Trip to Scotland

[WarPig]

We're back, have been for a few jetlag-filled days. Will post pics as soon as I have some non-work time. I have become a whisky ponce.

[WarPig]

I'm posting my journal from the first week of our Scotland trip, spoilering for those who don't wanna deal with TL;DR. I am no judge of my own writing skills, I basically wanted to get it all down while it was fresh in my mind, so some might be personal. I can post pictures of other things as well if requested. If there's any interest at all, I can do another post and spoiler the second week.

Also, some pictures. And the names of our traveling partners have been changed to protect the guilty.

Spoiler:

21 October, 2012
Badrallach, Highlands, Scotland

Several things have happened in the time since leaving Phoenix on Thursday, though I find myself really wanting to focus on the experiences, not the emotions coloring them. We arrived in London at Heathrow airport relatively on time, giving us plenty of time (we thought) to catch our connecting flight to Edinburgh. I got pulled aside in the carry-on baggage check because I keep too many electronics in my backpack. Whole thing emptied, checked by a polite young man with a cloth at the end of a wand that looks like something morbidly obese people use to wipe their bums. The cloth on the end of the wand (insert your own Harry Potter reference) is then put into a machine to presumably check for explosives residue. After a 9 hour flight, this isn't ideal. Fast forward a few minutes and we arrive at the gate. Right as we are sitting down to wait for the boarding call, it comes. No relaxing for us; it's time to fly to Edinburgh.
Or so we thought. We board and are informed by our polite captain that a connecting flight with a large number of passengers has been delayed and we will be delaying our flight for them. As it turns out, their flight wasn't actually late. The group of passengers finally start to trickle in and the whisper on the plane is that they are late because they got lost in the airport. A look up from my British Airways High Life magazine shows me the truth: from the looks on their faces and rounds of apologies as they pass our seats, lost in the airport becomes the most likely theory.
Edinburgh flight now an hour late, we finally begin the descent to land and hear the landing gear extend. That light feeling in your head and gut begin to signal the drop in elevation and we can see through the lowest cloud layer the green pastures and old buildings zooming by. Suddenly, we are hearing the engines roar and we are heading up again, making everyone on board breathe in sharply and grip their armrests in alarm. The landing gear is retracted and the captain politely informs us that another landing flight struck a bird and the runway needs to be cleared. We circle the airport like vultures.
Landing and getting the rental car were uneventful. Finding the hotel wasn't. Luckily, our Land Rover Freelander has satellite navigation. Unfortunately, I couldn't program it properly, leading us into a small neighborhood to find out just how large our vehicle was or how small the roads are. After mastering the technology, we found our way to the posh and lovely Dakota Forth Bridge hotel. Ultra-modern and efficient, we were awake enough to make our dinner reservation. The food was fantastic. I had a smoked haddock fish cake on buttered spinach. Jill had steak tartare with caviar.
The next morning, we had our breakfast and packed the car, heading to the Edradour distillery, the smallest distillery in Scotland, near Pitlochry. I got to drive the beast on the motorway, and got the feel for the traffic signs and roundabouts fairly quickly. That doesn't mean I enjoyed it; the stress of driving in a foreign country and being responsible for three other lives as well as a vehicle that's not yours is draining. Still, being given the opportunity, I am glad I did drive; the experience makes you more comfortable the next time.
Edradour was a collection of white buildings on a single-track road, currently inhabited by a bus full of German tourists. We waited a bit, paid our tour fee and got into a smaller group. We started with a tasting of their regular 10 year single malt and a 10 year aged in burgundy casks. The burgundy aged whiskey was everyone's favorite. The nose is all red wine and the taste is fruity on the front and a bit smoky and still sweet on the finish. I think it pairs well with the bitterness of dark chocolate. Our tour guide, Jackie, was a lovely older woman who was playful and informative. She stepped us through the entire process during the tasting and tour of the warehouse, distillery, and shop. The warehouse smelled of oak and whiskey, owing to the breathing of the casks. When we first neared the distillery, malted barley was being processed, giving the air the scent of sweet, warm cereal. Sticking your head in and sniffing the mash tun resulted in a painful reminder of the distilling process, CO2. Sharp and potent, it made my eyes water. Apparently it turns into carbonic acid in your sinuses and burns a fair bit. A good experience, that. I was asked to volunteer to shovel spent barley outside into a cart for local farmers to feed their cattle with, though it was all in jest. Apparently the spent barley as feed lends towards good milk from the cows. While near Edradour, we scoured the Lonely Planet guide for a good place to eat. We found it in the Moulin, a small hotel with an inn. We might as well have been in the Inn of the Prancing Pony, it was a perfect pub. The food was rich and delicious; I had the haggis. I also had a pint of ale, a local Moulin Brewery amber ale called Braveheart. It was red and malty, only a slight fruity kick and not so hoppy. I enjoyed it immensely. It actually tastes of the Greene King Abbot Ale I had in Ullapool later, but we'll get to that. Continuing on, we stopped at a Tesco in Inverness for some short-term foodstuffs, planning on a larger grocery shop in Ullapool after getting settled. The last leg of our journey from Inverness to Badrallach was about 60 miles, and being unfamiliar with the narrow roads (as well as driving in the dark at this point), that took us about 2 hours.
The cottage was locked up tight. After some bothering of the neighbors and checking correspondence, we found where the key had been left for us. Gas lights, narrow doors and hallway, and cold greeted us. After lighting a few of the gas lamps we warmed up a bit. The place was...cozy. A small lounge with a wood/peat fired stove, loveseat, 2 upholstered chairs, antique serving tray on a wire basket as a coffee table, bookshelf full of appropriate reading material from children's books to how to insult in Scots. There were two closets with a fabulous china tea service set and a set of beverage glasses from champagne flutes to cordial glasses. Also, board games!
Upstairs was hemispherical and a little cramped; but we had single-sized beds with plenty of extra bedding while Dan and Corinne had a queen. Getting our luggage up the stairs was tricky, but doable. It had begun to warm up a bit from just the gas lamps burning, since we had no idea how to work the coal kitchen stove or the peat stove in the lounge, this was a good thing. We quickly had a snort of the Edradour aged in burgundy casks (purchased just for drinking while here) and went to bed. Sleep was good, and knowing that we would have a view tomorrow made everyone excited to wake up. The darkness of the night stole some of the grandeur of the place, but it added to the feeling of "shelter in a storm" that made everyone bundle up extra tight and dream.
Waking up to the view outside was fabulous. After heading to the well-appointed kitchen (electric kettle and minifridge included!) for a quick cup of coffee, I grabbed the camera and headed outside. A quick walk to the loch with Dan and Corinne turned into a dog walking chore; a local dog that looked similar to a Brittany Spaniel sheepishly made our acquaintances and joined us in the moist walk down the hill. With the clouds not producing any rain and little wind to speak of, we were quite comfortable. I got a lot of good shots of the loch and of Dan skipping rocks.
We decided to check out Ullapool and see what the town was like. The drive was a bit longer than expected, about an hour. As we got more familiar with the roads, this would diminish some. Cresting a rise and seeing the ferry port with all the white seaside er, excuse me, lochside buildings, we all uttered an awe-inspired "Wow," except for Dan, who quietly exclaimed, "Holy shit." It was gorgeous. Exactly what you'd imagine a seaside fishing village to look like. Whitewashed, tightly-packed buildings with pointy roofs lining narrow streets that weren't quite parallel. Plenty of pubs and inns, hotels and B&B's, and tourist information. I was able to get to a Bank of Scotland ATM and get some actual cash to not have to rely totally on my credit card. A lunch of fish and chips for the ladies, a Highland beef burger for Dan and a venison burger for myself was had at the Seaforth Inn. We learned at the Moulin that etiquette in most inns is to order your food at the bar and pay first, then give them your table number and be served. This works quite well, and discourages tipping. Being unused to this method, we quickly began to see the better points of it. This was also my first chance to enjoy a pint of the local An Teallach Ale, by the brewery of the same name situated across Little Loch Broom from our cottage at Badrallach. It was tasty; another reddish malty ale, but the hops were slightly more present on the finish than in the Abbot.
After lunch we made our proper grocery run and scouted the town a bit for the registrar's office for the wedding. Heading home well in the daylight, I took a journey with the camera down the road past Badrallach to try to catch a sunset and see what else I could capture. I am amazed by the landscape here, and may as well mention it now. The next day we made the trip back to Ullapool to witness Dan and Corinne get married. Doreen, the official presiding over the ceremony, informs us that just on Saturday, a pod of dolphins was spotted in Loch Broom. This has never happened before. Went to lunch at the Argyll Hotel inn, another warm, wood-paneled pub with good food and nice service. I had just a snack of smoked salmon and cream cheese on black Ullapool bread with the aforementioned Greene King Abbot Ale. Sweet and malty, with a good red color, it was indeed fantastic. After dropping Dan and Corinne off, Jill and I drove back to the cottage to spend our evening in.
The next morning, Jill wasn't feeling well so she decided to rest and relax in the cottage. I drove back into Ullapool, being delayed by a herd of cattle on our single-track road as well as some deer on the A832. Stopping at an overlook, I took some fantastic pictures of Ullapool on the loch. Picking up the newlyweds and some cash, we headed north, to Loch Assynt and the ruins of Ardvreck Castle, an ancestral home of Clan MacLeod. The road there was very foggy, causing us to go a bit slower than we would have liked, but it just added to the eerie atmosphere. Got some good pictures of the castle, though. After that, we decided to take the A837 across Oykel bridge into Lairg. We stopped for petrol and toured the Visitor's Centre. There was a lot of history written into murals on the walls, so we spent some time reading about the Sutherland area and the people who lived there. All very interesting, we picked up some local tablet candy and headed for Dornoch.
Another misty, hilly drive of switching from 2 lane to single track roads greeted us. I could not help but wonder how the imaginations of Highland children were fueled by that close, undulating mist. At times, we couldn't see more than 30 or 40 feet from the car. Anything could have been in that foggy cloud; we'll never know.
Dornoch was a town on the north side of, you guessed it, the Dornoch Firth. The south side has the Glenmorangie distillery on its shore, but we'll get to that in a moment. We stopped at a free car park and walked to The Eagle Hotel for a spot of lunch. I had a very dense and tasty cheeseburger with a local brew made for the hotel called Eagle's Ale. It was light and crisp, with a hoppy finish. Able to connect to wifi, I cleared some old email and reposted on Facebook to notify our family and friends that we were having a great time.
After debating taking a walk on an historic trail full of ancient Pictish standing stones and glyphs, we opted to head to the Glenmorangie distillery on the other side of the firth in Tain. We arrived just in time for the 2 PM tour. Joining us was a local family of five. We saw the tallest stills in Scotland, and watched how whiskey is mad on a truly grand scale. All aspects are pretty much the same as Edradour, except on a much, much larger scale. Something Glenmorangie does do with a few of its whiskies is extra mature them for 2 more years past their normal 10 year maturing process. The 10 years is spent in white oak casks from the US, and the last 2 years is spent in something else, depending on the brand. Sherry casks, port casks, or sauternes casks. In warehouse #3 we actually got to smell all of them in their casks and taste the Nectar D'Or in the sauternes cask.
After purchasing some souvenirs in the gift shop, we headed for home. 12 miles from the turnoff to the A832 (and 20 miles from home) there was a queue of cars. We waited long enough for Dan and Corinne to take the walk to the front of the line and find out that there had been a bad traffic collision. A motorcycle, car, and van were involved, and we did see the motorcyclist carried off via helicopter. We decided to go back a couple of miles to a cafe and wait it out, rather than try to plan a way around, seeing as we were so close. Some other folks met us in the cafe and were doing the same thing; several needing to catch the ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. We had a spot of soup and watched a bit of BBC news, then tried again. After a brief 15 minute wait, we were able to get through.
Wednesday was planned on being a trip south, through Dundonnell and Aultbea. First, we dipped north to the Corrieshalloch Gorge for a walk over the rickety suspension bridge and a view of the falls. Breathtaking. It was also fairly chilly. Heading back toward Dundonnell, we found that Maggie's Tea Room, where we had wanted to stop for tea and food, was closed until November. Well, scratch that. Heading into Aultbea, we had heard of a small distillery on the back of the Drumchork Hotel, and decided to check it out. John and Frances were our hosts, and as John took us through his Uisge Beatha distillery (water of life in Gaelic, can't call it whiskey because it hasn't aged the proper minimum 3 years) he entertained us with the story of how his disillery came to be. From discovering a well beneath the building he was using to distill to finding a loophole in the laws that let him distill on a much smaller scale than others, he had a good rocky ride getting going. We tasted the raw spirit and then some aged in merlot, rum, and sherry casks. Each had good color, the merlot spirit being a bright pink, though the flavors were there, you could tell they hadn't matured too much. John offers a 5 day distilling course where at the end you get to take home your own cask of single malt spirit. Age it for 3 years and you can call it whiskey.
We bought some small bottles of the stuff and some knick knacks, then Frances was kind enough to open the kitchen for us and serve us some lunch. I had a local ale, the name not remembered. It wasn't bad, but pale in color and unremarkable. We headed home, knowing we had a busy day ahead of us on Thursday.
Up early Thursday morning, we drove straight (more or less) to the Clava Cairns, ancient burial and ceremonial sites east of Inverness. They are dated at between 3 and 4 thousand years old, with rings of standing stones around them. Very cool. We were near Culloden Moor, but could not stop for time. We had a lot of things planned in various places.
Next we headed to the Black Isle for some lunch in Fortrose. We had planned on the pub in the Anderson hotel, but they were closed for roof repairs. So, we found a lovely little cafe, the Eilean Dubh and had our second breakfast there. A pot of tea for the table and some great traditional breakfasts were awesome. We decided to check out the ruined cathedral in Fortrose, and walked just a short block away. While we were there taking in the 13th century building, it began to snow. Light flurries, and nothing stuck, but with the breeze, it was a reminder of the season and how cold it could get while we were here.
Lingering on Black Isle, we headed for the village of Munlochy and the Black Isle organic brewery. We got a quick tour and purchased some of their brews for consumption locally. They have a very cool logo of a white thistle on a black background with a spot of red in the center; Dan and Corinne got t shirts. I may have to mail order one.
Heading to the Muir of Ord, we visited the Glen Ord distillery. They malt their own barley as well as different maltings for distilleries all over. This includes peat smoking the barley for the Highland and Islay whiskies. As far as whiskey is concerned, they only produce one, the Singleton. It is only sold in Asia and there at the distillery. It was fairly mild, very little smokiness, but full of spice and citrus notes, especially on the front. Not sweet at all, as I recall. Not enough that I wanted to buy a bottle. Our tour guide Mary seemed very timid and stumbled on a few things, but was friendly and barely funny. We shared our tour with a local elderly couple we could barely understand and two younger girls from England and Australia. The girls weren't whiskey fans.
The ladies at the distillery recommended a deli in Beauly for lunch, called the Corner on the Square. We drove the 5 minutes there and enjoyed a hot early dinner. We picked up some pastries and crackers for the cottage and drove home.
Friday was spent in the cottage the entire day, cleaning up for our early Saturday morning departure and generally relaxing. We played a few games of Scrabble and everyone caught up on some Kindle reading. Good thing, too, for the weather had turned. Morning rain turned to sleet, and then to driving snow. Off and on it snowed for the rest of the day, giving us concerns for the road conditions in the morning. It turned out to be all for naught, for though the roads were wet, the snow had abated in the night and the ice patches on the road were few and far between. The Freelander’s traction control was set to slippery roads and we pressed on.

EDIT: Site that was hosting my pics was taken down.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Good for you for trying some haggis. Was it the real deal though, or the more sausage-y knock-off that tends to prevail nowadays?

You also lose points on your Scotch-tasting cred for referring to it as whiskey. For shame!

[WarPig]

Good for you for trying some haggis. Was it the real deal though, or the more sausage-y knock-off that tends to prevail nowadays?

You also lose points on your Scotch-tasting cred for referring to it as whiskey. For shame!

I tried haggis on multiple occasions to try to get the "true" taste of it, not some premade grocery store freezer stuff. They all tasted slightly different, with the one at the Moulin having the gamiest, most like liver flavor, with a crumbly texture. I also have found that they often like to fry it lightly on a cooktop, giving it a bit of a crust, which happened with black pudding while we were in England as well.

I wrestled for a long time about whether to stay with whisky instead of whiskey in my journal. I think I inserted the e by habit the first time then decided I had to stick with it. To be fair, many Scotch labels insert the e, though I don't know if that's for the American market.

[Harkonis]

I'm going to Scotland/England in Feb. Looking forward to it.

Gonna try the 65% alcohol beer Armageddon

[Anonymous Bosch]

Re: Haggis. An authentic haggis has the sheep's 'pluck' encased in an actual sheep's stomach (though nowadays it's more commonly prepared in a sausage casing). And as nauseating as that may sound to some, I found eating traditional pie n' mash to be far more off-puting.

Just yanking yer chain over the spelling of whisky. Anyway, I quite enjoyed reading your write-up, and I hope you'll also post your write-up for the second week.

[AWS260]

Arise, thread -- I'm going to Scotland! My retrospective thanks to everyone who commented above.

We (me, spouse, 4-year-old) are spending a week in Oban at the end of September / beginning of October. I am very excited, and also terrified by the thought of driving on the wrong side of the road.

[gbasden]

I was awfully intimidated last year when I had to drive five of us around England for two weeks. It wasn't too bad, although when there wasn't any traffic to remind me I did find myself reflexively driving on the right a few times. A good GPS was key for me, though. There were lots of ambiguous traffic circles and I'm pretty sure the stress of navigating would have gotten to me pretty quickly.

[Jag]

Arise, thread -- I'm going to Scotland! My retrospective thanks to everyone who commented above.

We (me, spouse, 4-year-old) are spending a week in Oban at the end of September / beginning of October. I am very excited, and also terrified by the thought of driving on the wrong side of the road.

Check out Outlander on Starz. It's a new show about a woman from 1945 going back in time to 18th century Scotland. A little slow at times, but the battles and scenery are nice.

[RunningMn9]

Arise, thread -- I'm going to Scotland! My retrospective thanks to everyone who commented above.

We (me, spouse, 4-year-old) are spending a week in Oban at the end of September / beginning of October. I am very excited, and also terrified by the thought of driving on the wrong side of the road.

Driving was a pain at first, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

My group of friends have decided to go back next year to take care of some things we missed last year. We will be spending a few days on Islay (staying at the Bowmore distillery), and visiting Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. The Laphroaig "Water to Whisky" experience is supposed to be the most comprehensive tour in Scotland. We did five last year, so this may be the only planned tour this time. There's only so many ways you can make whisky.

Last year out base camp was up in Banff on the northeast coast. This year we will be returning from Islay to the Edinburgh area (which we skipped last year). As this is likely our last trip to Scotland, we decided to go big, and we rented out or own castle to stay in for that part of the trip (Fenton Tower).

Should be fun. Of course we will all be sad bears if we aren't picked in the lottery to play the Old Course.

[WarPig]

Great spot, Oban. Beautiful country, even though we only got to drive through it. Also, real close to Islay and Skye. Great time of year to go as well; most of the locals we talked to in October of 2012 said that most of the tourists are gone by mid-September because the weather can get squiffy. We had light rain (as per usual UK weather) and the last couple of days we were in the highlands we had snow. If driving is a concern, do your best to avoid smaller roads (A roads Are the biggest, B smaller, C are basically single tracks, just in case).

I'm excited to see someone else going! Get lots of pictures, it is so gorgeous, and have fun!!!

[AWS260]

Thanks! We've got a cottage reserved just outside Oban, and it looks like we'll have plenty to do. We'll definitely do the Oban distillery tour, and probably Tobermory as well (we've already agreed that if any of these distilleries don't allow 4-year-olds on their tours, we'll take turns).

[WarPig]

We toured 5 different distilleries during our 2 weeks in Scotland and I distinctly remember the Glenmorangie distillery tour including a family with smaller kids with no issues. Our tour guide actually enjoyed answering some of the basic science questions they had. The kids were probably 5 and 7 years old. Listening to a 5 year old local Scottish boy ask where the bubbles (in the mash tun) come from in that accent has to be one of the cutest things I've ever heard.

I'm still pining for the highlands. Watching Outlander is just making me want to go back even more.

[RunningMn9]

Yeah, as long as the 4yr old isn't screaming, I can't imagine any tour being off limits.

[AWS260]

Leaving on the redeye tonight! I can't wait.

We'll be just in time for the World Stone-Skimming Championship, which is on a tiny island very near where we are staying.

[RunningMn9]

Leaving on the redeye tonight! I can't wait.

Godspeed!!

[WarPig]

Keep the heid and haste ye back! Have a great time!!

[AWS260]

What a fantastic trip. This was the view from our holiday cottage:

[RunningMn9]

That's not too shabby at all.

[AWS260]

The country so nice, I visited it twice.

I'm back in Scotland this week, this time in the Speyside region. The view from our rental house, from closest to furthest, is sheep, more sheep, even more sheep, the Glenlivet Distillery, and the snow-capped Cairngorm mountains.

We made the wise decision to bring along my mother, who has done a wonderful job of keeping the 5-year-old entertained, and vice-versa. Makes it a lot easier to go on distillery tours, and to retain our sanity.

So far we've gone on two distillery tours: tiny Benromach and massive Glenlivet. While the overall process is the same everywhere, the difference in scale was astounding. At Glenlivet, two distillers manned a vast, six-still gallery, primarily by sitting at a desk and staring at monitors. At Benromach, a single distiller moved around a much smaller room, with two much smaller stills, staring at thermometers and periodically dipping a giant measuring stick into the spirit tank to see if it was full yet.

We just polished off the bottle of anCnoc that we purchased on arrival. Trying to decide if it's worth buying a second bottle to drink here, since we only have two more nights left. Leaning toward "yes".

[em2nought]

This thread has gone and made me hungry for Pennsylvania Dutch Stuffed Pig's Stomach http://teriskitchen.com/padutch/pigstom.html Not sure why I only tried Haggis one time in three years over there.

[AWS260]

I'm heading back to Scotland for a week! This time, Glasgow. I'm excited for the incomprehensible accents.

[mori]

You seem more of a whisky fan but this article might be of interest to you.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/1 ... -scotland/

[AWS260]

I didn't make it out to any bars, but I did drink quite a bit of Loch Lomond Brewery's output during my trip. (I was staying in a holiday rental near the brewery, and the local village shop had an extensive selection.) The standout was probably the Bravehop Dark IPA -- roasty and chocolatey alongside the expected hops.

Loch Lomond is pretty.



The farm on the right is where we stayed.



The neighbors.



We ended up spending less time in Glasgow proper than I had anticipated. They have some nice museums and a hands-on science center that's amazing for kids, but with child in tow we weren't really able to sample the nightlife or arts scene.