and windy weather and that uninspiring grey half light.  I opened the door to see that I was in a cracking spot only metres from the sea overlooking Claggain bay.  I knew that the weather was going to be bad all day before brightening up tomorrow so decided to reverse my planned backpacking route.  Today I would walk along the coast and then return to the van tomorrow over the hills.

My prepacked rucksack was soon on my back and as I got to the gate that marked the end of the public road I spotted this sign.

With a smile on my face I continued along the track before making a bit of a cock up!  My track ended at a farm before my map shows it turning into a path.  Not sure if it was a right of way and not wanting to walk through the farmyard I took a narrow path on my left with the assumption that it would join up with it further up the hillside.  Well it did not and I spent a good half hour cursing as my boots filled with water as I crossed waterlogged ground and waist high vegetation before finally wading an overflowing stream to get to the original path!  The firm piece of ground that I had been seeking too turned into a right muddy mess as I slithered a couple of miles down into Proaig bay.  I was soon on easy ground and I could spot Proaig bothy through the gloom ahead, already I was in need of a bit of shelter as I was soaked.

Alas this bothy has seen much better days and the door nearly fell off its hinges as I pushed it open.  A rock had been thrown through one of its windows and this hole gave easy passage to pigeons who had covered every surface with their droppings.  I had my lunch whilst the wind tried to remove the corrugated iron roof which was also being pounded by the rain.  The bothy itself was pretty uninviting but there was plenty of cropped grass outside that would make a great campsite.  Not today however as I was headed to spend the night in An Cladach bothy a few miles up the coast.  Standing in the way is the cliffs and hills surrounding McArthurs head which were really not appealing in todays weather.  As I started the climb the rain stopped for a few minutes and I managed to get a photo of Proaig bay.

I climbed to the small summit of Beinn na Caillich Beag above the lighthouse before contouring into a sheltered corrie above the cliffs.  My map showed that I needed to ascend to above the 200m contour to avoid a steep looking gully that cuts into the hillside.  I suddenly found myself exposed to the full force of a gale.  I was now on a well defined ridge but the strength of the wind made it almost impossible to move.  During the stronger gusts I had to crouch and brace myself.  I was terrified of being lifted off my feet and I was aware of sea cliffs to my right, if I was blown over there was nothing to hold onto.  With this wind was driving rain that managed to seep through the side zip of my paramo leading to a stream of water down my left side.  It was with relief that I reached the relative shelter of the beach and further along An Cladach bothy.

Not only did An Cladach provide me with shelter to remove my dripping clothes it was also one of the loveliest bothies that I have ever visited.  A tiny one roomed building only 20 feet from the sea with views along the bay towards the headland I had just descended.

Outside hung brightly coloured buoys whilst the bright interior is exceptionally homely with a fire place, bunk beds and shelves of books and magazines, kites and fishing rods.  I was grateful for a pair of old sandals as I could get my wet boots off, all my clothing was soaked and I was glad for the spare set I had brought with me.  A local guy had left bags of coal and logs that he had brought on his boat, so I soon had a fire going to dry everything off.  A splendid afternoon and evening was spent shuffling around the bothy and popping outside to soak up the view now that it had stopped raining.  At one point as dusk was falling I surprised three deer that were standing less than ten feet from the door, I stood watching them as they watched me before they bounded off along the beach.

My bladder interrupted a long cosy sleep just before dawn and as I opened the bothy door I was greeted with this magical view.

A couple more hours sleep were called for so I curled back up in my sleeping bag, I drifted off again with the sound of a stag roaring on the hillside.  The sun was shining when I finally got up and it was like a summers day outside, amazing that the weather can change so much in a few hours.  The sea was as flat as glass and I spent a good hour or so drinking coffee, eating breakfast and just enjoying my morning environment.

It suddenly dawned on me that I needed to get a move on if I was to get back to the van before it got dark so I reluctantly packed up, swept up the bothy and started a bracken bashing exercise as I climbed the ridge of Beinn Breac.  I was glad that the bracken was dead because in summer it would be over my head here, however I still got tangled up in the stuff.  I had a long sit down on Beinn Bhreac and took in the views west across Islay.

The dominant view however was across to Jura, I had to admit that it was whetting my appetite for the visit in a couple of days time.  I could not believe that I could sit in the sun in a t-shirt at the end of October (the weather on the rest of the trip made me pay for that!)

I spent the next few hours climbing the Marilyns of Sgorr nam Faoileann 429 metres, Glas Bheinn 472 metres and Beinn Bheigier 491 metres.  A superbly satisfying day in the hills which displayed the characteristics of much higher mountains.  The going was tough with large descents and reascents between each peak.  These hills would be difficult to navigate across in thick mist as some of their spurs and ridges were pretty complex.  I did not meet a single person all day.

As I reached the final summit the light was quickly fading and I had to get a move on as I did not want to still be on the hills in the dark.  The summits although rough had short cropped vegetation, once I dropped below 200 metres I started to encounter tussocks from hell.  By the time I reached the van I was all tussocked out!

Unfortunately the following day the rain and gales returned and I could not face walking in such horrible weather.  I spent hours sitting and reading before getting bored and going for a drive.  I drove to the visitor centre at Loch Gruinart had a quick look around before finally deciding to catch the ferry across to Jura.

After a two day journey of ferries and driving I am finally home.  Islay and Jura were simply stunning, although I was treated pretty badly by the weather gods.  I suffered an endless series of severe gales and heavy rain which hampered my plans a little bit (to the extent that I had to turn back on a 380 metre hill!).  Thankfully in between all that wind and rain I did have two bright days that were so warm I was in a t-shirt whilst backpacking.  There was a lot of sitting in the campervan reading but I did manage to get out for a two day backpack on Islay and another two day one on Jura.  I will do a couple of posts in the coming week.

Whilst out I attempted to a bit of live blogging (due to spending a lot of time waiting for the rain to stop!).  However I failed miserably as I probably need to download an app for my iPhone.  So here is a retrospective live blog with the photo that I tried to upload from my phone whilst away! (hence the poor quality).

Ardbeg 10 años

La destileria de Ardbeg, ha sido descrita como “la mejor del mundo, sin lugar a dudas”. Creada en 1815 y rescatada de una inminente extinción en 1977, Ardberg se encuentra en Islay, una isla cercana a la costa occidental de Escocia, conocida por sus tormentas y lo escarpado de su geografía, y famosa por la elaboració de whisky. Este indómito y completo whisky es el más ahumado y turboso de los maltas de Islay, pero está perfectamente equilibrado con un misterioso dulzor. El experto en whisky, Jim Murray, describe el Ardbeg diez años como la “perfección en el paladar”.
Nota de cata. Color dorado pálido. Nariz de equilibrio y profundidad excepcionales. Su aroma es una perfecta mezcla entre el toffee y la dulzura del chocolate, entre notas de canela y phenoles  medicinales. Los cítricos frescos y las notas florales del vino blanco son muy evidentes: melón, pera.. También se aprecian con fuerza los aromas phenólicos del mar, el yodo y el pescado ahumado. Mas tarde, cuando las notas má volatiles se van desvaneciendo, emergen la chicoria y el café, entre los tonos ahumados de la turba, el tostado de la sutil madera y el dulzor de la vainilla. En boca presenta un dulzor moderado y nitido que es seguido por aromas de tabaco de pipa y café expreso que dan paso a las notas de regaliz. Su paso por boca es al principio muy especiado, más tarde suculento, que nos hace salivar. Nos prepara par un final secante, largo y ahumado de cereales dulcemente malteados.
Maridaje: crema de toffe, helado de café, chocolate blanco o negro, afteright mint…

Bruisin’? Nope, just a regular 24 hour cruise trip to and fro’ Åland with Birka Cruises. It was nice to get away, if only for a day. Naturally I bought stuff in the tax free. See list below…

• Bailey’s (with a hint of coffee)
• Bassett’s winegums (yum…)
• Two Glencairn glasses (the official whisky glass!) and…
• one bottle of Lagavulin, a 16 year old Islay single malt whisky

Didn’t expect the whisky, now did you, folks? I guess I’m old enough to appreciate a little whisky nowadays.

Oh, and I bought dad’s Christmas present too.