What's the story in Ballamory?

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  Tobermory, Scotland, United Kingdom
Monday, June 6, 2011

Tobermory is just really, really nice. The houses and shops along the harbour are all brightly painted like something out of a television show for pre-school children. Which of course they are – Tobermory stands in for Balamory in the BBC TV show of the same name. Although Balamory was about four decades too late for me I still get the same vibe off the place and wander around expecting to run into the Fingerbobs or Windy Miller or The Clangers.

And it has a distillery – which didn't feature in Balamory. Though maybe they should do a one-off show with Desmond the Distiller who could probably solve anyone’s problem and then give them a whole load of new ones. The lady who runs the distillery shop turns out to be a dog lover with two black labradors which miraculously Sammy does not try to dismember. It appears that the Balamory effect has even reached Sammy The Labrador Slayer. I buy a bottle of Ledaig, a peated version of the Tobermory 10-year-old, which is by all accounts good when young. I guess 10 years old is young for whisky based on the reverence Talisker hold their 1979 casks in.

No sign of my mate Jon. It’s not a big island and there’s only one distillery but he’s not here. If I had something that belonged to him I could show it to the hounds, then release and follow them. They’d probably just make for the nearest chip shop though.

Tobermory is also where HVM began his tour of the island arriving on a ferry from Oban – the Lochinvar [ISA 5.12]. The Lochinvar was still going in the 1960 operating on the south east coast of England as the Anzio. Tragically in 1966 she was lost with all hands while returning to Scotland for use out of Inverness. The town museum in Tobermory somehow has one of her oil lamps which were  for use in case of failure of the electric lighting.

The museum also has the latest on the search for the galleon from the Spanish Armada which was blown up in the harbour in 1588 [ISA 5.14]. Her identity has now been definitely established but I neglected to make a note of the name. However no one as yet has managed to raise the gold she was supposed to be carrying despite the most recent efforts in 2007, 2008 and 2010. Personally I reckon the natives found it, raised it and spent it years ago (Farrow and Ball paint in exterior primary colours isn’t cheap you know) but they haven’t told anyone because the whole sunken galleon full of gold thing has been pulling in the punters since 1588.

Hell – why not? I’d do it.

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Tobermory up close

All that's left of the Lochinvar

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