Saturday 29 May 2004 - Left house at 9.30am. Audrey driving, it was raining heavily, picked up Charles, met Keith and Brian at the Stair Arms Hotel and loaded up car. Keith's VW Passat Estate with load lugger on roof very much required as there is a lot of gear for a weeks fishing trip. Said our goodbyes to our good ladies, then we were off full of high expectations and the joys of life. Journey was steady, Edinburgh, Glasgow, on up the side of Loch Lomond and on across to Inverary. On the way we stopped at Loch Fyne Sea Food Festival - "good" lots of free food to taste, oysters, mussels, cheese and whisky. Could have stayed longer. At Inverary we visit Elizabeth and Dougie Barr. Our connection here to the fishing trip is that Elizabeth was our landlady for many years at our B & B accommodation at the Kennels Ballygrant, until she and Dougie retired to Inverary. The days at Ballygrant were a home from home, beautiful setting, fresh baked bread, large breakfasts and tea and cakes at night. All this and only a few hundred yards from Ballygrant Loch. The Loch probably in our eyes one of the most perfect locations we have ever fished -scenery, trout, wildlife including otters - it never lets us down. Here also there is a boathouse with a fire which we light up "sticks and peats" and cook our freshly caught trout. This is the most perfect fishing ever - perfect in every way. After getting a good feed as usual from Elizabeth it is off again to the ferry. The rain had stopped when we left Inverary and now it was sunshine all the way. We arrived at Kennacraig in time to see our ferry docking - always a lovely sight. Ferry crossing was smooth and lovely two hours sail and at last Islay and Port Ellen came into view - another welcome sight. On to Bowmore and Mrs McDonald who provides us with our self catering accommodation for the week in the High Street just along from the Round Church. The cottage suits us just fine and everyone just "mucks in". We all unpack and get everything setup for tomorrow our first fishing day on Islay. Our days consist of hearty breakfasts, off to fishing, back to dinner usually in some nice hotel then if good conditions and time permitting some evening fishing. Warning here - the midges are big and hungry! Some days are spent walking out to the hill lochs for our days fishing although at these expeditions we need to be flexible as the weather on Islay can change very quickly. You always have to be alert and compass, maps and mobiles are always carried as well as letting Mr McDonald know our plans for the day. All in all our first day had taken, with stops etc. eleven and a half hours to come some 200 miles from the Scottish Borders.

Sunday 30 May - Arose at 7am - cooked the breakfast for 8am. We eat well at breakfast - benefit of having a butcher in the fishing party. This is usually the procedure for the whole week - each of us having our breakfast chores. Extremely sunny all day. Walked out to a hill loch called Loch Leathan an Sgorra or Scor as it is referred. It is about a three mile walk in and the fishing was very hard with the bright hot sun. Trout came on for about one and a half hours, a good hatch of black flies brought them up and we caught about 20 trout. Later on the fishing became dour. Brian did best in the near bay by the little shelter hut. Keith stopped fishing probably the most sensible thing to do and decided to walk to the top of the Sgorra mountain on the south side of the loch. From the loch it looked high and we sat and watched as he reached the top. Keith took some really spectacular photos for the web site during his time at the top of Islay. Keith was our main photographer on the trip. We enjoyed a nice barbeque of fish and steak during the lull in fishing and thirsts were quenched from the clear loch water. After this we decided to carry on to another loch about a mile away called Loch beinn Uraraidh. It looked a good one to fish but we had no luck in the bright sunny conditions although we did lose one each. Perhaps another time we will return to this remote location - we know what to expect next time. With no change in the bright conditions we decided to head back to the car parked at the end of the peat road. Normally the walk back is in misty windy conditions but today the visibility was clear and perfect. We arrived back at the cottage about 7.30pm for a quick wash then down to the Lochside in Shore street for some well earned beer and supper. The best flies for the day were Black CDC and Black Pennel. The largest trout was about 1lb although there are bigger fish here - we have seen them!

Monday 1 June - The usual start to the day then off to Ballygrant Loch which we had booked for the day. Very sunny again, light ripple, very hard fishing although we all caught fish but only three worthy of keeping as only small fish coming to our flies (JJ Olive, Hares Ear, Kate McLaren, Invicta,). We gave up and went to Bridgend Hotel for food. After this we decided to go fishing that evening as conditions looked promising. Brian and I went to Loch nan Cadhan which is a small loch next to Ballygrant and contains plenty of lovely half pound trout which proved really good sport. Keith and Charles went to fish Loch Lossit and found the conditions and result similar to us at Cadhan - good sport but "Oh the midges" plus a huge hatch of caenis. We all fished to about 10.30pm in what turned out to be a lovely night, beautiful sunset and food for midges! We required cloud cover today - very hot. Best flies at Cadhan and Lossit were - Black suspender buzzer, Kate McLaren, JJ Olive and Snipe & Purple.

Tuesday 2 June - It rained throughout the night and we woke to heavy rain and wet windy conditions. The rain stopped at 8.30am and we had cloud until 11am then brilliant sunshine the rest of the day. We had nothing planned today - Jura was ruled out as it was now too late to set off (we were to get to Jura later in the week). It was about 10.30am when we left the cottage and we decided to walk to a new loch for us called Loch Laingeadail. This was in the Loch Gruinart area and was about one and a half miles from the road. It was a big dark loch not very far from the sea. The walk in was difficult as the going was wet and very boggy. Came across my first sighting of an Islay adder and we were to encounter more as the day wore on as the sun brought them out to bask. Keith got a good close up photograph. Fishing was dour, Brian was the only one to catch a solitary fish about a pound a lovely golden trout. We gave up soon after and trudged back to the car. Before leaving we had a look around an old chapel at Kilnave and its ancient cross - it was a most interesting place to look around and a beautiful last resting place for some Islay residents on this gloriously sunny day with Oronsay and Colonsay in the distance. After this we decided to have a run to Machir Bay to try and get a glimpse of the resident Choughs which are unique to Islay. We were not disappointed - saw plenty in some quite large flocks. After this we moved on to have a look at Loch Gorm. We had heard it was very windy here on Monday and with this being a shallow and sandy loch it browns up very quickly. Thankfully we found it to be fine as this was to be our destination on Wednesday. Pleased with the look of Gorm we headed back to Bowmore and the Lochside for food. We really enjoyed the Lochside- good food and great views from the large glass windows overlooking Loch Indaal. As our meal was early we still had time to go for an evening cast as some cloud had moved in over Islay. Keith and I decided on Loch Finlaggan - plenty of history here, lovely loch. We both had good sport, lots of fish up to 12oz - golden trout all rising fish. Brian and Charles went to Loch Ardnahoe looking for big trout. This year they only had fish up to 1lb mark but usually we get fish of about 3lb and have had three over 5lb in the past nine years. They caught three each tonight. Best to use flies with black and red at Finlaggan also red tag. At Ardnahoe the Kate McLaren was best.

Wednesday 3 June - A sunny bright morning breakfast 7am and after the chores we left at 9.15am with great excitement that we were to fish Loch Gorm. Getting Gorm on a good fishing day is a real treat and this was our best opportunity for a good few years indeed we had not managed to even get on the loch for two years. Started fishing at 11am. I was with Keith and we went to the far side top corner from the jetty which takes about 30 minutes to reach. Water was clear with slight ripple, not much doing, cloud started to appear and had blocked out sun by 1pm. This was the signal for the trout to appear on the surface and we probably had the best five hours fishing possible - nearly a fish a cast, sometimes two at a time! Floating line, team of small flies - Gorm at it's very best with fish averaging half to three quarters of a pound and many in the 1lb class. These Gorm trout are really beautiful golden trout and there is something special when you see these fish coming to the fly like this. Brian and Charles did not find the fish as keen but still had a good days sport by any standard. On it's day Loch Gorm is the best top of the water loch we have ever fished. Best flies for Gorm were size 12 to 14 Blue Zulu, Blackbird Fly (that's another story!) and Green Peter.

Thursday 4 June - Rose to heavy rain and wind - now this is what we are used to on Islay! With these conditions prevailing we had a late breakfast at 9am. We had Loch Gorm booked again for the day but it was clear that we were not going to be able to go afloat there today. We took a run up to Loch Cam and Loch Drolsay which were wild and windy here too we would have to retreat. Off now to Port Askaig to check out the work on the new road since we were there in 2003 and also to look over the Sound of Islay to the neighbouring Isle of Jura. It looked better over on Jura (less wind and it was dry). We decided to take the ferry across and go to the Loch a Chnuic Bhric which was a new loch for us. Brian had made contact and enquiries in advance and after a quick telephone call the permission to fish was given from the estate. As an added incentive with the overnight rain the river which links this loch to the sea was running big and coloured and that would give the finnock (seatrout) the chance to run into the loch. So off we set across to Jura on the ferry, up to the loch on what was a very rough track and one best suited to a four wheel drive vehicle. The wind forced us to fish the same bank, but at least it was dry. The loch was quite large and had salmon cages on it which were empty at this time. We all had good sport with the finnock averaging 8oz to 12oz. We were told that larger fish do come in later in the summer. Some very small brown trout were also caught and after a few hours we had to make the rough journey back to catch the late return ferry across the Sound to Islay at 6.20 (which we made just in the nick of time!). We had tea at the cottage this evening and Charles cooked some venison which he brought from Greenlaw - very nice it was too. Plan now was to go to the pub but our friend Dodo arrived with his contribution to our holiday - beer and whisky! The evening was spent in the cottage and with the bottles empty it was off to bed in readiness for the last fishing day to come. The best flies today were Flashy and Blue Zulu for the Sea Trout and Green Peter and Kate McLaren for the wee brownies. One highlight of the day was the sighting of a Golden Eagle on Jura.

Friday 5 June - Up early and away by 9am. The day looked a very good one for fishing and we were booked to return to and end our holiday at Loch Ballygrant. Started off with great expectations but the day proved to be difficult although we managed to catch a few trout before stopping mid afternoon for lunch. We got the fire going in the boat house with the logs and peats which Donald James kindly provides for those days where some warmth is required after being out in the elements. Donald James McPhee is the Head Keeper with Dunlossit Estate and lives in the house (The Kennels) where we used to stay with Mr and Mrs Barr in the first six years of our Islay fishing trips. We cooked trout for lunch on the portable barbeque before taking to the water for the last session where we all caught fish. We finished early evening and went to take a dozen or so trout up to our good friend Donald Fletcher at Persabus Pottery. This we do every year, as Donald is keen on some Ballygrant trout and his hospitality at the farmhouse is legendary! We said our goodbyes to Donald for another year and set off for the Ballygrant Inn for tea then back to the cottage to pack and clean up. We were to be at the ferry from Port Ellen at 6.15am which meant getting up in the morning at 5am. Packed and cleared up we went to bed for our last night on Islay. The best flies today on Ballygrant were Kate Mclaren, Green Peter and JJ Olive. Fishing all done it has been a mixed week. Everyone had their good days and the more difficult days. Weather played a big part this year, very sunny at beginning, wet, windy and misty middle of the week then dull and overcast last few days. The wind was always warm and from the south west nearly all week. It was the first time ever we fished the week on Islay and had no rain to contend with. We all had a good sun tan and once again a good fishing holiday was had by all.

Saturday 6 June - Early rise, no sleep in today. Sailed from Port Ellen at 7am. Raining lightly as we left. Breakfast on the ferry, bacon rolls that must have been days old even the gulls would have struggled to eat them. Rolled off the ferry at 9.15am and drove to Loch Fyne Oyster Bar for things to bring home then off to Loch Lomondside where the traffic started to build up. Stopped at Loch Lomond Shores for more shopping then on to pub at Balloch for lunch, which was very good. Off again, over Erskine Bridge straight into a six mile traffic jam through Glasgow. It was back to reality taking nearly two hours to get clear of this hold up. This put us well behind schedule arriving back at Keith's house in Peebles at 5pm. We unloaded Keith's car for the last time and reloaded gear into respective cars. Brian and Margaret off to Haddington, Charles, Irene and myself to Greenlaw where we arrived home at 7pm. All in all a very pleasant and enjoyable weeks fishing. A big thank you to all who helped and here's to the next 10 years.

Tight lines to you all.