10/09/17 - Tobermory and Aros Park

Distance - 6.5 Miles
Geocaches - 3
Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, December 99, Walk 1
Post Walk Refreshment - The Mishnish and the Distillery


Not even Tobermory's famous brightly coloured buildings can do much to lift the gloom on a filthy September Sunday.  However, the yellow house is instantly identified from the choppy tender boat. The Mishnish is the main pub.

Yellow Peril and the Floating Boatel

If the town is all pastels, the walk is all green.   We head along the coast and into Aros Park, woodland where if you stand still long enough, everything gets covered in moss.  I spend a long time looking for a superb geocache at a spookily abandoned cottage.  When I return to Mrs M, I half expect to to have succumbed to its inevitable progress.

Into Aros Park

Everything's Gone Green

Abandoned Cottage and Geocache Ground Z

It's funny, a week after the walk and I can hardly remember the rain that caused so much misery at the time.  I can remember the stunning Waterfall and Mrs M's poor attempts at giving up the walk and hitchhiking back to civilisation.

Aros Burn Waterfall

You're meant to put your thumb out, not point where you want to go.

We eventually get back to town and do the only thing reasonable.  Try and dry off in the Pub.   The Mishnish is as good on the inside as it looks on the outside but prime position in front of the log fire is taken by cruise based coffin dodgers who do not have soaking wet underpants.  Although, to be fair, I cannot say this with 100% certainty.

They refuse to acknowledge our discomfort and are so getting it the next time I am on the London Underground.

Beer wise, there's a couple of hand pull pumps on but turned backwards.  Apparently, it was a big Saturday night and time has not been found for replacements.

The Mishnish up close

When Real Ale is absent, Guinness it is.

The booze related treats don't end there.  It was my birthday last month and Mrs M knows me well.  A distillery tour beats slippers.

Where the magic happens, quickly.

Where the magic happens, slowly.

The best bit is always the end.  I am the only Birthday Boy who has the "Full Tasting" experience. My joy at getting four doubles to everyone else's single is quickly lost in the embarrassment of having the tour guide ask me to describe the various tastes from my four snifters.

Fellow students were expecting me to say something along the lines of "a powerful taste of salty toffee, smokey vanilla with a hint of orange peel".

They were disappointed with my response of "Nice".

Look at what you could have won, fellow Students

A life changing experience.  After years of threatening violence on anyone adding water to my whisky, I found a pipette's worth really does make all the difference.