Exploring the Isle of Jura with Trakke + Jura Whisky

Image by Willy Iffland

It's not often I arrive home from a trip feeling totally content, but spending three days getting to know the beautiful island, and people of Jura was an experience I'm not likely to easily forget. We were invited to stay on the Scottish island by Jura Whisky, to celebrate their partnership between Glasgow-based Trakke, and the distillery itself – the result being a limited edition waxed cotton backpack.

Travel to this remote island wasn't easy, in fact it took two trains, a overnight in Glasgow, a plane, a ferry and an hour's bumpy taxi ride to reach the town of Craighouse. But it was all worth it just for those views.

We spent three days on Jura - a mountainous and boggy island, located west of mainland Scotland. An island famous for its whisky, but vast in its community spirit, local quirks and plush landscape. By intergrated ourselves into the community; drinking and dining with the locals, learning about the island's history and exploring the endless rocky terrain, we experienced a true sense of what it might be like to live somewhere so remote.

When the collaboration between outdoor brand Trakke and Jura Whisky was shared with me, I was instantly intrigued, but learning about the reasons behind why these two companies were coming together made for a more meaningful experience.

A press release can't really give you a true sense of why a partnership makes sense. Having spent three days with both Trakke and Jura Whisky, visiting the locations and the people which inspired the bag, I left the Jura with a sense of just how much this project means to the community.

Every inch of the backpack – limited to 130 pieces – takes influence from a specific element of the island; the rich burnt orange is inspired by the dye made from the natural crottle lichen that grows on the island’s West Coast, and the whisky itself. The copper rivets are a subtle nod to the distillery's stalwart stills, and the leather finishings are made from island-reared deer. 

The shape of the bag pulls inspiration from a traditional barley sack – the size being determined by the approximate amount of evaporation each whisky cask loses per year: 20 litres.

A guided boat tour of the island, along with Cimon and Willie, led us to one of three natural whirlpools in Europe, the house in which George Orwell wrote "1984", a rare sighting of a Highland Sea Eagle, a family of sunbathing seals, the Skervuile lighthouse, and stunning views of the coastal landscape.

Image by Willy Iffland

We sampled several of Jura's whiskies (my favourite being the smokey goodness of Prophecy), took a tour the picturesque distillery, wandered down memory lane at the local photography exhibition, heard all about the tales and characters of the island, as well as calling the the beautiful Jura Lodge our home for two nights.

But there was one final treat left. On the way back home we luckily had a couple of hours to kill before our train home, so we paid a visit to Trakke's workshop, just on the outskirts on Glasgow city centre. Only a fleeting visit, but timed perfectly as we were able to see the team getting the limited edition backpacks ready for their release.

With 200 people living on an island that compares in size to London (a population of 9 million!), it's easy to forgot that people are living out their lives on these barely trodden lands. By the time I was back home I was already pencilling in date for a return trip.

The Trakke + Jura Whisky backpack is available exclusively online here.

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