Day Three: It's Good to Have Land

When you sign up a Friend of Laphroaig (a loyalty program) you receive certain benefits. One of these is a lifelong lease on a tiny plot of land in Islay. This is a real plot of land. It comes with coordinates, and everything. Of course, E has his own plot. And we were not going to let a perfectly good trip to Islay pass without a visit to his own property, which, as we could best determine, was somewhere in the middle of this field:

It was not as easy a task as it seemed.





We had to try and get to E's land using a GPS app. This would not be terribly hard in Connecticut, but on Islay, with little to no cellphone service, it was more of a trial. Also, despite the fact that the field may look inviting, the tall grasses concealed a good three inches of muddy water. Sometimes, the much was so deep that when you stepped in it, you'd hear an audible squelching sound.

It was about 50 degrees and misty. We had just dried off from kayaking, but after only a few minutes traipsing through the muck, we were both soaked again from the waist down. Furthermore, every time we thought we were getting close to E's land, the GPS would pick up a signal again and reveal that we'd inadvertently overshot it. However, after about half an hour of stomping through the mud, E found his property.

Portrait of the landowner

I just like flowers. And they were nearby. 

This gate protects E's land from the brigands of Islay - sheep, cows and other vagrants.

One of the giant slugs that are trying to invade E's land 

It was the sort of journey where we had to decide to laugh about our discomfort, otherwise we would have just been sloshing about in mud and misery. But, since we made the choice to be amused, it was a fun (if wet and muddy) outing.