Islay to Cork - Days 1 to 4 - Twice to Islay

After the long trans-Atlantic flight I checked into the Glasgow Airport Holiday Inn. Even after sleeping 12 hours I was still knackered the next day as I stumbled back to the airport. I checked in for the Loganair flight to Islay, and two hours later we were airborne. I had a window seat, my camera at the ready, hoping to get some aerial photos of the islands.  But the cloud cover was thick, and no islands were visible as we flew west.

As we approached Islay I heard the noise of the flaps cranking down to approach position as the airplane started its descent. The cloud cover was still thick, but at one point it broke and I had a brief glimpse of Laggan Bay. Then I heard another noise - a terrible one. It was the flaps being retracted and the engines throttling up. The airplane climbed and circled around. 

Ten minutes later I could see the flaps once more lowering to approach position as we came in for a second attempt to land. The clouds were still thick, and as we descended I kept my eyes on the flaps, hoping to see them extend to full landing position. But when they started to move it was in the wrong direction. As the flaps retracted, the engines spun up to full throttle. The airplane climbed and made a gradual turn to the right. An announcement came over the PA that they could not see the airport, so we were returning to Glasgow.

Back in Glasgow were were told they'd put on an extra flight for us the next morning. We were then marched as a group over to the Holiday Inn, the one I'd left six hours earlier, and given rooms for the night. The next morning I once again found myself back at the departure gate, waiting, and waiting. This time there was a mechanical problem with the plane. After three hours of waiting we were finally airborne. Thinking optimistically, I had my camera out. And as we headed west a few islands came in to view.

Holy Island

Gigha

As we approached Islay there were still clouds, but not the thick layer of the day before. When the approach to the airport started I had a birds-eye view of Carraig Fhada lighthouse and the Singing Sands: two places I was hoping to visit over the coming days.

Singing Sands (left) and Carraig Fhada light

I watched as the flaps extended to approach position, and then to full landing flaps. A few minutes later were on the ground. After collecting my hire car I made the 15 mile drive to Port Charlotte and checked into the hotel. I slept again for 12 hours, trying to get the jet lag out of my system. I needed to do that in order to make the most out of my three days on Islay. I had something important to do. I needed to rectify a mistake I'd made nine years before.