Kilchoman road. Care required

[Willie JJ]

If you are planning to visit the Kilchoman distillery anytime soon then take care. A couple of weeks ago a stone on the driveway to the distillery ripped the sump out of my car. The upshot was that it cost more than £600 to get the car fixed and we had to stay an extra 5 days while it was done. Now I know there are worse places to be stranded, but it was a lot of unplanned expense.

This is not an isolated incident. The garage that repaired the car said that they were recovering a car every week in the summer and two days after it happened to us we were told it had happened to someone else. It seems there are issues over getting the road repaired/upgraded as it doesn't belong to the distillery.

Now I don't want to put anyone off visiting the distillery as it it well worth a visit in my opinion, but I recommend that either you leave the car at the road end and walk up, or be very careful taking your vehicle up unless it has really good road clearance. You really don't want to suffer the inconvenience and expense that we just had.

[anationonfire]

That's terrible news. At least your on the road again.
I had to Google "sump car" to figure out what the heck you were talking about, my guess was tranny pan,oil pan, fuel tank I really had no idea.

Turns out it was your Oil Pan Correct?
Different lingo over here.

[Willie JJ]

Oil pan would be the appropriate alternative I think.

[johnmac54]

Re Kilchoman Road

Sorry to hear that Willie had a bit of a mishap on our road. Having just started at Kilchoman I was a little concerned about the local rumours concerning the road . I drive a small Corsa and have absolutely no problem getting to work each morning , perhaps its the lovely aroma wafting down the road which is drawing me in. As the road is used by all sorts of vehicles including a large number of very large ones on a regular basis it is of course difficult to maintain in tip - top condition.
We know you are all anxious to get here, however having travelled great distances it would be a shame if the last few hundred metres were to defeat any avid dram - hunter .
Drive slowly and avoid driving directly on the centre of the road and you should be fine.
Willie , it looks like I owe you a special dram next time !!!

P.S. Dont listen too much to blethers from garages regarding "sumps per day" or suchlike , accidents can happen anywhere.

Kind Regards
John Mac Lellan

[Willie JJ]

Hi John. Welcome to the forum. I had hoped to see you at Kilchoman, but you hadn't started when I was there.

Just to clarify a point. I've been up and down the road many times and never had a problem, but this time the car was full and that obviously made the difference. I think a sign at the road end would help warn folk of the risk and help prevent future occurences.

And just to restate what I said at the top, I think the distillery is well worth a visit and folk shouldn't be put off going. Care is required that's all.

Not sure why the garages would exaggerate the problems though. What's in it for them to do that?

Cheers

[corbuso]

Re Kilchoman Road

Sorry to hear that Willie had a bit of a mishap on our road. Having just started at Kilchoman I was a little concerned about the local rumours concerning the road . I drive a small Corsa and have absolutely no problem getting to work each morning , perhaps its the lovely aroma wafting down the road which is drawing me in. As the road is used by all sorts of vehicles including a large number of very large ones on a regular basis it is of course difficult to maintain in tip - top condition.

Kind Regards
John Mac Lellan

Willie,
Sorry for you. When I am on Islay, I either biked or rented a small car, so not much problem for me, but as mentioned by John, the road suffers a lot from the lorries.

John,
Congratulations and all the best for new position! I hope you can help John and Anthony to get the best of the distillery !

Should I dare to ask you who is taking over Bunnhahabhain, if they have not closed it down for good?

Kind regards
Patrick
..........
http://www.whisky-news.com

[johnmac54]

Hi all whisky lovers

An update on the Kilchoman Distillery road.

I am happy to report that we have this week had our local contractor on site to give our road a bit of a makeover .

Generally speaking the road is greatly improved however we do urge caution when driving on it , keep slightly off -centre and drive slowly , don,t worry the whisky will still be there when you arrive.

Kind Regards
John