Note: 19th August 2012.
After breakfast, we headed down to Dufftown, considered to be the Whiskey Capital of Scotland. We felt obliged that in Scotland, we would at least do one whiskey tour.
More windy single carriage roads later, we found ourselves at Dufftown where the overwheming smell of yeast welcomes you.
We stopped at Glenfiddich, one of the larger distilleries. They give tours free here and end with a tasting of various whiskeys they make.
I have never had whiskey before this, and I can say I’ve really missed nothing. Yes, when you down, even a sip, your whole body is intensely warmed up. But the taste itself? I think it’s pretty nasty, no matter how old it is and how much peachy tones and yadda yadda oak-ey flavours you can detect.
We drove on from Dufftown to Findhorn that had been highly recommended to us by Sharon and Philip, our B&B hosts at Grantown-on-Spey.
On the way, we passed through Elgin, a surprisingly large town (after all the tiny ones) that had a Tesco with the cheapest petrol we’d ever purchase on our entire trip in Scotland. (The most expensive was in Kyle of Localash outside Skye.)
At Findhorn, we enjoyed a stroll along the rocky beach and then walked further down the Findhorn Bay where we ate some rather awful ice cream.
We stopped at the Kimberley Inn as the fish and chips were highly recommended by Phillip. It was the first that had herbs in the batter, but I didn’t think it was exceptional. Yes, the batter was good, but the fish was not particularly tasty.
We spent too much time looking for a way to get to the sand dunes at Culbin Forest, that we hightailed it to Inverness where I thought we would end our day.
But even though my passengers were nodding off, one decided that we should continue on to Loch Ness. It was an easy drive along Loch Ness, but it being past 5, everything was closed.
The waters of Loch Ness were amazingly still and calm. It was here that I realised that it was incredibly quiet.
Edinburgh is a city, and with a city comes it’s associated noise. So was Aberdeen. The Shetland Islands and Orkney had a lot of wind, and if it rained there was the sound of car tires on wet roads. But here, aside from the Indian kids making noise, it was silent.
We stopped at the town of Fort Augustus, which is pretty much in the centre of Scotland. We really could have cut off the northern part of our travels and headed from here to Skye. But I digress.
Fort Augustus sits along the Caledonian Canal that connects the East to West of Scotland. Using a series of locks, ships can sail from all the way from Fort William to Inverness.
Instead of heading back the same highway back to Inverness, we went around Loch Ness on the other side where the roads are smaller. Eventually, we ended up in Whitebridge in a hotel called Whitebridge Hotel, in an old building over a hundred years old.
It is a two-star hotel, but was clean enough and we were tired. And, it had quite a nice view out the window.
