Scotland Spring 2016, #2

I’ve finally put down my camera and my golf clubs long enough to put together a post for the travel blog, telling you and showing you a little about our trip.  Before we headed north up the A9 from our home base in Crieff, Merlindale B&B, we did have a chance to grab another of the World’s Best (so say the ads) Bacon Roll at the Horn Restaurant between Perth and Dundee.  I don’t dispute the claim since I’ve certainly had no better or bigger bacon roll (a staple of Scotland’s golfing community).  

Thus adequately fortified we trundled north.

After a night in Dornoch serenaded by the massed pipe bands [see the last blog post], 

The Pipe Major of one of the bands.

Anne and I started the day’s drive to Durness in the far northwest corner of the mainland by driving west along Loch Fleet where while stopping for a  brief look at the ruins of Skelbo Castle,

Skelbo Castle

we spotted a sea lion basking in an unusual position.  

From Loch Fleet the road to Durness goes through Lairg, the village with a world class loo [details in one of my posts of an earlier trip].  We didn’t need to stop at this loo, been there/done that, 

but we did stop to grab some shots of three wild goats just lounging by the side of the road.  

From Lairg it’s 38 miles of single track road to Laxford Bridge.  Driving on single track roads is an acquired taste.  

Typical Highland single-track road.

The narrow road has passing places every quarter mile or so and is not too difficult to drive once you get the hang of stopping or passing appropriately.  

Along Loch Shin

The passing places, though, gives you some great places to pull off for photos even though you’re really not supposed to.  The countryside in this section of Scotland, referred to mostly simply as the Highlands, is very stark yet beautiful.  

Views along River Laxford

Hills of heather and rock are dotted with lochs and lochans (small lochs) and burns or rivers.  There are very few trees left and the land is home to a few crofts (small farms) and sheep—in the spring there are lambs all over.  

At Laxford Bridge we turned north for nineteen miles of mostly single track road to get to Durness.  At this point we were ready for lunch and a real break from the driving.  The trouble is there are no villages between Lairg and Durness large enough for even a pub.  We turned off the main road for a six mile trek to Kinlochbervie, 

once a thriving seaport village.  We discovered that Kinlochbervie is fairly quiet now, but in the hamlet/burg/spot-in-the-road called Inshegra an old school had been converted into a tea room called (duh!) Old School.  We split a delicious fresh crab sandwich and recharged our batteries with lovely lattes.  

Loch na Thull

Back on the single track to Durness the landscape got even more dramatic with loch and lochans coming right up to the road and backing up to massive (for Scotland) mountains.  

This was the slowest part of the trip because of all the photos stops.

When we arrived in Durness the first thing we did was drive the couple of miles west of town to Durness GC, one of our favorites and a truly spectacular, isolated nine hole track.  Much more about the course will come in a post devoted to the golf of the trip.  

Balnaseil Beach with Seaweed Eating Cows

When we pulled into the course’s parking area we saw a herd of black cows meandering the pristine Balnakeil Beach.  We later found out that the cows come down to the beach to eat a certain type of seaweed when there are especially low tides.  After golf and before we checked in at Glengolly B&B, we stopped at a beach parking area to watch a fantastic sky show as heavy winds created beautiful patterns in the clouds.  

It’s times like these that I am so thankful for digital cameras—I couldn’t have packed enough film to capture what nature provided.

That evening we ate at the Oasis Pub at Sango Sands a little east of the village.  

Then we drove back to Balnakeil Beach for a second sky show.  This one featured a rainbow and beach reflections.  

       

       

       It was a glorious day!  It ended with torrential rains pushed by 40-50 mph winds hitting the town just as we tucked in to bed at the B&B.  I was already looking forward to the morning’s porridge—a special of Martin Mackay’s—Scottish oats porridge topped with burnt sugar and single malt whisky.  

Oyster Catcher in flight

NOTE: I’m going to be entering shows with some of the photos from this trip and selling them at Highland Games and would like some feedback on which ones are your favorites.  Pick two or three and let me know which ones you’d chose.  

Notes from Scotland, Part Two

The Winking Owl Wine

We’d been to The Winking Owl pub before and thought it was only average, but since it was under new ownership (the Cairngorm Brewery was now running it) and it is getting good reviews, we thought we ought to give it a try.  

Cullin Skink for me and Seafood Chowder for Anne.

Glad we are that we did, uhm (May the farce be with you).  Service and food were excellent.  The interior had been redone and was bright and inviting.  But this story is really about what happened at the next table.

The waitress brought a bottle of screw-top wine to a couple.  She asked, “Do you want to taste the wine tonight?”  I held it together enough not to break out laughing, but several scenarios came immediately to mind:

1) No, we’ll wait until tomorrow at breakfast to taste it.

2) No, I don’t want to taste it.  I’m just going to stare at the bottle while I eat my dinner.

3) No, I’m a tea-totaler and I just wanted to make you go through the motions of pulling the cork, which of course you didn’t have to do because it’s such a f…ing cheap wine.

4) Yes, thank you.  Sip, sip.  Ugh! this is very off…I’m afraid the wine has been metaled.

The Ugly Americans at Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle, which is 10 miles east of Inverness and 5 miles SW of Nairn in the Scottish Highlands, is a castle we hadn’t visited since our first trip to Scotland in 2000.  The 15th century tower house is in the hands of the Campbells and is now home to Dowager Countess Cawdor, stepmother of the 7th Earl of Cawdor.  The castle is often associated with Shakespeare’s Macbeth (“the Scottish Play”), but really has no relationship to the 11th century King Macbeth of Scotland.  

      The castle and grounds are lovely to tour (though not much was yet in bloom) with between eight and ten rooms open to the public.  Each room had printed information about the history of the room and furnishings and a docent was available in most rooms as well.

Anne in the Maze Garden

Our arrival at the castle was poorly timed—we were sandwiched between two tour buses.  One of the groups was a group of the rudest Texans you would ever want to meet.  Tour members seemed to have spent too much time eating in the castle’s tearoom and now had to run through the castle rooms, some loudly saying: “Why is everyone so slow!” “Hey, up there.  Stop reading and get a move on.”  “Let me through, I’ve got a bus to catch.”  One lady said to a companion as they shoved by us, “Oh, it’s just another bedroom.”

Thankfully we don’t see too many examples of the Ugly American, but this was one of the most egregious examples we’d ever come across.

The Whisky Train

For the first time in our Scotland adventures our stay in the Highlands coincided with the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival which is a week of various whisky related events at numerous local distilleries.  

A Dufftown pipe band drummer must concentrate.  

On the day we were to book in at our Timeshare unit we listened to a pipe band concert in the town square at Dufftown and did some tasting in the local whisky shop. When we arrived in Aviemore we had tickets for a Celtic rock concert by Skerryvore, 

Skerryvore in concert

a group originally from one of the smaller Scottish islands, Tiree.  Then on Sunday I had booked tickets for a special Whisky Train.  

The Strathspey Railway is ten miles of preserved railway from Aviemore to Broomhill (the Glenbogle Station from the BBC TV show “Monarch of the Glen”) via Boat of Garten.  On this particular run of the tourist train a special dining car was assigned for whisky tasting sponsored by Speyside Distillery in Kingussie.  

Setting up for the whisky tasting.

Once we had our seats in the dining car paired with a very nice couple from Holland, 

we were introduced to the distillery manager Pamela and her assistant.  

Serving a 12 year old whisky from Speyside Distillery.

      On the two hour trip (this is a very slow train) we were served five flights of whisky for tasting as well as high tea (tea or coffee, a selection of small sandwiches, and a tray of scones and cakes).  

The sweet part of High Tea on the train.

We were each given generous pours of a 10 year old single malt whisky, a 12 year old, the Chairman’s Choice at 17 years old, and a 20 year old Spey Royal Choice which is exclusively served to the the Royal family in five special residences including the Tower of London.  

The Chairman's Choice at 17 years old.

The final tasting was of a yet to be released special black whisky, sweeter than the other offerings.  Anne’s favorite was the 12 year old (about £40 a bottle), while I preferred the Royal Choice at £175 a bottle or about $250).

When we got off the train back in Aviemore, we wished our Holland table mates good luck with their more than two hour drive to their next destination, and we were thankful that I only had to drive about a half mile to our digs. If there’s another chance to ride the Whisky train…sign me up!